Sony Ericsson Z500
Average Ratings
Z500a = Just OK Phone
I have had this phone since Feb 05. I am not impressed with it. When opening the phone is seems to click loudly. It's large and bulky, it's not too user friendly.
Pro's
Lots of fun stuff on this phone.
Battery life is good
charges easily
Con's
Too big and bulky
Camera takes so, so pics.
The keys are flush with the cover and small. So you have to really push with your fingernail when using a leather cover.
The clamshell chips easily and looks really worn after just a few months.
The leather case has a strap that connects the top cover with the bottom cover, it gets in front of the camera if you aren't careful.
The headset plugs into the bottom of the phone. It can be bothersome to a business person.
The biggest problem is that I have had to have this replaced twice. It has inherent software glitches. SE will stand behind the product. I recommend the newest version, the Z520 over this. I am headed to the Cingular store to get one right now.
Overall, I feel that Sony will eventually make Ericsson a good product.
Piece o' Crap
I have had trhis phone for several months now and it has been junk from day 1. The camera takes crappy pics. If you want to send a pic as an mms or email.shut the phone off and restart it, stand on one foot and hum supercalifragilisticexpialidoscious. The email function only works when you pay SBC an extra 10 clams a month for an account with them. The phone goes blank peridically and you have to power down and reset it.
I believ it is a design flaw because they sent me a new phone which has exactly the same problems. My wife got the same phone and it stinks too.
If you read the specs the phone sounds great but have the features fail.
The ringtones are cool and the speakerphone works well. If you change to a custom cover the already crummy pic gets worse because most dont have the ring around the lens to stop scratches.
AWESOME!!
this phone is soo great!!
pros:
orange backlight that kinda flashes when it comes outta idle mode which is cool
good camera
outside color display
recordable ringtones
ringtones sound CRYSTAL CLEAR!!
totally customizable
cons:
bad battery, but a lithium ion 800mAh or higher if possible..
Amazing Phone
This phone was everything I was hoping for and more! The size as other reviews mention is a little big, but its not annoying at all. It actually helps you remember that your phone is there and you didn't forget it somewhere. All of the specs it mentions are AWESOME and I haven't found many major cons at all.
PROS:
Amazing durability
Great sound
Awesome reception-Long Island, NY with Cingular
Easy menus
Good Picture quality and capabilities(zoom, B+W, night mode, etc.)
Create ringtones by a music creator or sound recording
Picture ID
Easily maneuvered phonebook
Voice Dialing
External Display
Media Mall- Shop for games, ringtones, and more
Internet-(people say it lags, but for the 2 second wait for it to change, thats not very laggy for a wireless connection to a phone)
AND MORE
CONS:
Ring could be louder
Memory is lacking, some dumb pictures already on the phone can't be deleted.
Bad original ringtones but you can make your own or download some.
You have to press speakerphone, then press ok to a warning message.
Feel free to click my name (Rentar) and e-mail me if you want to ask questions.
i wanted so much to like this phone...
pros:
* excellent call clarity.
* speakerphone is nice. very nice. no complaints from friends to take them off it.
* menus are pretty intuitive.
* address book is very thorough and you can store a lot of information for each contact.
* themes are a neat concept.
* phone has a nice solid feel when opening and closing the flip.
* option to record a sound and then use it as a ringtone is cool!
cons:
* VGA camera is horrible! i know, i know, it's a camera PHONE, not a phone CAMERA. however, the images are some of the worst i've seen.
* inside screen display is "fuzzy". this is just a sony ericsson thing, i've heard. the colors and clarity of the screen are soft. i think SE does this to conserve battery life. kinda hard to see things on the screen in direct sunlight, or if you're not looking at it just right.
* games available from SE website are lacking.
* phone only comes with 7 or 8 ringtones.
* no bluetooth or infrared.
* battery life is NOWHERE NEAR the 10 hrs/250 hrs (talk/standby) it says on SE's website. not even close. talk time might be 3-4 at best.
the "eh, it could go either way":
* phone is kind of bulky. the thing reminds me of a giant, silver maxi-pad when it's open. you may or may not like this.
* plastic parts on the phone feel cheap. the finish on the plastic doesn't look sleek at all, but rather matte and really makes it look like a low-budget phone. it almost seems like this was a prototype phone and what i got isn't the final model! just a "draft".
this phone seems like it's packed with really cool stuff, and in some ways, it is. the specs on this phone are pretty impressive when you look at them. but, you have to ask yourself if you're the kind of person that's going to use all these features. are you going to send videos through MMS? are you going to listen to streaming audio through your phone? are you interested in ringtones and themes and games (if so, this really isn't the phone for you).
GREAT PHONE
This phone ( SE Z500 ) is the best phone i have had yet. I recently had a moto v60i..... terrible phone compared to this phone... and i paid half the price for triple the quality!!
PRos:
1.strong signal almost everywhere
2.strong.. not bulky
3.crisp/clear camera
4. just the whole thing is great.. best choice yet!!
cons: none yet
in all... i do think se has done it again!!!!
Should have got a Nokia
So I've had this phone for about a month now and I still have yet to find one redeaming quality that could possibly counter all the bad ones. My previous 2 phones were both Nokias, neither of them a flip like i had previously owned. They were not much to look at but the worked very well, always had great reception, clear audio and very user friendly. My contract was up with ATT so i thought i would try the Sony flip beacuse its looks were more appealing and had a lot of nice features. However, problems arose from day 1.
Pros:
- External screen displays picture caller ID
- Downloaded ring tones are loud and clear
- Quality of animation is decent
But that is about as far as the good qualities of the phone go.
Cons:
- Buttons are recessed and hard to press quickely
- Button recognition lags to the point of frustration when typing in passwords and sending text messages
- Dust gathers quickely under external display and is impossible to remove
- Spearkphone is difficult to activate during a call
- Phone continually stalls and requires removal of the battery to restart
- The back cover is difficult to take off in order to remove the battery when restarting the phone
- Camera quality is poor
- No light to accompany the camera
- Low speaker volume in the earpiece
- Feels and looks cheap
- Too big considering the size of almost every other flip phone
- Battery life is terrible, both talktime and standby, i find myself having to recharge it daily
- Finally, this phone turned itself off ealier today and refuses to turn back on and that is what finally motivated me to write this review. I am usually not one to complain but i have been so unhappy that i felt i should warn all others who are thinking about buying it. I am planning on exchanging it ASAP and hope to get another Nokia.
SE did it again!
I got this phone 48 hours ago...and in those 48hours, the phone was in my hand for 47 of those hours. It has so many features to keep a gadget freak like me busy. The screen is crisp and clear...and the TFT is a huge improvement over my last phone (SE T616 with a STN). The camera is really good, captures alot of details. The speaker phone is nice, but not as loud as Nextel/Motorla phones. The mp3 tones are a cool feature, and they are nice and loud. I was surprised that it didn't have Bluetooth or even IrDA...good thing i have a wire for my PC. This is definitely a phone i will enjoy for a long time.
Pros:
Sleek design
Crisp display
Detailed camera
Speaker phone
MP3 Ringtones
Color outer display
Superb battery life
User friendly interface
Cons:
No Bluetooth/IrDA
Limited Accessories
No holster/case with phone
Hard to open with one hand
I love it!!!
I just recieved this phone a few days ago. It works great. Good reception with cingulars service. Speaker phone could be better. But compared to my cousins lg l1200 which never works at all this phone rocks.
Pros:
Video feature is nice
Ringtone Composer
Speaker Phone
Picture I.D.
Cons:
A bit big
midi ringtones could be better
speakerphone and battery could be improved
No bluetooth
Pictures and video are a bit bad
In the end I love it
Glad I waited. . .
I've been researching phones using this site for several months now. I had been waiting for Cingular to come out with flip/camera/speakerphone with EDGE. I didn't need BT. The Z500 seemed like it could be the one. I've never had great luck with the Motorola's, but would have purchased their Razor if it was more affordable. I've been very satisfied with my Nokias, but I wanted a flip and could wait no longer for their release.
Four days ago I went to my local Cingular store. The Z500 wasn't on display, but the salesperson said he just received some today. I had never had an SE phone before, but my research indicated they were good phones and this model seemed to have most of the features I wanted. All I needed to do was to see it in person, hold it my hand, slide it in my back pocket, check the menu, make a call on it, use the speakerphone, check the camera and I knew I had to have it! It cost me less than $100 and then tere's a rebate on top of this.
I have used it fairly extensively over the past 4 days. The menu proved simple to learn and easy to navigate. I've sent and received text and picture messages, phone to phone and e-mail. I've made many calls. The speakerphone seems crystal clear and the volume quite good. The handset volume is great and you can actually cradle the phone between your neck and shoulder so you have both hands free. The camera is easy to operate and picture quality is what you would hope for in a phone.
Given the above, I think overall the Z500 would be a great choice for any Cingular subscriber!
