BenQ Siemens ef81

Publicso.com - Early Beta Preview is Launched

2010-12-08T23:18:00.002+01:00

Last night Early Beta Preview of Publicso is Launched, you can check, test and try Publicso Photo Sharing and messaging services ! http://www.publicso.com

Probajte Publicso u ranoj beta fazi, budite među prvima i dobijte željeni username. Publicso je servis za deljenje fotografija i razmenu kratkih poruka! http://www.publicso.com

BenQ Siemens EF81 - Complete guide to update the firmware of EF81

2010-02-14T15:48:00.001+01:00

Written by alex_q:

Complete guide to update the firmware of EF81

When you update the firmware you lose all your settings, files, contacts, messages, applications and games that you installed. You should back-up all your data before updating the firmware.

A firmware update does not change or reset the phone’s master code.

To see what FW version you have, type *#06# from the phone’s main screen. The FW version is called SVN. The phone’s IMEI number will also be shown. Write it down on a piece of paper because it might be useful.

Usually, the FW update programs do not allow updating to an older version, so you might be unable to return to the original version.

It is advised to back-up your FW (especially your NV items) before you update the FW. I heard it is possible to back-up using the program QPST but I have not figured out how to do so.

There are two new FW versions for EF81:

SFW 58 Germany –

(EF81_IP17.0.16_de-BRDHandel-std_58_0147_3GSwupFU_SGLPK.exe);

SFW 58 Russia -

(EF81_IP17_2E0_2E14_ru_2DRussianRetail_58_0147_3GSwupFU_SGLPK.exe);

Comparing to SFW 48, this FW versions bring the following changes:

Improved speed through menus, especially when changing themes and when doing a master reset;
“Next” and “Previous” buttons are added when viewing photos in full screen mode;
The default theme is changed;
The battery level and signal power icons are changed to a white color design. These icons do not change when theme is changed. The error when displaying the battery level differently on the main screen and secondary screen has been fixed;
Other languages added for menus and T9 (only SFW 58 Russia supports Romanian language);
Error fixed when receiving MP3 files through Bluetooth, they could be listened only after restarting phone;
The USSD menu does not work in all networks (I consider this to be an important error);
The phone does not announce any more when the battery level is low and shutting down is imminent;
Some applications are added or changed but the games remain unchanged. SFW 58 Germany replaces the games icon from the main menu (games can be still found in the “My stuff” menu) with a Google icon and adds Google search and Google maps applications.

Choose one of these FW versions and install it. It will install the Qualcomm USB driver (if not installed yet) and the 3GSwupFU2 updating program (which has its own manual).

The phone’s battery should not be low when you start the FW update because the phone could shutdown and cancel the procedure. It is best if the battery is fully charged.

The updating procedure is simple but a little bit risky. It is important to close the phone and remove the SIM card and memory card (if available) before commencing. Then switch the phone back on without SIM or memory cards and connect the USB cable that come together with the phone when you bought it. Start the 3GSwupFU2 program, wait until the phone is recognized and click update. It is not advised to stop the updating procedure by unplugging the phone or closing the 3GSwupFU2 program or in any other way because the phone could become impossible to repair using software methods (hardware methods are in general complicated and expensive). I do not know what happens with your SIM or memory cards if you forgot to remove them but I think it is better to not cancel the updating procedure.

The updating procedure would last for about twenty minutes. It is normal that during this time the phone will restart a couple times and the screen might flash or say “Factory test mode”.

If errors occur during FW installation (“Too many initialized items” or another message is shown), the phone might start without network, messages or Bluetooth support or might keep restarting.

If the phone does not start and the screen does not light up, then the battery could be completely empty. In the worst case, the phone could have been damaged during the FW updating process and it can be repaired only through hardware methods.

If FW update is unsuccessful but the phone still shows the “BenQ-Siemens” logo at startup, then you should follow the next procedure:

If you succeeded to back-up the FW before the update, then use this back-up;
If not, then browse the 3GSwupFU2 installation folder and replace the template.brt file with the one that I attached to this guide. Also make a copy of this file in the same directory and rename it with your phone’s IMEI number (it should look like 35898100399xxxx.brt). This file might also exist so you should overwrite it too. You might find the IMEI number on the papers which came together with the phone or from the 3GSwupFU2 application when the phone it’s connected;
If the phone keeps restarting, remove the USB cable, switch the phone off by removing the battery, install the battery, press the # and Call keys until the phone starts and it will remain at the BenQ-Siemens logo. Now you can retry to install the FW. The application might say something about emergency download.

If after successfully installing the FW, the menu displays an unknown language, type “*#0000#” from the main screen and press “Call”.

Success!

BenQ Siemens EF81 - Price?

2009-06-11T12:06:00.005+02:00

Benq Siemens Ef81 costs various from place to place. I have found several prices for this phone and range is a very wide form $450 to $19. This phone is not in production anymore and you should be careful if you are buying it. Price depend on several things like included accessories or is it unlocked or branded by network.

BenQ Siemens EF81 - Commercial - Keep exploring

2009-05-28T00:23:00.004+02:00

During my research I have found very interesting commercial for ef81. It is very spacey and 3d, take a look:

BenQ Siemens EF81 - Firmware - Download Upgrade Manual

2009-05-22T13:13:00.006+02:00

Here is user manual for German version of v58 firmware (in English). In this PDF file you will find detail step by step procedure how to upgrade your phone via USB cable. In an earlier post you will find download links for both German and Russian v58 firmware, also there is a lot of images so now situation is clear and don't be afraid of upgrading, this procedure is very simple. Enjoy better performance and functionality of you phone...

Download link is:

Benq Siemens EF81 Firmware Upgrade Manual - Download

BenQ Siemens EF81 - Fault no power what happend?

2009-05-11T15:51:00.003+02:00

Last time I have seen a lot of forum questions and topics about EF81 that simply do not charge or can't power up even on charger or USB cable. On some places I found info about some kind of "deep discharge" of its battery. If your phone is in this state you should try two things one is to keep phone on charger more than 14 hours and another is to try to put new battery, but as noticed batteries for this phone are no longer in production so be careful when you are buying new third party battery. Anyway if this happened to your phone I'd like to post your experience with this problem here because it can be very helpful for people with same situation. If nothing bad happened to your phone and now it is not working you can be in this situation. If I found anything else about this issue I'll post it as comment or update on this post.

BenQ Siemens EF81 - Themes - iPhone Like theme

2009-05-06T11:13:00.007+02:00

This is iPhone Like theme made by Aleksandar Rodic.
I'm very satisfied with this theme it looks live and colorful. Same as earlier here I will post download link:

EF81 iPhone theme - Download

Enjoy using you phone...

Benq Siemens EF81 - User Manual Full

2009-05-05T18:41:00.004+02:00

Ok, we have seen all that specifications, games, apps and way how to install it on your phone, but this phone have a lot of features that I did not have discovered at first. After looking to this user manual for my phone, I have found some very useful things that you should know about EF81, here I'll post link to phone user manual in PDF:

Benq Siemens EF81 User Manual - Download

I must notice that in package with phone I did not have found one.

Benq Siemens EF81 - Applications - Opera Mini

2009-04-29T13:58:00.006+02:00

Try to use Opera Mini on your phone, my opinion is that it is the best phone browser that I ever used. Opera have a lot of features transported from PC to mobile platform. Best thing in whole story is that it is free to download and use. Opera Mini have built in search where you can easily choose between different search providers by your interest like Google, Amazon, Wikipedia, eBay, Dictionary.com, IMDb. It have full rss reader, bookmarks, history, customizable options and more...

I'm using it long time and I don't have reason to change it. Actual version is 4.2 and it have a lot of new features like Skins.

Now Opera is looking better you can customize color and make opera looking like you want.

In new opera on newer phones you can watch flash videos and have rich multimedia experience in browser.
Faster page downloads and much much more...
Only way to see and fell all of this is to try Opera Mini on your phone. It will open almost every page on the web.

Download Opera Mini :

Opera Mini JAD file - Download

Opera Mini JAR file - Download

Happy Browsing with Opera Mini :)

Benq Siemens EF81 - Applications - Facebook

2009-04-24T11:24:00.006+02:00

On your BenQ Siemens EF81 you can freely use Facebook mobile application. It does not have any fancy mobile features, but it can be really useful. Some users say that this application is almost shortcut to m.facebook.com ! I think that this app is little more and that you should try it and decide do you like it or not. I'm just using it.

Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.
It's free and anyone can join

Here are liks to download facebook mobile application:

Facebook mobile JAD file - Download
Facebook mobile JAR file - Download

Benq Siemens EF81 - Applications - Google Maps for mobile featuring Latitude

2009-04-23T11:50:00.010+02:00

This is first post from applications for EF81 series !

First one is Google Maps:

Google Maps for mobile featuring Latitude
the official mapping application from Google

Download Google Maps to your phone, and never carry a paper map again. And with the brand new Google Latitude feature, see your friends' locations and status messages, and share yours with them. It also can catch your position even if your device don't have GPS module, by pressing zero key it locates you some radius over GPRS.

Google Maps for mobile is not only for EF81 it works on most Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Java-enabled phones.

And finally download links:
Google maps mobile JAD file - Download
Google maps mobile JAR file - Download

BenQ Siemens EF81 - Overview Video

2009-04-13T11:35:00.003+02:00

Here is CNet review video about Benq Siemens phone EF81 if you don't have this phone you can take a look. Anyway that is great video about this product.

Feel free to comment...

BenQ Siemens EF81 - Themes - Most Popular

2009-04-13T10:12:00.011+02:00

And now one of popular things for this phone are themes you can find and download a lot of them and now I will post some of most popular themes for your BenQ Siemens EF81, also I'm planning to put some of most interesting themes for this phone that I found in different categories. Here are some themes that are most downloaded form modopo website.

Windows Vista Theme (Vista is new generation operating system from Microsoft with some 'fancy' design), if you want that your phone user interface take Vista-like look you can download this theme.

Windows Vista for EF81 Theme - Download

Windows XP Theme (Windows XP is a bit older operating system from Microsoft), XP is older than Vista, but some of us much more like its design and still working in its environment. So this theme can bring familiar look to your phone :)

Windows XP Theme - Download

Next in popular themes is Blue Light, this is theme with lot of 'spacey' elements, effects, transparencies and it looks very modern in that blue-scale colors.

Blue Light Theme - Download

Black effects is elegant and easy readable theme for your phone is you are looking for some practical and same time good looking theme this is correct for you.

Black effects Theme - Download

This is ok theme with attractive girl on wallpaper, also there is a lot of water-drops in menus. You can use this theme for holidays during summers. This theme also as blue light have a lot of blue-scale design.

Waterdrop Theme - Download

I hope that you will like these links and I will make few posts with my choice from different categories as I promised on beginning of this post.

Benq Siemens EF81 - Games

2009-04-07T09:53:00.010+02:00

As you know from a previous post it is not very hard to install app or game to your phone. This phone already have some built-in games, but you can install your own (probably downloaded from Internet). Phone supports MIDP 2.0 (Mobile Information Device Profile) Java so that means support for huge amount of games. There are five standard games in this phone: "Sea Battle", "GemJam Fever", "Super Bomberman", "Star Wars" and "Space Stack Attack". Overall games quality is good and all games are playable. Special surprise for me was that they had put Bomberman in this phone. This is one old arcade that I was playing on my 386 several years ago :). Anyway in some of next posts I will try to find some games that working on this phone and I will put links. While I'm looking at these games I think that this phone can run some very good games. So now we have noticed that this phone also can be small gaming platform ;).

Benq Siemens EF81 - Installing Applications

2009-04-03T11:18:00.008+02:00

Installing applications to this phone was looking impossible to me, but after searching around I finally found good solution. First I was trying to copy jar file to misc folder and I was unable to do anything with it. As you know this phone supports java and already have built-in set of apps and games. Anyway I have found a solution and it is called Brew Mobile Commander (it is free to use), with this program you can easily install any application or game to your phone.
Brew Mobile Commander - Download (2.0 mb)
Only thing is that you need to have both (jar and jad) files in same directory. Just right click on jad and choose install. Process of games installing is the same as for apps so we don't need additional explanations (enjoy...;))

Benq Siemens EF81 - Firmware

2009-04-01T17:06:00.004+02:00

The main problem of this cell phone is that software that it have works very slow. Actually this phone (in most cases) comes with v48 firmware which have a lot of bugs and works slowly, but this is not such a big problem. You can easily flash software and upgrade to newer version with standard usb cable that comes in package. Only thing that you need is new version of firmware. On the net I found two versions of better and newer firmware v58. First one is German while second is Russian. Both versions are much faster than v48 and many bugs are fixed. Upgrading process is very simple and all things will be done automatically. I'm using German firmware and it is very good.
Links for downloading new firmware:
Russian Benq Siemens EF81 v58 firmware - Download (49.3 mb)
German Benq Siemens EF81 v58 firmware - Download (54.1 mb, rapidshare download)
When you finish with downloading archive unpack it and start, after that you need to connect your phone to PC with USB cable. Remove sim card from phone and check that battery is at least 3/4 full. After starting program and then connecting phone (phone should be on), program will automatically detect you phone and show it's image instead default one, then click button flash. Whole procedure last about 15 minutes, during that your phone will be restarted few times, screen will flash and so on. After procedure is done remove phone from cable (do not try to stop procedure or remove phone from cable before flashing is finished, you can seriously damage your phone). After all of this is finished, you will see that your pone works much better and faster.

Benq Siemens EF81 - Specification

2009-04-01T15:36:00.002+02:00

This is amazing phone for its price with all functionality that it have. Stylish silver keyboard, two displays, 2mpix camera and buttons for music, camera and video control. First thing that I have noticed about this phone is its display with sharp picture and good color quality. I will put some phone specifications here just to see what it was (this phone is announced in January 2006). With that price it is hard to find such functions and look even today. That explains ef81 success on some not such rich counties like Belarus, Ukraine, Serbia, Viet Nam, Romania, but also in Poland, Russian Federation, Germany and others.

Networks: GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 *|* UMTS 2100
Dimensions: 94 x 51 x 15.9 mm *|* 110g
Displays: TFT, 256K colors, 240 x 320 pixels, 2.2 inches *|* TFT, 256K colors, 120 x 160 pixels
Memory: 64 MB *|* microSD up to 1GB
GPRS: Class 10
3G Data: 384 kbps
Camera: photo 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels *|* video VGA