clear and sharp display, sidelights, auto - changing theme, stylish design
Disadvantages:
rather difficult to use, average camera picture and sound quality
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Being one of the greatest phone manufacturers, Sony Ericsson introduce their best-selling products for over two-three years period, the W (Walkman) and K (Cyber-shot) series. Occasionally they still release low-end and smart phones. But they seem to forget their once-booming phone, T and S series.
Remember T610i and S700i? The two Sony Ericsson phones were once best-seller here in Asia. Now, in effort to promote those series, they are trying to, once again, release new phones of those classes. One of them is S500i, the phone so beautifully designed.
Design
The phone comes in sliding design, and four colors are available to choose from. The one I am about to review is Mysterious Green. I get this phone from my cousin who just opens a phone store in our hometown.The phone is almost the same design as W580i: slider and has luminescent lamp. But when we look closer, color scheme and keypad arrangement is very much different. What you get from W580i is "youthful" with its colorful lamps, and makes it look funky. The S500i looks elegant, stylish and mysterious.
Probably at first glance of S500i Mysterious Green we may question why it is named so, coz the only green seen here is merely the backlight of the center navigation key. The remaining case is black, with glossy surface at the front and doff at the back, silver buttons, and silver-grey border. What we may find after we slide up the phone, ouch yes, here comes the green color. Keypad buttons and platform are of the same color, metallic green. Perhaps that's the "mystery" of the green, since it takes some efforts to just see the green.
Features
To reinforce its "mysterious" value, it has auto-changing theme. This is an interesting feature and a nice touch indeed. I would say the themes for S500i are specially designed for this phone and they are terrific. Really fit the character of the phone.The theme can change from day to night. It can also recognize seasons and adapt it with the display. And when we navigate on the menu, it vibrates.
Certainly the display of 262,000 colors is great, sharp and clear. Wallpaper is specially designed with nice graphics. It also has sidelights, which can pulse when we receive a call, and we can choose either single or multiple colors for it.
Other features are just standard for middle-end phone. It's equipped with 2 MP camera, music playback, web browsing and RSS to mobile e-mail and other standard features.
Too bad it only comes with 12 MB internal memory. There is a slot available for M2, but the package doesn't come with it. With this small memory there is nothing much to do, unless we buy M2 on our own.
Performance
The camera picture is not as good as Cyber-shot, and the music is not as cool as Walkman series. Nevertheless, it's quite satisfying for S-series. I would give 7 out of 10 for camera and sound quality.The display is the strongest point put in this phone. The colors are not only clear, but so much alive. Perhaps this is the point to elevate selling. The lights are standard, nothing more to say about it.
For a sliding phone, it's quite big and heavy. The navigation key is framed and the frame is rather elevated. So sometimes it's rather difficult to press. Although it's nice to see the number-pad at a glance, but being so close and sticky with one another, 3 buttons at a row, makes it not that easy to press, and probably would make it susceptible.
Price
It's quite reasonable to buy the "Style" and "Sophisticated" from this phone for about $250, worth it the design.
Conclusion
I come to conclusion that though the phone is so wonderfully designed and looks elegant, the feature is not that promising. Furthermore, it's not that easy to use. But if you are looking for a stylish phone, then this phone is for you.
More details
Ease of Use
Difficult
Range of Features
Good
Reception Quality
Good
Design & Look
Excellent
Value for Money
OK
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design alive with the Sony Ericsson S500. The visuals on the desktop or phone menu can change automatically as the seasons pass or as day turns to night. Hidden illumi...
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