Customer Reviews

Sony Ericsson W580i Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, Memory Stick Micro--U.S. Version with Warranty (White)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

UPDATE (12/8/2008): I NO LONGER recommend this phone. I have had it for 1 year, 2 months now and during that time I have experienced several quality issues. While one of them (the ear speaker died) may have been isolated to my unit, I also had my keypad crack twice. This seems to be a common issue with this model, just search online. I had to send in the phone twice for warranty repairs, but my warranty has run out. Now, the left soft keys have stopped working. Another search revealed this to also be a common flaw, which can be resolved by pushing on the area between the navigation keys and the LCD screen (where there is either the W logo or the at&t logo).

The bottom line though is that this phone has some serious quality flaws and therefore I do not recommend purchasing this model anymore. I would change my rating to 2-stars since the phone is still a very nice slider design with excellent software/interface.

I will leave my original review below if you would like to read it.
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I am a fan of Apple's products. But since I'm locked into a T-Mobile contract, I did not join in on the iPhone frenzy. Yet, I was in need of a good phone with a decent camera. I was impressed by my friends' different Sony Ericsson phones, so I took a trip down to the Sony Style store and checked out the models they had there. Among the models, this one stood out immediately thanks to the slider design. I was hooked. The interface for the phone is very nice to use BUT it does take some getting used to if you're switching from Samsung, Nokia, or Motorola. For example, if you're used to green and red phone keys, this phone does not have them. But several days and many mispresses later, you should get the hang of the interface. The call quality is pretty good; not perfect though, as sometimes the person on the other end sounds muffled. Then again, they could be holding their phone too close to their mouth. But no one has complained that they couldn't hear me, which was common w/ my previous phones. Bluetooth works very well with the phone; I've been able to sync with both my windows and mac computers. With mac, iSync (under Mac OS X 10.4) does not support this model but you can Google for a plug-in, which worked perfectly for me. I have tested the walkman feature, which is quite good. The only catch is that you have to use the handsfree dongle to connect standard headphones. The most interesting feature is that the phone counts the number of steps you make in a 24-hr day, and had an application to analyze how many miles you have walked in a day, etc. It's pretty neat, but I think it may be inaccurate. I walked what I counted to be 100 steps, but the phone counted 120. You can calibrate the function, though. Finally, regarding the design of the phone: you may notice in the picture that the phone is not straight, and sort of curves in the bottom. This curve is actually helpful for sliding the phone open with one hand. But it does not really get in my way when I keep the phone in my pocket or on a desk, in case you are worried about that.

Overall, this is a great phone and I hope it will last me a while. I'd highly recommend this phone, regardless of if you're already a Sony Ericsson user or you're switching, like I did.

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've been wanting a mp3 player and thinking about getting one (how much would I really use it...would it be hard to work with?). When I saw this cute little phone, with a 2 mega-pixel camera...AND ORANGE keys...well, I just had to have it!

This is my second sony-ericsson phone. I just gave my old one to my kids (which the vice principal now has locked in his office...long story). My kids have their own line now. My old phone is still going strong. Only bad thing is, my kids now have all my favorite games.

I have to say the interface and software on the Sony Ericsson phones is very easy to learn. I also love that I can synch my outlook calendar and contacts onto my phone. I could synch it using blue tooth wireless if I wanted to, but I use the USB cable. I was curious about the blue tooth thing, though, so I paired my new phone with my old phone and sent one of my contacts to myself. Surprisingly, it worked! By the way, who named this technology "blue tooth" and why?

It has very clear sound on phone calls. I noticed it right away. I'm actually slowly going deaf,I think. My four children are definitely to blame, I'm sure. Anyway, if you are going deaf, this phone is great. My calls are noticeably clearer than my old phone.

I tried listening to the music on my walk this morning and it was very nice. Finally, the dog is old enough not to pull me through the neighborhood at 90 mph! Of course my son wanted to go along too. Never mind that it was six in the morning. What 10-year-old is up at 6 a.m.? MINE! Anyway, the music was great.

One problem I had was the computer doesn't recognize my phone in the file transfer mode. So the disc-to-phone software doesn't work. Bummer! But I found a work-around. Yeah! But it doesn't always work. Awww. I connect the phone in the phone mode (sounds redundant until you actually see it). Then I open the file manager, find the memory stick, find the file that says "music" and I drag and drop my music in there. The user manual says that the phone is Windows Media Audio (WMA) compatible, but sometimes it is and sometimes not. Apparently, it's not the phone, it's that some music is encoded differently than others. Still, I got my Simon&Garfunkel on there, and I'm good. It's also compatible with MP3, MP4, 3GP and more. Music is getting worse than Greek. I remember when I had to choose between a 45 or an albumn (yes, spelled with an 'n').

Okay, I think I'm done now. I'm very happy with the phone and with the Sony-Ericsson people who talked with me no less than 4 times in one day, while trying to help me learn how to get music onto my phone. They were extremely helpful, polite and patient.

Oh, the pictures are really good too! Oh, an it comes WITH everything! (earbuds, charger, usb cable). It's hard to find a case for it though. Okay, that's it, finally. I'm going to find an MP3 version of Mama Mia!

I carried this phone for over a 1 1/2 year and it took a beating. I retired it for a IPHONE

I am a very loyal customer of sony products, so it pains me a bit to feel the need to write this review.

I have had terrible issues with dropped calls and poor reception with this phone, though in all fairness, that could have been due to the carrier.

My real issue with this phone is the quality. I have had issues with the buttons no longer fuctioning and cracking. I have gone through several batteries that refuse to accept a charge. The phone frequently likes to shut itself off, quite randomly, and sometimes rather frequently. I am all around very irritated with this product.

I liked Sony Ericsson phones, I had another one prior to purchasing the w580i and enjoyed it while it lasted ... but the key words here are "while it lasted". Because after only a little bit over a year the 'back' and 'up' controls no longer work. Which of coarse makes operating the phone nearly impossible. A lot of people had the same problem with this model apparently, go on-line and see for yourself. I can't believe that I bought this phone on March 25 2008 and now here in the first week of April 2009 I have this problem. Whatever happened to making products that last? Besides screwing patrons your also screwing our planet with so much early defective technology that litters our world. AVOID BUYING THIS ONE!

Other than that, I liked the phone and all its functions, including its design and I did pay only a penny for it with a two year contact from AT&T.

I have been using the phone for 2 months. I will write about the phone, instead of the services which was my focus in my first "impression"

Overall:
It's a great phone, if you need only music player, camera, and phone. And the price is reasonable.

Pros:
(1) It's a great music player. Wish the playlists can be more easily edited, but I have no complaint about the sound quality, and how I can control. The canal earphone fits me pretty well. Playlists might be more easily edited if I use Sony's software, but I don't use it. I just connect the phone to my PC using USB cable, and drag and drop the mp3 files to "music" folder. By the way, I have no problem using 4GB Sandisk MM, if you're curious.

(2) Sound quality as a phone is good, but not exceptional. If I use the earphone, of cours,e it is great. The screen is gorgeous. Probably it is not for people typing messages all the time, but I can occasionally write messages.

(3) I have no complaint about the camera, but to be honest I don't use much. Pictures looks OK, except for really dark shot (which is unfair claim I think).

Cons:
(1) It's not exceptionally sturdy, but I think it's a bit unfair. I think it is average among similar phones from different manufacturers. I am using the plastic case as well as the screen protector. I don't want to imagine dropping this phone without the case...

(2) The other similar "mystic green" SE phone looks sexier to me. But that one is not with the genuine Walkman functions (of course you can update the firmware and make the other phone work similar to the Walkman phone). If the functions are the same, I would have chosen the other sexier looking phone.

Below is the edited version of what I wrote as "my first impression", which is mainly services.

(1) In the product name, it says "US version with warranty", but if you read the description carefully, Amazon says: "This phone does not come with a warranty.". At the end, the seller told me that it is under proper warranty for a year. But Amazon wasn't clear about it.

(2) The charger that was initially shipped was not definitely US plug. It has a European plug but a converter is included, making the charger (plus the converter) unnecessarily big. I asked the sellers and they kindly replaced by the true US charger. The service of the seller was excellent. I will definitely consider buying again from them.

I originally picked this design because i enjoy the ease in which you can navigate through the Sony Ericsson models. Being able to create your own shortcut keys is a nice feature. However, if you are a big text messager, like me, then you'll likely want to look elsewhere. They keypad is incredibly small for starters. Thumb cramps take no time to develop. Also the keys themselves have an overall tendency to crack with overuse. I had my phone for maybe 5 months before at least 3 of they numbers cracked in half. A big draw back for sure.

I bought this phone because it had Walkman FM radio, too. This phone is pretty (I got the PINK one), lightweight, has lots of whiz-bang menu selections, but doesn't wow or impress me as much as the Samsung A737 or Samsung A747 models which I bought for my children. I listen to the radio a lot, more than MP3s and really thought this feature would be cool. If you like effects, it has 16 settings for flashing light patterns customized for every caller. It takes a day to find out how to set the patterns in all the menus....

The keypad is a bit on the small side, and feel like dry plastic. It's OK for me because I have small hands, but I don't think a man would enjoy using the small, non-descript keys. The letters on the keys are hard to see being so small. When I enter text, I still have to look--er, squint--at the keypad. I don't pay for texting service, so it's not a huge hassle, but if you text, I can't imagine it would be much fun.

When I enter an phone number in the address book, it doesn't put hyphens between the area code, prefix, and last four digits. That's not fatal, but a pet peeve, and makes it difficult for me to figure out the numbers as they come up.

The M2 Memory Stick is not common, but Sony Ericsson uses it. They supply a 512MB one. Buying one with more memory will not be cheap. The access slot is on the top. It took me a while to figure out how to open the little, flat plastic door. Which side to open? It doesn't have a flap, can't open with a fingernail, so I use an unfolded paper clip or other similar-sized object to pry it open.

You need the wired earphones to have FM service. If you like radio, it's just one more thing to carry around. The sound quality is EXCELLENT on this wire unit and the ear buds very comfy. It also works as "handsfree" phone device if you don't want to do Bluetooth.

The display, although narrow, is bright and sharp. The sound is good, and it interfaces well with my Bluetooth earpiece and Palm device. The phone is very lightweight and slim. I dropped it a few times but the case didn't scratch or crack. The pink IS pretty, and has little red "jewels" between the number keys (other color models have different color jewels). The speaker phone option works well and is clear to hear. The slider is a little unusual to work at first, but works very nicely. Sony Ericsson phone support is SUPER, too.

I've had this phone for about a year now and have had no major problems. Had to bring it to an AT&T dealer when I first got it because the sim card was not working, but other than that it has been great. Very few calls dropped, crisp and clear phone calls, ring can be turned down really low or can be turned up very loud, the menus are all very easy to use and the battery life is fantastic.