General Forum

Re: Serene again...

Tod Daniel — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:00:12 GMT

Hey Greg, fantastic words there and I totally agree. I do love the BS8 though and yes I was at a B&O event in Chester last year were one of the big Danish bosses from B&O was showing the BS5 and playing with it. I couldn't help thinking 'You silly man, thats nothing more than an iPod at 5k' hummmm

Re: Serene again...

Evan — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:14:12 GMT

A very good statement Greg.

I am actually very interested in the BeoSound 8, as I do have a couple iPods. Their core audio product to me at least, is the speaker line.

Regarding the Serene - I haven't yet been able to comb through the details. Yesterday was busy and now that the prize draw is over I can have a moment to sit down with it this evening.

Re: Serene again...

Greg — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:19:38 GMT

Thanks Guys.

Evan, I agree, I really love the Serene and part of the reason I bought it was - ironically - because it was a simple, basic phone. I wanted a phone to make and receive calls, not browse the internet, send texts, listen to music and so on like you young guys with your iPhones! I also like that it can't really be personalised with ringtones or wallpapers - it is what it is; i.e. a piece of good taste that can't be messed with.

Unfortunately(!), it was set up by my B&O dealer to be able to receive emails and so on occasion I did use that feature and found it useful. So it was annoying to find it no longer works... I spent far too long re-entering all the settings trying to figure out what was wrong, given how rarely I used that feature, so I'm afraid I gave up!! Also that intermittent echo noise fault reoccurred today so maybe it is soon time to hang up Serene for good :-(

I'd still be interested to hear if you get it working though!

Paul, I understand exactly what you mean. It's impossible not to love Apple stuff and IMHO it's so far ahead of the game it seems crazy to buy anything else. Disclaimer: I'm a former Apple employee, so a little biased maybe ;-) That said, the other thing I liked about the Serene was not only quality of design but that nobody else had anything like it. That can't be said of the iPhone where everyone I know has an iPhone 4. It doesn't make sense, but I'd prefer to be one of the crazy ones.

As regards B&O, it's hard not to be a little disillusioned right now. I'm saddened that a key product now seems to be Beosound 8, an iPod dock. Yes, it's a very nice iPod dock, but I still think it's sad for B&O to be reduced to selling accessories for someone else's product. And they don't seem to know what to do about audio anymore, like they're still trying to understand digital music and what to do about it. I'd read a lot of buzz when they were developing what became Beosound 5 and when it arrived I couldn't help thinking "A big iPod on a stick? Seriously?". But I love the design quality and build quality, the uniqueness and (mostly) good taste. I love the very fact that they're *not* cutting edge, or fashionable - that they take time to consider products, and build them to have a long life, it's an appealing point of difference to Apple and their 6 month refresh cycles and planned obsolescence. Whether it's an approach that can be squared with the pace of change in AV technology, or make enough money to keep B&O alive into the future, I don't know.

Re: Serene again...

Tod Daniel — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:08:04 GMT

Hey Evan,

No im really keen on my Iphone as i do alot of travelling in my job and im loving watching movies on it when im say or 3 hour train journeys etc.

yeahi love the BS8 but as ive said to you before im not keen on B&O hifi range as i think its too dated and a bit 'old man'

I do however like their television range although being honest im more of an Apple buyer now as I like their quality, reliability, young stylish image and good pricing.

Re: Serene again...

Evan — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:22:35 GMT

Paul Winn:

I love Bang&Olufsen but I think they are very wrong to make 'confusing' or badly set up products. I actually ordered a Serene when it first launched but pulled out last minute due to second thoughts - im really glad I did.

I really like B&O but I must admit I think ive moved on and I would think 5 or 6 times before ever buying a product of theirs again. Sad, but I think ive grown up a lot and have wised up to maybe being slightly ripped off by their so wrong prices. I simply cant help but think of their margins!

I actually think quite highly of the Serene. I love using mine - especially now that I don't have to be texting every 2 minutes. Phone calls are brilliant on the Serene. HERE's what I think about it

Have you ever thought of buying second hand?

My best advice to you Paul, stick with the core - audio.

Re: Serene again...

Tod Daniel — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:12:26 GMT

Hey Greg,

I hope you got everything sorted and nice one Evan.

I love Bang&Olufsen but I think they are very wrong to make 'confusing' or badly set up products. I actually ordered a Serene when it first launched but pulled out last minute due to second thoughts - im really glad I did.

I really like B&O but I must admit I think ive moved on and I would think 5 or 6 times before ever buying a product of theirs again. Sad, but I think ive grown up a lot and have wised up to maybe being slightly ripped off by their so wrong prices. I simply cant help but think of their margins!

Re: Serene again...

Evan — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:59:20 GMT

No problem Greg.

Serene in hand and working on it now - who knew email could be so difficult...

Re: Serene again...

Greg — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 03:24:33 GMT

Evan:

Hello Greg,

I have a Serene but never used it for emails. I now have a data plan on my cell service and could try it out on my Serene.

I use my Serene less and less these days and right now it is parked about 7 miles away from me. Once I'm near it I'll give it a whirl and post my findings.

Unfortunately I have ATT and not T-Mobile.

Thanks Evan, that would be awesome, if you get the chance. I'll persevere in the meantime and post back if I get it working again. I very rarely used Serene for email, but occasionally it was useful. Thought I was going to retire the Serene for good recently when it developed a fault, but has since been behaving itself perfectly. I like having something a bit different as my personal phone, not the iPhone everyone in the world has (my wife has mine!), and I normally have the iPad close by for email anyway.

Re: Serene again...

Greg — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 03:17:18 GMT

vikinger:

Greg,

Firmware downloads and manuals are here on the Samsung site.

Graham

Thanks Graham. In fact that manual is the same as the B&O one as far as I can tell, but with the B&O branding removed!

Re: Serene again...

DrDimitris — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:37:51 GMT

It is far from an unpleasant place I believe. You were rude, because you misunderstood my intentions as you admitted. I had no intention to do so. Apology accepted and from my side I apologize for getting back on you! No hard feelings. All the best to you.

Re: Serene again...

Evan — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:11:10 GMT

Hello Greg,

I have a Serene but never used it for emails. I now have a data plan on my cell service and could try it out on my Serene.

I use my Serene less and less these days and right now it is parked about 7 miles away from me. Once I'm near it I'll give it a whirl and post my findings.

Unfortunately I have ATT and not T-Mobile.

Re: Serene again...

vikinger — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:31:49 GMT

Greg,

Firmware downloads and manuals are here on the Samsung site.

Graham

Re: Serene again...

Greg — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:31:48 GMT

Now come on, no need to be unpleasant. I thought you were one of the many on here that beats up on the Serene for not being "proper" B&O - which I guess it isn't, but it's far from the only B&O-badged product in that category!!! Just thought you were trying to be funny, no offence intended. The "don't give up your day job" phrase is an English colloquialism, meaning that if you were thinking of becoming a comedian, you should instead stick to what you're doing right now!

As it happens, I don't exactly have a day job right now due to very poor health for some years.

Also, I have already been down the Samsung route but they have no knowledge of the SGH-E910 either, so that was no help. The Samsung manual I found for this model was I'm sure almost identical to the B&O version. In any case, it's not something the manual will solve - I already had the phone set up, per the manual and T-mobile's original info, since 2006 happily able to receive emails. But this function no longer works - it times out.

I was hoping someone might have had a similar experience and know a solution, but apparently not. I'm sorry to bother everyone and apologies for troubling the forum. What an unfriendly place it's become, btw. Didn't used to be like this :-(

Re: Serene again...

DrDimitris — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:24:44 GMT

vikinger:

PS. Good advice above about telling networks/ dealers that it's a Samsung. There also used to be a better Samsung manual online for this phone than the one from B&O.

Thanks Graham, that is what i did tell from my own experience. He thought i was just pricking him....I am not sure if he ever had a day job...

Re: Serene again...

vikinger — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 05:43:17 GMT

Greg:
is anyone still using their Serene? And are you able to pick up emails on it?

Just gave up on mine after an erratic motor hinge failure. Mine was on Virgin, but I never got the email or browser settings to work correctly........ it was endlessly trying to connect but not succeeding. (But it did succeed in picking-up corresponding charges that were outside my network package!)

I got a free Blackberry as part of a Virgin deal and the Serene has become a display only item ever since!

Graham

PS. Good advice above about telling networks/ dealers that it's a Samsung. There also used to be a better Samsung manual online for this phone than the one from B&O.