Sony Ericsson shakes things up with its new quad-band W580i Walkman phone, introducing an innovative "shake to shuffle" feature that randomly chooses another song stored on your phone with just a flick of the wrist. This thin, slider-style phone also features a 2-megapixel camera/camcorder, fast Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR connectivity with music streaming, Memory Stick Micro expansion, Web browser for viewing full Internet sites, email access, an FM radio with RDS, and EDGE data support.
Unlocked Phone
This unlocked cell phone can be used with a GSM network service provider and it provides quad-band connectivity (850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz). It does not come with a SIM card, and it requires that you provide a SIM card for usage with your selected service provider. This phone comes with a one-year warranty from a third party provider.
The slim slider W580i measures just 0.55 inches thin and includes a brightly colorful QVGA screen and dedicated music controls. |
Phone Features The W580i Walkman phone offers a full-function digital audio player that's compatible with MP3 and AAC files. The front of this slider phone includes dedicated music control buttons, and it includes Sony Ericsson's innovative "shake to shuffle" feature. With Shake control activated, press and hold the Walkman key and flick your wrist. A vibration lets you know that the track has been changed--a new song from your current playlist is randomly selected and automatically played.
With the TrackID service, you can identify any song that you can hear by just recording a snippet of sound using the microphone. After sending the file for recognition, you'll have the name, artist and album sent to your phone. Other Walkman features include MegaBass enhancement for added depth of sound, a flight mode that lets you keep listening to tunes with the phone's network connectivity turned off, and Disc2Phone software for easy transfer of song files between phone and PC. It also includes a built-in FM radio with RDS, which displays the name of the currently playing song (when tuned to compatible radio stations).
This phone provides Bluetooth version 2.0 wireless connectivity with EDR (enhanced data rate), and includes profiles for communication headset, handsfree car kits, and audio/video remote control. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones. You can connect your laptop (either via Bluetooth or wired USB) and enjoy dial-up networking--surf the Internet, send email, and access files from a server.
The keypad slides smoothly open for dialing and texting. |
The built-in 2.0 megapixel camera captures stills and video--and playback of video or still pictures is only limited to the memory card size. Picture effects and custom screensavers, backgrounds, and themes can be setup to fit your personality. It provides support for PictBridge technology so you can print your photos without the need of a PC (either using USB or Bluetooth). And the W580i makes it easy to send snapped photos directly to a blog or an online photo, complete with text. This phone is also compatible with RTSP/3GPP streaming video playback
You can even take your favorite tracks to the track with the W580i, which will count your steps, your calories and monitor your running speed/distance/time with the integrated motion sensor. Your workout results are stored in your phone so you can monitor your progress.
The phone also ships with a built-in email client with support for POP3 and IMAP4 protocols, while the included Access NetFront Web Browser allows you to surf full HTML web sites. It also supports RSS feeds, allowing you to use your phone to view up-to-the-minute news and other content from selected Web sites and blogs. Just subscribe to the feed and let it come to you. Support is built in for sending and receiving text, video, graphics and sound via messages.
The phone also supports the SyncML PC synchronization standard. This means the phone can be used with the included Sony Ericsson Sync Station software, which lets you synchronize your Microsoft Outlook calendar, contacts, notes and tasks on your PC with the phone.
Other features include:
- 2-inch LCD with a 240 x 320-pixel resolution and support for 262K colors
- Up to 1000 contact entries, each with five number fields
- Java support for online and offline 3D games
- USB 2.0 wired connectivity with mass storage capability
- PIM functions including calendar, tasks, notes, alarm, calculator, stopwatch, and timer
- T9 text entry technology
- 72-chord polyphonic ringtones and MP3 ringtones
- Digital audio file formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+
Vital Statistics
The W580i weighs 3.32 ounces and measures 3.9 x 1.85 x 0.55 inches. Its 930 mAh lithium-polymer battery is rated at up to 9 hours of talk time, and up to 370 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies.
The W580 borrows a few design traits from the W880. But even so, the W580 does have few of its own distinctive tricks up its 14mm thick sleeves. Most notable of which is the curved body section at the bottom of the device that caused the Fast Port power/headset jack to be moved up to the side of the device. As a Walkman phone, the W580 obviously caters to the music lover. The device ships with a 512MB Memory Stick Micro card that can hold just short of 500 songs when filled up by a PC running the included Sony Ericsson Disc2Phone software. A supplied USB cable will let the W580 be used as a USB mass storage device when connected to a personal computer. For those that prefer their music coming over the airwaves, the W580 also sports an RDS compatible FM radio. If, instead, you prefer to have your phone doing the transmitting, the W580's built-in Bluetooth stereo support will allow it to supply tunes to a pair of wireless headphones - not included. Other features of note in the W580 include the 2" 262k color display, a 2 mega pixel fixed-focus camera, and a pedometer for keeping track of your workouts. In terms of software, the W580 sports a full RSS news feed reader, 3D Java games, and the Track ID application that lets users identify songs by simply holding their phone up to an audio source - like a car stereo speaker
Free Offer: Get a free international GSM SIM card from Mobal, ($20 bonus airtime included), with the purchase of any unlocked phone from Amazon.com, and talk on your cell phone in more than 170 countries. Just add both items to your Shopping Cart and use this promotional code at checkout: FREESIM3. The savings will be deducted from your order total. Offer valid while supplies last. (Applies only to products sold by Amazon.com. Limit one per customer. Does not apply to products sold on our site by third-party merchants or through third-party areas such as Amazon.com Marketplace, Auctions, or zShops.)
