Sony Ericsson Z500
Average Ratings
Good, solid phone
I have owned this phone about a week now. I must say that it works better than I expected. The signal strength is better than anything else I have seen or used. Excellent, clear call quality. This is about my 10th cell phone in the past 10 years. It is a little wider than the average "toy" flip phones out there. I like this as it is like holding a phone, not some little teenager's fashion accessory. The speaker phone works great, and this phone is packed with features usually found on much more expensive phones. This phone can be easily used for mobile internet access with your laptop via a USB cable. You can easily move pictures to and from your computer and phone this way too. The camera and video are actually quite good quality for a phone. Those who complain about the camera quality have not viewed the pictures on a "real" screen. That is the only minor flaw on this phone, the screen. The color is great and both screens are adequate, but the screen is STN not TFT. That's why the pics do not look as good on the phone as one might expect. View them on your computer or send them to a TFT equipped phone and you will see how good they really are. The STN displays used are just not quite as brilliant and clear as TFTs, they are pretty close though. These screens use less battery power and help keep the cost down quite a bit. The phone is as light as its competitors, but it really feels much more sturdy and durable. The internal antenna is great also as it does not get in your way. The battery life is decent, but not quite what they claim. Using the camera, games, and other features drains it much faster. Just using it to talk and for standby, it will last several days. It has the new li-polymer battery, which is quite cool, supposed to be better than li-ion. Overall, this is an excellent phone for the money($50)though I would gladly pay $50 more for it if the screens were TFT. I highly recommend this phone to anyone, except kids who just want to show pics on their phone.
Great phone, great price.
I really like this phone. I researched a long time before I decided on this one. I knew I wanted a flip phone with a camera, photo caller ID, distinctive rings for each caller, etc. The price was right on this one.
PROS:
Camera-- Good quality, though it is a cell phone camera.) If you want to see a picture taken with this camera at medium size (320x240), go to http://amandaziegler.com/cell.jpg
OH, and the video it takes has SOUND.
Phone Book!!!-- It allows you to add 5 numbers, an email address, a Web site addres, a picture ID, a distinct ringtone, a voice command, business information, full address, and a memo for EVERY contact in your phone book. Amazing!
File Manager-- Makes it really easy to keep track of all your pictures, videos, ringtones, all in seperate folders.
The only reason I didn't give this phone a 5 is because of these things:
Battery life: Charged mine overnight Friday, was dying by Tuesday. Not too bad, but not what it claimed.
Ringers: The ringers that come with the phone are not very good.
Ordered a data cable online so hopefully I will soon be able to transfer ringers and pictures to and from the phone without paying Cingular's high prices.
All in all, it's a great phone and my friends are jealous of it. :)
I love this phone
I have been looking for an new phone for about a month
I found this phone and reviewed info about it
Ive had it for less than a week and I love! I think it has great pictures
video is a bit fuzzy but hey its a phone not a camera
Pros
ringtone composer
MP3 ringtones
easy to use
fast internet
great picture
cons
battery life is a bit short but ok
speaker phone could be a bit louder but I doubt I'll use it
Bad Phone and it is ugly!
Pros: It has a nice screen. and takes beautiful pictures.
Great reception!
Cons:
I gave this phone a .5 because you can barely hear the thing ring! Even when you turn it all the way up it is like a mouse.
Also i think the screen is way too small in comparison to the size of the phone.
Very Happy - Highly Recommended
My wife and I got one each as a free upgrade to our service plan with Cingular. Much, much, much better reception than our Motorola V180's!! This is just a better phone. And WOW all the crazy things this cat can do, take pictures, record video, record sound, make music, convert currencies, play golf, surf the net, do email, IM, keep a schedule, notes, task, alarm, timer, stop watch, wash, cook, and clean.
Pros for me:
Reception (signal strength and clarity)
Takes pictures and video (cool!)
Profiles (easy switch from car to work to home)
Easy to learn and use menu displays
Records sound (make my own ring tone)
Does email (I use email a lot)
Messaging (connection to daughter)
Alarm (when elect. goes out)
Phone Book (won't loose numbers)
No antenna (less to break)
Plays MP3's (so does my iPod)
Stylish (looks good to me)
Small (any smaller and I'd swallow it)
One-handed (easy open and use with one hand)
Sturdy (good feel when opening and closing)
Cons for me:
Picture and video are low quality but alright. But if you want great pictures buy a camera.
Wish I could transfer pics and video to PC w/USB, I don't care about BT or IR. I need to get a cable or something.
This is a great buy even if it wasn't free. Worth $150-$250. [...]
Ed. note: Removed inappropriate responses to other reviews
SE Does It Again! Great Phone!
This is a great phone. The display is aweseome, has great colors, good themes and the wallpaper animation is clear! It's easy to get where you want and find the things you want. The ONLY thing I don't like about the phone is the size. For the size it is I expected a bigger screen and outside external display.
Pros:
Good reception (I'm in the Seattle area)
Great software
Good camera for pictures and video
Fast Internet
Easy to customize
Cons:
Size
Don't like the keypad light (Amber color)
Overall, it's the phone you expect from SE and they continue to do a great job!
Worst ever
This possibly one of the worst phones ive ever had.
bad camera
bad video
atracts dirt
squeks when i flip it open
slow connection internet
and when you call out it loads what kind of phone does that
best thing is cingular gives it good reception
What a hunk of junk!
Well, the functionality of the phone is great, with it's many features...it's a great, fun phone...but, and this is pretty important, if you don't want a phone that looks all trashed out after only 6 months of having it, this is not the phone for you. While my Z500 still works great, the original manufacturer's casing is worthless, cheap, plastic that breaks, the paint chips, the plastic cracks and SONY ERICSSON WILL NOT BACK UP THE CHEAP, LOW QUALITY OF THE CASING. I tried to contact Cingular, who upon my initial try, told me they couldn't do anything to help me with the problem. I then proceeded to call Sony Ericsson and they told me while the phone does have a 1 year warranty, the cosmetic reason I was facing must be due to wear and tear on my own part. This is not true, as I have NEVER experienced such a cheap casing with any phone I've ever owned. Cingular did eventually offer an upgrade option to get rid of the crappy looking Z500. This phone is very cool, still works great, but looks like I pulled it out of a dumpster. It's almost embarassing to pull out in public....looks like trash!
Excellent Buy For The Money
I've had the SE Z500a phone on a 30 day trial from Cingular. No problems what so ever! With mail-in rebate, the up-front cost of the phone was $29. For a feature-packed phone (refer to all the features listed in the reviews), this is a real bargain! The main thing is that my cell phone functions very well as a phone. Unless one really needs Bluetooth, this is the only major feature that this phone is missing. I've compared this phone to many other popular makes and models, and I am impressed with how well it compares! The only Con that I readily share with a few other comments is that the internal display is not good under very sunny conditions outside, which can be worked around.
A Phone By Any Other Name...
The Z500 is a nice phone. I've been fooling around with it for some time now, and it is undoubtedly one of the better phones I've played with. The quality is good (as compared to my old phone, a Moto V220), and the screen is large and attractive looking. But there are a few problems.
PROS:
-Stylish-looking
-LOUD (when necessary)
-It's got a camera that can do video!!!
-External picture ID (for those who can remember faces, not names or numbers)
-E-mail with providers like BellSouth.net, Yahoo, etc.
CONS:
-"Bulky" (according to some people)
-Difficult to open with one hand (I don't have this problem; I guess my hands are strong)
If you decide to get this one, please note that other people do have different opinions, and I'm just one guy giving my "unbiased" opinion.
(For those who care, I got rid of my V220 not because it broke, but because when I put it on a soft surface, I missed many calls. Not anymore!)
