Sony Ericsson Z500
Average Ratings
Reliable and durable phone but very basic
Pros:
Very durable
Nice feel when talking and navigating
Excellent speaker both ear and ringtones
Cons:
No Bluetooth or IR
STN display (TFT would have been nicer)
scratches easily
Overall it was an excellent phone for the basics without any special quirks.
It's been a good ride
I've had this phone for nearly 3 years now and it has served me faithfully. Bear in mind that the new features that have come along since 2004 make it not so glamorous anymore but it doesn't deserve to be slammed for that.
Bottom line: If SE added Bluetooth and Walkman to this phone I would buy another one in a heartbeat; or if AT&T would re-release this phone as is, I'd seriously consider it. Here's why:
Pros:
-Extreme Durability
It's a tank! I carry it in my hip pocket wherever I go. It travels with a lot of junk in there and has been squeezed and poked mercilessly. I've also dropped it a few times.
-Inexpensive
It wasn't the cheapest at the time, but it did go on free specials periodically and now it's so old that they should pay you to take it if it's tied to a contract. I'm frugal with my money so this was a perfect fit.
-Loud ringer/earpiece
I don't know how it stacks up against other ones, but I can hear it in pretty loud surroundings and it is much louder than the Motorola V180 I tried out between my Nokia 5125 and this one. It's ringer was useless sometimes.
-Clear call quality
Never had a complaint.
-Powerful yet nearly silent vibrator
A good feature when sitting in a quiet classroom. (Other college students, notice.)
-Good displays, inside and out
The external display shows all the important information and is easy to see.
-Menus/interface
This is the reason I won't buy anything other than another SE for now. I've been trying other phones as this one is getting old, but they all fall short of my SE. It's easy to get around this phone with few keystrokes.
I could go on, but you may have stopped reading already. I've got to talk about cons.
Cons:
-No Bluetooth
I can't exchange ringtones with friends or use wireless headsets A cheap data cable is nice to have.
-Locking up
Seldom does this on its own. Might if I drop it. Better than many out there.
For the record, This phone is thicker but smaller than RAZR.
Decent But Could Be Better
I got my Z500 when I renewed my contract with Cingular in 2005. My Z500 was the promotional "Star Wars" edition, which came pre-loaded with a short video, several pictures, a few soundclip ringtones, and the "Revenge Of The Sith" trial game. It also came packed with a coupon for a free movie ticket to "ROTS", as well as one for a Star Wars faceplate. Used the movie ticket coupon (sweet!!), but never got the faceplate after mailing in the coupon (grrr!!).
As for the phone itself; I experienced the same shortcomings as most other Z500 owners. To me, it wasn't as bad though, or maybe I just didn't let it get to me. The user interface was easy to navigate, the camera was decent enough for a camphone, and I never experienced many dropped calls, if any. Overall, it was a basic phone that did its job in being "basic".
The only frustrating gripe I really have is, again, the same thing that many others here have noted... the dreaded firmware "crashes". This only happened to me while viewing pictures. As I clicked and viewed each one, the screen would sometimes go totally blank, and I'd have to click the button a few times to get it to show up again. Very frustrating!
I wish I could write a better review, but I'm too lazy, and I'm surprised I even got this far. Basically put, if I had to buy this phone again, I wouldn't. It's not worth the frustrations of constant firmware "crashes".
I sometimes browse eBay to see what the prices are for these Z500's, and how pathetic it is to see some cellphone dealers trying to unload this thing for anything more than $25 (seriously, I wouldn't go paying more than that for this phone if I were you).
If you're looking for a back-up phone or just a cheap temporary replacement, go for it. Also consider the Motorola SLVR L6, which is a really great in-between model of the older L2 (no camera) and newer L7 (has iTunes).
Good phone, but there are other phones better
Good phone, but just like the title says, there are a lot better phones out there than this one. Also, like all phones, it has it's pros and cons:
Pros:
>Reception is great. I get full service in a lot of places where others don't get much if any signal at all.
>Downloads ring tones, wallpapers, games, etc. very quickly.
>Changable face plates aren't really a pro, but it's nice to have the customization option available.
And now the
Cons:
>Very bulky phone for a clam shell. Better phones out there just as good, but smaller.
>Camera: normally a good thing, not with this phone. Camera quality freakin sucks. The videos aren't bad, but the pictures would look better carved in stone than on this phone.
> The dang thing laggs sometimes and shuts off by itself.
>It's got the stupidest ring tones on a phone that I've ever heard.
>Freezes to where you have to remove the battery just to get the stupid thing to work again.
The phone is alright. Sony is a great company for electronics. I have a PS2, my Subwoofers in my car are Sony Xplods, my DVD player is Sony, and my Phone is Sony. This phone would have been cool back in the 19th century, but come on folks, face it. WE'RE IN THE 20TH CENTURY!!! If you're someone who wants/ needs a phone with some freakin sweet stuff and you want a Sony Ericsson, buy either the S710i or the W600i/W550i. Either one are great phones from Sony. I myself am going to upgrade to one of those two hopefully soon. If you're an older person who doesn't know/want to work one of the newest phones b/c you'll be spending half of your time looking through the manual to see how the blasted thing works, then this phone would be for you. As for me, this phone really sucks and I need to upgrade.
The SE "cheap" version
Im a ES Freak.I get this phone the last year and have to reclaim the gwarante one time. This is not the better SE phone but was a good friend by more than 5 hours of use a day...
Pros:
Hard body
Loud Sound
Great reception
Ideal for a people with no too much money
Contras:
The paint rash easy
No bluetooth
Too Big
Keys not very resintent to chat
Bad resolution
I dont like it..
Well I've had this phone for a while and I've gotten used to it. Though I still don't like it.
Cons:
-Size is HUGE.. my friends call it the brick
-Ugly orange light and ugly cover
-Freezes up a lot
-Turns off and on by itself
-Doesn't always charge
-Annoying little click sound when it opens or shuts
-Buttons too small and hard to work
-Camera is sucky
-Sends and receives late text messages
Pro:
+Loud ringtones (well for me)
+I like how you can record your own song and make it a ringtone
+Large memory
+Alarm system
+Phone book capacity
OK - certainly not great
I have had the z500a from Cingular for a little over a year. The thing I like best about it is it's email capabilities. I can check my Yahoo! mail from it. It will download the headers only, so as to not waste the kB I have to pay for, and I can only read that way the specific emails I want to. Compared to literally every other camera phone I've seen, this one is sub-par. The pictures are of pretty poor quality. And the biggest problem is it now restarts itself about 1 out of every 4 times I answer the phone. I.e. it'll ring, I'll either open it to answer it, or push the answer button, and the OS will restart! It's really annoying. It'll occasionally do it at other times to. It sucks to not be able to answer 25% of your calls! And when dialing, I'd say 1 out of every 5 or 6 times it'll reset when the other person picks up!!
Pros: Email capabilities are GREAT
Operating system
Ringtones (mp3) sound awesome
Cons: After a year it started resetting regularly
Large and blocky; not at all sleek
Overall you just get the feeling Sony Ericsson rushed this one to the market a little before it was finshed being developed...
Not for me
I owned another Sony product, and I figured I would give this one another try, there were no other free phones that I liked. So what the heck right. After a month of having the phone I was selling it. Very slow to navigate and the phone lacks features that make many other phones very useful. Luckily the phone was stolen and I got to get something to replace it, but as I stated in my last review, I gave Sony another try and I was let down again. I will have to really stick to just about anything else.
a phone not worth it,
I bought this phone in june, and im not happy with it at all, first, i have no service with cingular in conyers,ga, the phone screen shakes when the buttons are pressed, and the camera makes a loud click noise when taking pictures, and the phone is so bulky, it is hard to hold and just not a good choice:
PROS:
Front and Back Covers are changeable,
Loud Ringtones,
Easy to navigate menu
Different color camera modes
No Outside Antenna
Cons:
look above
This Phone STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i got this fone about a year ago... and half the time it doesnt charge. The screen always turns blue and freezes which uses up the battery. also, the battery life is horrible!!! The first one i got the camera got all screwed up and i had to get a new one. my sister and people my mom work with have the same one and there screen turns blue all the time as well. DON'T BUY THIS FONE IT IS HORRIBLE!!!
