Sony Ericsson Z500a Phone (AT&T)

by Sony Ericsson

Product Details

Product Manual [1.79mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00076QW2C
• Item model number: z500
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #200,676 in Cell Phones & Accessories (See Top 100 in Cell Phones & Accessories)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Incredible style meets powerful substance in this clamshell from Sony-Ericsson. With dual screens, a VGA camera with video capabilities and support for high-speed EDGE data networks, the z500a is a serious next-generation phone. It's the perfect handset for folks who want to get all the latest wireless goodies in one chic package.

Click the image to get a closer look at the z500a's features.

Design
Sony-Ericsson's reputation for cutting edge design has been brought into the clamshell arena with the z500a. There's a 128 x 160 display housed under the cover while the outside sports a supplementary 96 x 32 color display that can display time, call information, battery and signal strength, and more. The VGA (640 x 480) camera is housed on the front cover as well. The z500a uses an internal antenna-- nothing to snag or break off-- and a five-way button just above the dial pad is used to control most of the phone's menus and features. Up/down buttons on the left side of the phone can be used for quick volume control and menu navigation. USB data and charging ports, as well as a headset port, are located on the phone's bottom edge. And because the z500a's front and rear faceplates are changeable with Sony-Ericsson Style-Up covers, you can dress it up to suit your style.

Use the z500a's built-in ringtone composer to craft your own stylin' ringers.

Get great shots and video with the VGA camera. Video capture is only limited by the amount of available memory.

Calling Features
The z500a's phone book can hold up to 510 contacts with multiple entries per contact. A call list remembers your most recent missed, received and dialed calls. The z500a's voice activated dialing makes calling your friends, family and associates as easy as saying their names. The phone also features a speakerphone for easy, hands-free talking. In addition to a vibrating alert, the phone supports polyphonic ringtones as well as MP3 ringers, allowing you to use portions of your favorite songs to alert you to incoming calls. There's even a bundled application that lets you mix your own ringtones with up to 16 tracks. Meanwhile, more ringtones can be downloaded from Cingular's MEdia wireless web service. Picture caller ID lets you assign a photo to specific callers. Similarly, a ringer ID lets you assign ringtones to callers. Lastly, the phone supports Cingular's "Fast Forward" call forwarding device, which enables you to effortlessly forward your wireless calls to your land line phone.

Messaging, Internet and Tools
The z500a has all the bases covered when it comes to messaging. Support is built in for sending and receiving text, video, graphics and sound via messages. When used in combination with the phone's built-in camera, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. AOL Instant Messenger is also included and the phone ships with a built-in email client (Cingular messaging charges apply). The email client is preconfigured for accounts from some of the most popular ISPs, including Bellsouth.net, SBC Yahoo, and Earthlink.

Getting on the Internet is easy with the z500a. It supports the GPRS protocol, as well as the new, high speed EDGE data protocol. When used with a Cingular data plan and the phone's USB data capability, the phone can be used as a wireless modem for laptops and PDAs. There's also a built-in web browser for MEdia downloads and mobile web browsing. Cingular's MEdia service lets you receive and send emails, read news headlines, get weather updates, download games and ringtones, and more. T9 text entry, a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.

A number of handy software tools are bundled with the z500a including a voice memo recorder, a calculator, a calendar, and an alarm clock with a timer and stopwatch. Sony Ericsson Sync Station software lets you synchronize your Microsoft Outlook calendar, contacts, notes and tasks with your z500a.

Imaging and Entertainment
The z500a was designed for serious fun. The built-in VGA camera captures stills and video to the phone's 6MB of internal memory. Video capture length is only limited by the amount of available storage memory and the phone supports playback of both MP3 audio and MPEG4 video files. Picture effects and custom screensavers, backgrounds, and themes can be set up to fit your personality.

Java support is built into the z500a, making it a powerful gaming companion for both online and offline games. Games are downloadable via the MEdia service or you can use the handset's USB data connection to load more games and files onto the phone.

Vital Statistics
The Sony-Ericsson z500a weighs 3.88 ounces and measures 3.66 x 1.93 x 0.94 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 10 hours of digital talk time, and up to 10 days of digital standby time. It runs on the GSM/GPRS 850/1800/1900 frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.

What's in the Box
Sony-Ericsson z500a handset, lithium-ion battery, travel charger, user's manual.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost all you could want in an entry level phone., April 9, 2005

By 

J. Williams (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony Ericsson Z500a Phone (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)

I wavered between giving this phone four or five stars, and settled on five when I considered its target market - the entry level. It's clearly better than any other phone in this segment if you ask me. Does it stack up to more expensive phones? No, not completely. But it has a lot of features usually reserved for higher-priced models, it's pretty good looking and it gets really good reception, which is still the most important thing to look for in a phone.

The features that sold me on this model vs. the competition in its price bracket were the external color screen (with photo caller ID!) and the EDGE support. These are not common features in lower-end phones. The camera, to me, was almost a bonus - although it obviously comes in handy with the photo caller ID (it is not required, though - you can upload photos from your PC and use them too). Photo quality is what you'd expect from a VGA camera phone - not bad, but it's pretty obvious what sort of device you used to take pictures with. Honestly, if you want to take serious pictures, buy a real camera. The screen quality was a pleasant surprise - I'd read some complaints about the brightness and readability, but I think both screens are perfectly fine, and I find them useable in any sort of light.

If you read a lot of reviews, some people say this phone is built like a tank, while others say it feels "cheap". I think this contradiction can be explained by the quality of the plastic used in the phone's construction vs. the feel of the hinge assembly. Honestly, the plastic cover of the phone is matte plastic and feels a bit brittle (the phone's covers are replaceable, so maybe you can find something better), but the hinge really bears special mention because it lends the phone an especially solid overall feel in use. It is a Japanese-style hinge with a positive and quite forceful "snap" or "click" in either direction - both when you open and when you close it. It is not simply spring-loaded or magnetic like most hinges on American or European phones. I wish more phones used Japanese-style hinges here, because it really does give the phone a quality feel. I have had a lot of problems with hinges going loosey-goosey over time on other flip phones here and I really doubt that will ever be a problem with the Z500a.

Call quality is probably as good as it gets in this country, despite the internal antenna (which was apparently stowed for cosmetic appeal, but I kinda think the phone looks like it's missing something without the stub). Talking mobile to mobile while in motion, there can still be an occasional dropout and there is an obvious delay (my wife and I each have this phone, which is how we've tested this), but talking land-line to the Z500a it's almost difficult to tell the Z500a user is on a cell phone at all. A definite improvement over our old Siemens phones.

In regular daily usage, this phone is really a pleasure. Some people complain about the recessed buttons, but I don't find them difficult to press and this sort of design helps me avoid pressing buttons by mistake. The phone's interface is clean and never gets in the way, the menus are responsive and quick, and the phone book seems to store quite a lot of information for each contact. Combined with the good call quality, the EDGE high-speed internet support, the dual color screens, the camera, and the high-quality hinge assembly, I think this phone's a real winner in its price bracket.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good value, May 24, 2005

By 

Elizabeth Baldwin "tigersscareme" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony Ericsson Z500a Phone (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)

after a disasterous relationship with a Motorola V-180, this phone is a delight. It's relatively easy to use, but for optimum usage, you should read the manual which is fairly comprehensive and well organized.

The usage of this phone is fairly intuitive to the user and will help guide you through features which is what I appreciated about Nokias and what I hated about the Motorola's.

Size: clam shell design is such that when fully opened, the length rivals a real phone; which for whatever reason, i appreciate.

exterior display: is programable to show a picture of the person calling you. will display numbers and time (although if you have it on "normal" setting, the display can be quite small. "car" setting will show you the time in larger numbers while maintaining the backlight display. if your phone is in normal mode, the screen will go to sleep and you will need to press an exterior button to show you the time.)

interior display: full color. size is ok. perhaps a little small for its size. it is difficult to view outside in sunlight however. there might be a way to fix that- i need to consult the manual.

Camera: this is my first camera phone, but i see nothing wrong with the quality. it does have a zoom feature.

speaker is loud and clear, and comes out of the earpiece so before using it, the phone reminds you you could damage your hearing and requires you to push a button again. I'm really one for one-button operation so sometimes that does get annoying.

favorite thing about the phone: has a built in recorder that makes it possible to make *anything* into a ring tone which for me makes downloading ringtones unneccessary.

this is a most welcome feature as the included ringtones that are already on the phone are *terrible*. i am not exaggerating.

the big drawbacks for the phone are fairly minimal:

the alert when you have a message is LOUD. and i mean LOUD. any of them. i think "click" was ok, but I haven't figured out if there's a way to dampen the volume on the alerts yet.

battery life: i'm torn on this- i tend not to turn my phone off at night (it's my only phone)so a fully charged battery seems to have only 3 strong days plus for me. however, the charging is FAST. a 20 minute drive to work plugged into your car adapter will no doubt give you enough juice for an entire day. I haven't had the phone long enough to find out if that will kill the battery faster or not and i'm kind of torn as to which i'd prefer- faster charging or longer battery life.

best unexpected feature: the text messaging has a dictionary.

34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars i wanted so much to like this phone..., December 24, 2004

By 

E. Orchard (Iowa) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony Ericsson Z500a Phone (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)

i bought this phone on ebay for a staggering $270 (included shipping and all that). why you may ask? well, don't ask. i thought it was cool. i wanted the phone, but didn't want to switch to cingular (i am an at&t customer). so, i bought this phone, slipped my SIM card in and i am good to go. here's the pros and cons so far:

pros:

* excellent call clarity, but that would depend on your area, plan, coverage, etc. people can hear me fine, and i can hear them fine, and isn't that really
what it's all about?
* speakerphone is nice. very nice. no complaints from friends to take them off it.
* menus are pretty intuitive. that is, if you've worked with a sony ericsson phone before.
* address book is very thorough and you can store a lot of information for each contact.
* themes are a neat concept.
* the options (zoom, brightness, special effects) for the digital camera are cool, but see below.
* phone has a nice solid feel when opening and closing the flip.
* option to record a sound and then use it as a ringtone is cool!

cons:

* VGA camera is horrible! i know, i know, it's a camera PHONE, not a phone CAMERA. however, the images are some of the worst i've seen. don't know if the camera is really that bad, or the display is just not that good, but yeah, don't count on taking nice, clear photos on this phone, or anything remotely close to good.
* inside screen display is "fuzzy". this is just a sony ericsson thing, i've heard. the colors and clarity of the screen are soft. i think SE does this to conserve battery life. kinda hard to see things on the screen in direct sunlight, or if you're not looking at it just right.
* screen does not make use of space available. poor design on SE's part.
* available games through sony ericsson's site are lacking in number and interest. maybe 'cause this phone is new. only seven games available to download and none of them interested me.
* phone only comes with 7 or 8 ringtones. HUH?! 7 or 8? that's just unheard of. not too many you can download from SE's site, either.
* no bluetooth or infrared.
* battery life is NOWHERE NEAR the 10 hrs/250 hrs (talk/standby) it says on SE's website. not even close. talk time might be 3-4 at best.

the "eh, it could go either way":

* phone is kind of bulky. the thing reminds me of a giant, silver maxi-pad when it's open. you may or may not like this.
* plastic parts on the phone feel cheap. someone commented that my phone "felt like a toy". it kinda does, really. the finish on the plastic doesn't look sleek at all, but rather matte and really makes it look like a low-budget phone. it almost seems like this was a prototype phone and what i got isn't the final model! just a "draft". it's not very stylish or refined.

this phone seems like it's packed with really cool stuff, and in some ways, it is. the specs on this phone are pretty impressive when you look at them. but, you have to ask yourself if you're the kind of person that's going to use all these features. are you going to send videos through MMS? are you going to listen to streaming audio through your phone? are you interested in ringtones and themes and games (if so, this really isn't the phone for you).

in summary, this phone isn't worth the money. it IS a good phone with some cool bells and whistles, but it's not worth anything over $175, period.