Customer Reviews

Sony Ericsson W580i Black Phone (AT&T)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I was up for a two year contract renewal for ATT and for months now I have wanted an iPhone but I've waited for the 3G, or at least the second generation, iPhone... my trusty SE s710a was still good but I figured if I have to sign a new 2yr with the iPhone anyway, why not get a free phone out of it?

After looking at the lackluster selection of phones by ATT, I was captured by the style of the w580i. So I figured I would give it a try... and I am not regretting it a bit!

This phone is much smaller than the monster I had before, and unlike older SE phones, the UI is very snappy. If you read most online reviews, they speak the truth. The keypad is small but after a little while you get used to it. T9 is much improved over my previous phone.

The camera is OK, nothing special. But it's better quality then the iPhone!

Call quality is superb. Feels comfortable in your hand during prolonged periods of time. I have had many friends say that the sound quality on their end is much improved over my previous s710a. The loudspeaker on this can get LOUD but it's good that way!

The Walkman function on here is killer! I works sort of like an iPhone's in how smoth it functions. There's a dedicated WKM button, anytime you need to go to the app, click it and you jump to the WKM program, click it again and you go right back to where you were!

The sliding function has been solid so far, only time will tell if it lasts. The keys have been reported to crack easily- one reason I'm not discarding my s710a yet... we'll see. But that's not a reason to not buy this phone. I love it to death right now and it will deffinately hold me over till I get a 2nd or 3rd gen iPhone!

BTW the SanDisk 4GB MemoryStick Micro M2 card works perfectly fine with this phone. And since the phones memory is only about 14MB, it's DEFFINTELY worth the extra cost to get one.

UPDATE 02/2008: After using this phone daily for several months now, I am still loving it. The walkman is somewhat solid, and file transfers from the phone and a iMac is smooth. Pictures look good, especially in daylight- night shots are very unimpressive.

I hate the the ATT Internet button on the front. Both shortcut buttons are not re-assignable, so every time i click that button it tries to connect to the internet, which i disabled... very annoying. But nothing to keep me from recommending this phone for the price you can get it with,

Constuction has been holding up. The plastic is clicking a little, but I think it will be OK. The screen is amazingly crack/scratch resistant.

Phone call quality isnt as stellar as I first said, but much improved over the s710. I think real flip phones still have better phone quality. Real flip phones also have a much worse UI, which for a texter is more important.

4GB Flash card works without a hitch. Still my phone of choice to hold me over till iPhone 2.0, sometime in Summer/Fall 2008

A long-time Motorola phone user now converted. Not only is this phone lightweight and amazing looking, it's feature packed.

Pros:

- Crystal-clear calling. No static and loud when needed.
- The screen is amazing. The resolution is awesome. By far the best I've ever seen on a phone this size.
- This phone is tiny; in a good way. Super-slim and tucks nicely in your pocket. Being that it's a slider, you'll never have to worry about pocket-dialing. :)
- The software is very easy to navigate. This is nicely improved over the Motorola interface of my older RAZR.
- The MP3 player rocks; no pun intended. The Walkman software lets you sort by Artists, Albums, Tracks, Playlists and more. This is light-years ahead of the my old RAZR's MP3 player. This one rivals any standalone MP3 device I've used.
- The stereo headphones that comes with it include a 3.5mm adapter. While the included headphones sound great, this adapter gives you the flexibility to use your Bose, Shure or other stereo headphones. A very nice option.
- Unlike "some" other sliders, the camera is protected and kept under cover when the slide is closed. This works great in keeping dust off the lens.
- The 2.0MP camera is actually pretty good. It takes great outdoor photos.
- I LOVE the fitness/step counter. It measures distance in steps and calculated miles along with the calories you've burned. It also keeps a daily average and each days results.

Cons:

- No 3G
- Sony Proprietary Memory Stick Micro M2 versus easy to find and less expensive MicroSD
- No LED Flash or Photo Light

In conclusion, if you are looking for a super-slim phone with great call quality and superb music capability, look no further. This Sony wears the Walkman name with pride.

Note: I recently bought a SanDisk SDMSM2-4096-A11M 4GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) and it works perfectly. 4GB of music!!!

I had a z525a for some time, and after I experience the withe screen of the death, I was not really leaning towards a SE phone again...but, I gave it a try for an upgrade (and a 2 years contract extension).

PROS:
*nice look. black and orange go along really well.
*great screen. excellent resolution, super bright even at lowest brightness setting.
*nice sound quality, both for phone calls and ringtone quality.

CONS:
*the phone feels somewhat a bit cheap. it's not as light as let's say a LG chocolate, but parts feel like they could come off anytime. time will tell.
*keypad is SMALL. if you're a TXT freak, forget about it, you wont like it. doesnt matter to me.

CANT TELL YET
*battery life: just went thru one charging cycle, I'll exhaust the battery and I'll update the review.

Overall, a really good phone. not 5 stars because of the cheap feeling sometimes (too bad given the awesome appearance of the phone). the phone can be unbranded easily (google will help you) to get the original firmware without ATT limitations. (caution: this WILL void the warranty).

NOTE ON ATT CONTRACT EXTENSIONS

pretty smooth process. Amazon ships the phone and a new sim card (a 3G compatible one, which doesnt matter since this phone doesnt support 3G). you need to call ATT customer support, provide them with the phone serial # and the new SIM card number. insist on the fact it's an upgrade, and you wanna keep your current phone #. they'll deactivate your old sim in the 10 min, and activate the new one, with the same number.

I'm not going to repeat what you can read above other than what is really, really special about this phone over others.

It is a slider phone, instead of a flip, so I can have it open on my car's dash and it's slim to fit in any pocket. The buttons are small, but we are all used to that by now. Sure it also has the obligatory camera and video, but it is 2.0 mega-pixels which is better than most. It provides support for "PictBridge technology" so you can print your photos without the need of a PC, but again, 2.0 mega-pixels is good for the internet, built not great for printing out.

It is a Walkman that shuffles the songs with just a shake of your wrist. With the "TrackID" service, you just identify any song that you can hear by just recording a bit of the song (using the microphone, like at `Starbucks'). Later, you can send the file for recognition. It gives you the name, artist and album right to your phone. That's cool.

You have FM radio access and a slot for extra memory for songs, pics, video, etc. The ear buds are actually good quality and are attached along with a microphone (for hands free or finding that bit of song). It has all your high-speed mobile internet access, web browser, email, messaging, Java support needs and plenty of the basic games and is "Bluetooth" compatible.

If you like listening to music while working out, the integrated motion sensor counts your steps, your calories and monitors your running speed, distance and time. Your workout results are stored in your phone so you can monitor your progress.

There is even a calendar, place for notes, an alarm, a calculator, stopwatch and timer! There are plenty of good free ring tones and more you can buy on-line. There's more!

But what I like best is this phone has one of the cleanest, clearest and brightest (adjustable for night) screens available. I intentionally bought this so I can use my "Allen Sports GPS" system with it. It just has everything but that silly kitchen sink!

Background: Over the past two months, I have spent a great deal of time debating between whether to get the Sony Ericsson W580i or the LG Shine CU720. After making numerous threads at various forums regarding this question, reading countless reviews, watching many videos, looking at hundreds of pictures, and mapping out the pros and cons of each one multiple times, I have settled on the Sony Ericsson W580i. Since my family just got a family plan with ATT (3 lines/550 minutes shared) and one of my sisters got the Shine, I was able to do a comparison between the phones.

Battery Life: The claim that Sony Ericsson has poor battery life, in short, is complete bull ****. Those that say they had short battery life... you just got a lemon (or are trying to reason yourself out of the fact that buying a shine was actually a poor decision). My OTHER sister, who also got a Sony Ericsson, also gets great battery life with hers. Rather than the claimed "3-4 day charge" that many people on this forum and others are claiming, I have found that the phone will last over a week (11-13 days). The LG Shine, which is said to have poor battery life, disappoints: its battery life is indeed very short. The papers that the LG Shine comes with claims that battery life is around 3 hours of talk time, up to 240 hours (10 days) of standby time, is standard marketing bull ****: through a test of 10 different charges with three different batteries, the phone has lasted no more than 3 days before it required a charging.

SE: 10/10 Shine: 3/10

Durability: People say the LG Shine has a stronger build than the Sony Ericsson, but if you actually compare the two, you find that you cannot actually compare the two... Why? The SE is a plastic phone; the LG shine is a plastic phone with metallic components. One thing that is not usually noted is that the Shine actually has VERY little metal in its body; it's only the battery cover and some of the front. The LG shine doesn't really feel that much more durable than the SE. If you drop the shine, you will certainly damage the screen, and/or scratch the body, and/or break the phone. With something plastic, eg. Sony Ericsson, a drop will do no more than give a few scratches. Regarding the slider mechanism, the LG Shine's "snaps" when you open and close it, whereas the SE's slider is not as snappy. Due to the difference in the way that the phones slide, it isn't really accurate to say that one feels more durable than the other. Since the durability was one of my biggest concern in getting the phone, I did a test of each phone upon cracking open the box: I opened and closed each phone 300 times. Results: The LG Shine's slider remained the same; the SE's slider got smoother after the test.

SE: 9/10 Shine: 6/10

Fingerprints/Scratchability: The claims that the Shine is a fingerprint magnet could not be more true. The Shine cannot stand to be touched at all. Walking around with the Shine put in my side jeans pocket for a day, the Shine went in looking stellar and came back looking pretty poor. The back plate had obviously been rubbed on, the front plate exhibited small, but noticeable scratches. I'm sure you could prevent the Shine from getting scratched by getting a screen protector and/or case, but the hassle of one is not something that I'd want to deal with (not to mention such protection would take away the "beauty" of the Shine). The Sony Ericsson, as one may predict, does not scratch easily. Same jeans, same walk, and the SE still looked great after. There was something that looked like a small scratch on the front screen on the SE, but nothing a wipe could clean off. Speaking of which, with the LG Shine, you cannot wipe the phone with any shirt; it will scratch if the fabric of the cloth/shirt is rough. A BIG reason people get the Shine is because it looks good. Well, if you don't take care of it like a newborn baby, it's going to look like **** and ipso facto, it was a poor decision to buy the phone for its looks.

SE: 9/10 Shine: 1/10

Keypad: People always complain about the keypads of the Sony Ericsson and the LG Shine and say how small they are and how difficult it is to text with them... Most of these complainers are complaining from hearsay (they repeat what they read/hear from others, not from their own experience). The problem of cracking keypads is also a huge concern for potential buyers of the SE. First, to address the keypad. The size of the keypad is very usable for texting and other usage. I have 6'2" and have large hands and I can still manage to comfortable use the phones' keypads. Texting with both is very easy (albeit not as easy as texting on a RAZR). The SE's keypad is not as responsive as the Shine's, meaning the click down are not as solid, and that the row of numbers are connected so that one press on a number slightly depresses the row, but nonetheless, it is very solid. The LG Shine's keypad is like a smaller version of the RAZR. Regarding the cracking keys on the SE, I performed a test to see if this rumor was true. Over a period of 2 days, I had the phone off and during my spare time (which is a lot since it's summer), I've been clicking away at the keys (with a good amount of pressure I might add), and the keys exhibit no sign of cracking. Clearly the cracking keys is an issue with older phones (which you could potentially still buy if the reseller of your phone has old stock).

SE: 9/10 Shine: 9/10

Navigation: Those that say navigation on the Shine is difficult are clearly retarded: physically or mentally. The joystick on the Shine takes no practice to nail. It is very easy to use, and is not too small. The SE, with no joystick, as imagined, is also very easy to use. My only caveat with the SE is that there's no dedicated end call button like my old Nokia. The numbered menus in the Shine are very easy to use.

SE: 9/10 Shine: 9/10

Reception/Sound Quality: I live in Northern California in a well populated city, and everywhere I go, I get 5 bars with the SE and from 3 to 4 bars with the Shine. I have found the number of signal bars that you get has a big impact on the call quality (as it should)... The Shine frequently echoes what the other person says, and a background static seems to be present in all calls. To ensure that I didn't receive a lemon shine, I tested a friend's shine and sure enough, it was the same. My friend told me they didn't notice the static (he probably got use to the poor call quality)... The SE's reception and sound quality it top notch. No complaints whatsoever here. Even with 3 bars (in a tunnel), the call was still strong.

SE:10/10 Shine: 5/10


Features: SE wins hands down. Read the features at each phone's respective website; I won't waste your time here. The LG Shine is the most basic of phones. The only thing its got over the SE is 3G. The Shine is all looks.

SE: 10/10 Shine: 2/10 (absolutely pitiful for a phone be so lackluster in features)

Other concerns and notes:
- The speaker on the SE kills that one which is on the Shine
- Both phones have ringtones are loud enough to be heard
- Both phones can [be modified to] receive games and , but with the SE, you have more options.

Ok, if you're like me and you think that w810i is/was the perfect phone and thinking if this phone is any good, then I suggest you read the rest of the review. I'm gonna strictly compare this phone to my old w810i

The good:
1. Screen! you have to see it to believe it. Amazing clarity and quality. Blew the W810i away!
2. Smaller (thinner) than the W810i
3. Speaker is on the front side of the phone, so if you put the phone on the bed or carpet, you can still hear the speaker loud and clear.
4. Internet/Media Net is improved. Since resolution of the screen is way higher, you can see more text without scrolling all the time. Also it now has a progress bar when you're loading a page.
5. Walkman. This phone version's walkman (music player) is a lot easier to use than the old one. I also feel the sound quality is better on this phone. I now also listen my mp3 in my car through this phone.
6. When you have your bluetooth earpiece connected and you press the answer key on the phone, it'll default to the bluetooth (which is nice for me) but you'll also be asked if you want to transfer it to the phone
7. Picture quality of the camera is better on this phone
8. Holds more text messages (my w810i can only handle 200 text). I don't know the exact limit yet cause I haven't reach it
9. Five alarm set. You can configure each alarm however you like.
10. You can set your task as a "call task". So it's easier without having to go back and find the actual contact in the adrdress book.


The bad:
1. One of the first thing I noticed was the phone feels flimsier. When I first started playing with it without sliding it open, it makes some creaking sound
2. Texting! =( If you're a heavy texter, you'll be disappointed on how hard it is to text on this phone especially with one hand, mainly because the button is flushed, this part of the phone also very thin.
3. If you're a fast texter , you'll notice that it lags when you try to text fast.
4. Battery life is worse on this phone. I have my brightness all the way down to 50% and still worse than my old phone
5. No flash on this phone. This is really a down side for me since I used the flash as a flash light all the time on my old phone.
6. When paired to my plantronics 640, the bluetooth range is worse on this phone.
7. No little mirror next to the camera to take a picture of yourself

So all that said, if you ask me if it is worth it to upgrade from w810i to w580i my answer will be Yes! The screen and feature upgrade are definitely worth it.
On the other hand, you might want to take into consideration if texting and having a handy flash light is a main priority for you.

At first I wanted a flip phone, like the Krazr v9. However, it was between it and this Sony. I went with the Sony because of how it looked. I am known to toss my phone into my purse and forget about it for days, so the slider left me worried that I would end up scratching the screen to hell. A valid fear because this screen will smudge and scratch almost instantly. However, what I did was get a small peel and stick screen protector, like that clear plastic you see on a lot of electronics to keep them pristine, and that took scare of the smudges and the scratches worry. The keypad IS a little small. I wish they made it either bigger or the buttons more distinct so that you could see what you were pushing instead of guessing. Your fingertip covers the buttons pretty well, but once you get used to it, it's fine. This is not a phone for texting unless you have very delicate fingers. Sorry but that's true. It IS a great phone if you want an all in one type phone without the BlackBerry charges or getting a SmartPhone. The browser is pretty nice. Not the best but not the worst. The Walkman feature is pure eyecandy. Why get an Ipod if you can pop in a 2-4GB memory card into the phone? (Yes it does pause the music when you get an incoming call) The display is pretty nice, it's large enough and the menu options are pretty straight forward. If you don't like reading manuals this phone is pretty easy to nagivate by trial and error. It has a lot of bells and whistles that might seem useless, like the different lighting features, some are nearly identical. You can make your own ringtones with the MusicDJ. You can make videos complete with text and music soundtrack with VideoDj. This phone has a great camera. I would have liked a flash, but it does have nighttime mode and you can edit your photos ON the phone with PhotoDj. Adjust light, contrast, etc. Even add frames and clip art. The computer interface is beyond easy. You plug in the USB cable and treat it like any external harddrive. Sony even makes it easy for you and already has the folders for Music, Video, Ringtones, etc., ready. All you do is click and drop. It does allow for your own MP3 ring tones, as long as they are 35 seconds or less. As far as it being a slider and doing some accidental dialing, all you need to do is put it on lock mode. What that means is after a few seconds of non-use the keypad becomes locked and you need to push two buttons (one after the other) to unlock the keypad and dial, or just slide the phone open, but that feature isn't as filmsy as it sounds since the slider pushes back slightly so it doesn't slip open by accident. Overall a good phone nine or eight and a half out of ten.

I bought the 4GB memory card as suggested by other reviewers and it works great! A big part of why I purchased this phone was because I was tired of carrying a phone and an iPod when I went running. Over the last 10 years I've only owned Motorola or Nokia phones, so I was a little worried about the quality and if it would last as long. Only time will tell, but I'm really not concerned about it now that I have the phone. I would recommend getting the little adapter to plug in your own headphones if you have a pair that you really like. They're only a few bucks and have the antenna to get FM radio. Most vendors won't say it has the antenna because not all compatible phones have the radio feature... but it does work. The headphones that come with the phone are good, but the wires are an odd length to use with your own set (and odd for running).

Things I don't like:
At first I really didn't like the menu screen because you can't personalize it by deleting or moving the icons around. I got over that (sorta). Once I setup my phone the way I wanted it, I use the "shortcut" buttons on the front of the phone for most things anyway. Using the menu isn't too bad if you only have to go there once in a while.

I don't like how the bluetooth headset connects with the phone. If you turn on your headset during a call, it doesn't automatically transfer your call to the headset. Nor does it prompt you to transfer, so you have to hit a few buttons to get it there. It DOES ask if you want to transfer your call to the phone every time you start a call with the headset on. Should be the other way around if you ask me. I would have liked it to be more intuitive as my other phones were, but I guess you get used to it with time. It's still really annoying!

The battery life is not very impressive either. I thought about getting a spare battery, but I'm afraid I'm going to break the battery cover each time I take it off or put it on. Once that sucker is on, it's definitely secure!

I'm giving this phone 5 stars because I really love everything else. I usually just want to know what people DIDN'T like about a product when reading a review, so there you go. Pictures are beautiful, music player is awesome, love the address book features, phone looks great... I could go on and on. I would definitely recommend it!!

I recently upgraded to this phone from the SE w810i. The w580i is about the same size as the w810, but a little thinner. The slider function works well, but definately makes the phone feel less solid than a candybar phone. The body is a little bit wobbly when extended and I don't want to think about what would happen to it if dropped on a hard surface.

The screen is bright and higher resolution than the w810, and looks like it's covered by a plastic surface right on top of the lcd, rather than plastic cover "hovering" over the screen. This is good because it doesn't look like any dust can get under the screen.

The sound quality on this phone is surprisingly very good, especially considering the slim area where the earpiece is located. Call voice quality is noticably clearer than on my w810i. The "loudspeaker" located in the middle of the d-pad can be set very loud. It's almost too loud at the highest setting as it causes a lot of distortion on music and speaking at higher levels. The new walkman music player is an improvement on the older one in the w810. It's very straightforward and easy to use. The shake feature is pretty gimmicky, but it does work if you like holding a button and physically shaking your phone instead of just pushing the "next" button.

I like the auto lock when slid closed and auto answer when slid open features. The menus/interface are typical of every sony ericsson phone, which is a good thing. You can set the LED light effects to flash in a variety of colors when recieving a call and you can change the default LED colors using different "themes" that can be downloaded. Unfortunately only the the LEDs on the sides of the phone can be changed. The middle of the d-pad stays bright orange and the keypad stays bright white whenever the phone is lit up. It would be nice to be able to change these too, but this is more of a "fun" feature anyway so it's not critical.

The only dissapointing thing about this phone is the camera. The w580i lacks any sort of light-assist LED for the camera lens. The light on the w810 would never replace a true flash, but it was nice to have in a dark environment since it allowed you to at least take a picture, as opposed to taking a picture of darkness.

The good news is the lens is covered and protected by the back body of the phone when slid closed. This is a feature the w810 lacked and its lens was perpetually covered in gunk. The camera is a respectable 2 megapixels, as was the w810's, but it appears the lens in the w580i is even a little smaller than the w810's already pinhole-sized lens. The result is that the pictures from the w580i are noticably more blurry and muddled. The pictures from the w810 are quite bit sharper.

Just about everything in the w580i is an improvement over the w810i, with the big exception of the camera. The w580's camera is just not very good compared to a lot of phone cameras nowadays. As long as the camera is not a big deal to you, you'll be happy with the w580i.

I have had this phone for 5 weeks now and its one of the nicest phone available in the market today. The call quality is very good and receptions are good and speaker phone is very good as well.

You will love this phone for other features such as playing MP3, FM radio, video clips, games, light effects, etc.

In a nutshell, you will not be disappointed. The one thing I hate is the battery cover and its so damn hard to take it out. Make sure you take a note of the battery model number, IMEI number etc written in the battery compartment so you dont need to open that again and again. Thats the most annoying thing with this phone.

other than, I cant complain anything else. Good looking phone and ton of features you dont find in other phone.