Customer Reviews

Sony Ericsson S500i Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, Memory Stick Micro Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Mysterious Green)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I bought this phone in purple - in support of pancreatic cancer awareness and because I wanted a quad band phone.

It is nice to look at, has a nice "feel", but the features are basic.

There is very little you can do with it in terms of the telephone aspect of it. I guess it is great for photos, especially since it has the photo editor. The screen is the best feature on this phone. It is big and performs well even in direct sunlight (a plus for the camera users). After 6 photos which I transferred from my Nokia I was told that the memory was full. My Nokia 6320 has loads of photos and music on it.

With regard to ringtones, you'd probably have to buy the memory card, or stick with what they have on the phone. I was not too enthusiastic about the ringtones the phone came with. I like naturelike sounds and classic ringtones. I read a review which said that Sony was targetting the younger folk (I am 45), so that accounts for the type of ringtones and graphics which are embedded in the phone.

The slide mechanism is sturdy, as is the keypad. The slits which represent the select and menu buttons can be a tad difficult if you have long nails, or large fingers (again the target was young folk).

The downsides are that the vibrating mechanism is weak and for some reason unknown to me, after 45 minutes of talking on it, the phone cuts off.

I love this phone I have had it two months now and have the say it is the best phone i have bought so far. The best part is the unusual ever changing themes that always has me pleasantly surprised one color during the day and by eight o'clock another one, then you have butterflies, fire flies and sometimes it is raining, it will change as the month changes it is a really nice feature. The photo and the video are of a good quality and it is easy to pull music to the phone from the computer.
Great little phone I love it.

I have owned this phone for over a year now and got to know it very well. Let's look at its pros and cons.

Pros:
1. Design is great: its stylish and sleek design allows for easy placement in pants pocket and very attractive looking while using it as a phone.
2. All of is features are pretty basic, as another reviewer pointed out, but gets the job done. After all this is a phone known as an MP3/camera phone only.
3. Graphics are are awesome! The 3 different Themes available are great in their own individual way and satisfy people's taste for expressing they own style.
4. Both the MP3 player and camera are great tools. Music quality is outstanding, as it should be expected from sony. The camera takes great pictures and has its own photo editing feature...great for picture messaging.
5. Battery life is very good as I use it for music playback all the time while commuting to/from work.

Cons: (My main complaints)
1. Music file transfer is annoying and not that user friendly. Trying to organize my music is a pain as the program does the job for me instead of allowing me to do so.
2. The shuffling of songs is HORRIBLE! With a 4GB card I get about 1,000 songs, which is good, but when in shuffle mode I get songs that had been already played and others go without ever being played for days! Manual search for the one song I want takes place. Sony def. has to work on this one!!!
3. While listening to music and a call or TXT Msg comes in, the music stops for a sec. or two and then resumes. I think Sony has to make it so when using the MP3 player and a call/txt msg comes in the music should continue and the phone should vibrate or play a light beep to announce such event has happened or at least provide the user with the options.

Hope you find this helpful. Please note that no feedback on keypad was offered as this is phone's feature is not for txt msging, that's if you do a lot of texting and web browsing.

Cheers!

This phone has a photo editor on it. You can turn your photos into black and white, has brightness and contrast, and you can send them to the internet. This phone works great with a Cingular SIM card. The only bad thing is that this phone is European, and doesn't support ringtone downloads, and I'm not sure how to make it support it yet. I am just going to have to play around with it.

Lookswise...it's lightweight. It's really cute. I would say it's more of a girly phone, but's it still very high end looking. The more I play around with my phone, I love it even more, and It's so user-friendly. My last phone was a Razr....glad to have upgraded.

If you need a phone to be handle with one hand, if your short vision it is not too good, its great because of the bright display and good size letter and numbers, and the size and weight of the phone its excellent.

It is a good phone... I mean I have this for 5 days now and I like the design and features. The camera is decent enough for casual pictures. If some people complain about the small keyboard well I don't see it as a problem as I have average hands. The volume of the speaker is better than my previous Motorola KRZR K1... I love the screen and its resolution its beautiful cant wait for transferring awesome wallpapers it. The PC interface as far as I went is pretty simple and accurate, as so is the phone's menu.
Oh and when your in a call, the other person sounds very clear as compared to my previous phone...

Cons: well its not a Iphone :) (there are no real cons for me)

For people who do a lot of texting, this is not the phone for you. I bought this phone from my local phone provider and after 5 months of proper use, the number keys 1 to 9 on my keypad cracked in the middle. When i went to get the keys fixed, it was termed a "company default" and that "it happens".
Also the prts with chrome paint on it, the paint starts flaking slowly after about a month of use..
Please think twice when buying, especially if needed for TEXTING. If not texting .. then this might be a good choice.

I've had my S500i for a couple weeks now. So far it's the best phone I've ever bought. I got a 2GB memory card to go with it. But the lighting effects are a really nice touch, since your phone can double as a very flashy and fancy mp3 player. (The earbud headphones that ship with the phone are of pretty good quality.) Some of the side light colors, like purple, orange, and pink, don't really look like they should but the others do quite well.

I had read a bunch of reviews before I bought the phone saying that the keys on the keypad broke fairly easily. But that problem existed on earlier versions of the phone. That problem has since been fixed and the keypad is very nice and easy to use.

My only complaint with the S500i is that you can't customize the Everchanging and Day and Night themes and choose your own colors for everything.

After going through 2 defective Motorola V3s, I decided to look at other brands. Sony Ericsson interests me the most because of its slick design and rich functionalities. The Everchanging theme is awesome, which changes based on day and time, and the light effect is equally amazing. The 2MP camera is OK since it does not have auto focus, but it is good for some spontaneous moments where you wish you have a camera on you. BTW, you definitely want to get a M2 card to store more data, I recommend 2GB or larger.

I have no complaint so far other than its expensive price tag, which seems to be the norm for SE phones anyway. Some people reported cracked keypads on earlier manufactured phones after months of usage, I hope they have address that issue.

Oh yeah, it is beautiful but it is also a grease magnet so if you want to keep that shine, get some cover on it. ;)

This phone is absolutely one of the hottest phones I have seen or bought. A lot of people have a problem with it saying that the buttons crack within a couple of weeks, but I have not encountered that issue. I mean I am a serious texter and hardcore gamer (have over 30 games on phone) and the buttons are just fine. The lighting system is very unique and so is the Themes for this phone. The music part of the phone is also great....I just don't have no complaints with this phone. Sony doesn't disappoint at all. GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1