Merry Christmas to everyone!

I have seen that at the Swiss Ricardo Internet auction you can now buy new Serenata phones with a 2-year B&O guarantee for a fixed price of CHF 450.- (see: http://www.ricardo.ch/accdb/viewitem.asp?AuctionNr=556602722&Catg=49374&ListingType=0&ListingSort=1&LanguageNr=0&PageNum=2 ).

I know that many B&O dealers here in Switzerland are currently offering Serenata as a "New Year sale" for 1/2 price, but the above CHF 450 offer is 1/4 of the official price! Is B&O having serious problems with selling Serenatas, or are we seeing something reflecting the "real value" of this telephone?

from my point of view I see two reasons:

 1. End of life for the product

2. B&O offered a very low price for a 10 box pack to the dealers which some of them now offer the their customers with just a very low margin 

I love the Serenata. Pop up the speaker in the office and listen to music WITHOUT headphones, brilliant! But it is "only" a (ultra)portable stereosystem, that can be used to make phone calls with. Nothing more, nothing less. Forget the iPhone jack-of-all-trades, the Serenata is not a multi-media phone that also can play music - this is what people expect, and in my experience most dealers are not very good at selling the Serenata as a high quality ultra-portable-stereo.

The Serenata was introduced by the Danes a second phone to people already using a smartphone in their daily routine, and with a twin-sim-card it does a great job. But, again, most dealers are not very gooding at stressing the excellence of the Serenata. I love mine, and it is by far the B&O-product that I use the most these days.

So at prices like these people should hurry! The Serenata is a hidden gem - but beware: I didn't like when I first saw it, texting is very bad, there's no camera, no youtube access... but live with it and it shines through. Get your music in your hand, with B&O elegance and sound quality to match. And, yes, you can make and receive calls (but that's about it), too.

Roger

The Serenata and Serene have been discontinued. The company is clearing stocks through a number of methods - pre-order a BS5 and you will be given a Serenata. They are actually rather nice phones - I had one to play with for a while and the sound quality through A8s was excellent. However they are just not as easy to use as my iPhone - texting is dismal and the stand alone speaker is a gimmick really.

I have just placed an order with my local dealer for the Beovision 7 40-inch with a beo 5 remote and they gave me a Serenata free with the purchase.  I currently own a iPhone which as stated above is way ahead of the B & O phone however i am still unsure whether to sell it or keep it as the sound quality of calls is superb and after all its a Bang & Olufsen.  Would be interested to know about the ability of the phone to takr a twin sim card though.  Might just try it out and see how i get on with it fro a while.  Has anybody who uses the B & O phone anything positive to say about it.

Carl 

 

Carl,

Unless you look at the Serenata as a portable sound system with the ability to make and receive calls, then you will, most likely, be an unhappy owner. Surfing the web, taking mega pixel photos, texting etc is not what the Serenata was designed for - so you will need a "business phone" in addition.

But the built-in speaker is not a gimmick. It is very practical in a hotel room, when taking a bath - or in a situation where blocking the world out through headphones are ideal.

Roger

Thanks Roger have decided to keep it for the present and am currently loading tracks on it via iTunes.  It takes a bit of getting used to but when used you know its the only B & O phone for miles around and everybody takes a peek at it!  Thanks again.  Will let you know how i get on with it in q while.

 

Regards 

Are twin sims available in the UK?