Sony Ericsson S500 Review

Introduction:

A few months ago we had the opportunity to present, though a bit hastily, several models of Sony Ericsson, and we are going to have a more detailed look at one of them in our today’s review. This is one of the few Sony Ericsson phones with “S” symbol in the beginning of the name. Announced in the early May, Sony Ericsson S500 is now available and we will not miss the opportunity to get you familiar with its functionality and overall performance.

The device comes in a small box with the same color. The kit in it consists of the following items:

• Sony Ericsson S500
• Battery
• Charger
• USB Cable
• Stereo Portable Handsfree HPM-61/HPM-62
• CD with software
• User guide
  

Design:

At first the S500 was available in two color versions: Spring Yellow (our unit) and Mysterious Green, with a very futuristic design and later two new versions were released: Ice Purple and Contrasted Copper. It is mid-level “your average phone” and is not part of either the Cybershot or the Walkman family, but still packs multimedia features.


S500 is mid-sized slider with average weight (94 grams )and relativelyslim profile measuring 0.6” (14mm). It fits nicely in the hand, and forthe opening of the slider, spring mechanism assists you. We don’t likethat its movement is not smooth and when you open it to the half, themechanism pushes it sharply to the end. Also, the upper slider doesn’tcover the whole bottom part, and you cannot push from the bottom, butshould push the front side instead.

Model	Dimension (Inches)	Dimension (mm)	Weight (oz)	Weight (Gramms)
Sony Ericsson S500	3.9" x 1.9" x 0.6"	99 x 47 x 14	3.3	94
Sony Ericsson W580	3.9" x 1.9" x 0.6"	99 x 47 x 14	3.3	94
Samsung E840	4.0" x 2.1" x 0.4"	101.5 x 52.5 x 10.6	2.9	83
Samsung D900	4.1" x 2.0" x 0.50"	103.5 x 51 x 12.9	3.0	85

When closed, the phone has mat yellow finish applied to the front and back and the sides are in contrasting white. When opened, you see that the front of the bottom slider (where the keyboard is) and the back of the top slider (where is the camera) are in silver metallic color. This is unusual combination of colors which is extravagant, and makes the phone stand out of the crowd.

The display and the navigation buttons are on the front side of the top slider. The display is QVGA with 262k colors and size of 2 inches. It is bright and contrasting unit but as it was with the W910, the colors could be more and the transition from one hue to another is not very smooth.
Below are the navigation keys, including two software buttons, back (arrow) and clear keys, internet button and shortcut. Typical for Sony Ericsson, they are small but with good relief and enough space between each other. In the middle is the circular 5-way d-pad which is illuminated in signal green-yellow.



Right below, located on the front side of the top slider is the loudspeaker, which is used for ringtone playback. It is loud one, but one of the tracks preloaded with the phone had noises when put to highest level.

The numeric keypad is almost totally flat and they keys are small, grouped together in rows. We would prefer them with bigger size, using the space otherwise left in areas around them. The whole keyboard is illuminated in white. Working with the buttons is easy, so one will hardly have any trouble with it – even the small selection keys are pressed without any difficulty. It is also a convenient feature that the basic operation keys are available at a closed telephone, thus making it even easier to use.



On the right is the proprietary jack, and on the left is the volume control rocker, which is the only side key. Rather strange for the brand is that this key is on the top slider instead on the bottom one. The two sides also pack elongated LED lights, which blink in bluish (theme dependent) color. When a call comes, they blink in Red-Green-Blue, but don’t indicate a missed call with any color.


The top side houses the tiny power button and the slot for M2 memory cards.

The battery cover lid takes no less than the half of the phone’s back; more precisely – its lower part. It is well secured, without any instability or play and the ends are slightly curved. The pursuit of Sony Ericsson to secure it tightly has led to a fairly difficult opening – even more difficult than that of S500. The easiest way to remove it is pressing in the middle and then pushing it away with a jerk. One gets accustomed to this after a few tries, so irritation might fade away a little; and still, it is rather annoying not to be able to open your phone at the start, or open it in the end, but only after minutes of unsuccessful attempts to do so.


We noticed another, though small, inconvenience – when inserting or replacing the SIM-card one has to press it a lot to the inside until the mechanism clicks. In case you cannot rely on fingernails, you must have another object at hand in order to press it; for us the most frequently used one was the corner of the back-lid.

Interface:

As the software of the phone is based on the old Sony Ericsson UI, we won’t discuss all of its features, but just some. This software almost a copy of the one of K800/K810 and is not like the newer one like in W910/K850.


We are happy surprised that this one supports flash themes, which the Walkman phones feature. Preloaded are three themes: Clarity, Everchanging and Day and Night; the latter is most interesting as it changes the main menu view to horizontal list instead of 3x4 grid, which is the standard view.

Phonebook:

The Phone Book is a traditionally good with a capacity for entering 1000 contacts with up to 5 numbers each, though not exceeding a total of 2500 numbers. However, there is the unpleasant drawback of searching by the first name only. As with most of the models of this manufacturer one can add detailed information to each contact, enabling easy access to all important data, concerning your acquaintances. You can also add voice dialing, up to three e-mails and one web-address, a picture, a ringtone, and even more useful information to each contact.

Besides the standard options you may add various types of illumination effects – there is a choice of as many as 16 call lights.

Organizer:

Sony Ericsson have taken care to provide you with an organizer, featuring an abundance of functions indeed, so that you could put your everyday jobs in order and not forget anything important. Calendar, Tasks, Notes, Synchronization, Timer, Stopwatch, Calculator and Code Memo, and are all at your disposal. And before hearing the question where exactly to set the alarm, we will note that it is not to be found in this submenu – it occupies its own place in the main one. Up to five alarms can be set with the additional options of picking a different signal for each as well as setting them to go off on certain days of the week or just once.


The remaining functions of the organizer are standard and well-known from previous models of the company, so we will not discuss them.
The phone features about 14 MB free built-in memory (depending on the installed software) and an option to add a Memory Stick Micro (M2).

Messaging:

The Messaging menu is the one that we are accustomed to seeing in most Sony Ericsson models, providing the opportunity to create text, multimedia or voice messages, as well as e-mails. In order to keep you informed on the latest news at all times, you also dispose of an RSS reader. Sony Ericsson S500 is a quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) GSM/EDGE device, which allows for its trouble free use everywhere – in the USA as well as in Europe and the rest of the world.



Connectivity:

In order to exchange data with a computer, you can rely on several options. For wireless connection, there is the Bluetooth v2.0; the cable from the set will do as well.

The full HTML Internet browser was able to load www.phonearena.com with a comparatively good visualization and only a few “intertwining” texts. As a whole, viewing and reading larger pages will be trouble-free.

Camera:

Although the phone is not of the Cyber-Shot or Walkman brand, it has quite a lot of their multimedia functionality.

The first noteworthy feature is the 2 megapixel camera, unfortunately without an auto-focus or a flashlight as in the Cyber-Shot series. It is activated from the menu or directly from the camera button and the time lapse pressing and actual activation is less than 2 seconds. The camera is portrait-oriented and the standard information is displayed on the screen: number of photos in the available memory, resolution, and location of storing. Activating any additional functions will be presented by the respective symbol

One can select one of the 3 possible photo resolutions: VGA, 1 and 2 megapixel.

One must take into consideration the absence of a flashlight when taking pictures indoors; in darker places the ability to do so will be limited. At good light the images are of medium quality: there is some blurring of the details but almost no “noise”. With the light going down, the pictures get less clear with even the object of the photo hardly recognizable, so as a whole the result is unsatisfactory. The lack of macro mode is also noticeable; as you can see for yourselves, it is practically impossible to make out the inscriptions. The results are much better outdoors, but the quality of the image is once again basically dependent on light. The photos feature good color presentation, yet one can perceive the lack of detail and the blur of the background objects. Take a look at the images that we have taken in order to get an idea of what the 2 megapixel camera can achieve in reality.




One has no choice of resolution when doing video-clips: it is the same as with the older company series – 176 x 144 pixels – and the respective result rather unsatisfactory, rendering the videos unusable in reality for anything but MMS.


Media Player:

According to information, supplied by the manufacturer, the music and video players of S500 support the following file formats: AAC, AAC+, E-AAC+, MP3, MP4, M4A, WAV. We tested the player and see that it doesn’t have any problem with MP4 H.263 video. Viewing streaming video is also possible due to the 3GPP support of the device. To enjoy music, one can also make use of a Bluetooth stereo headset since the phone supports the A2DP profile, providing a wireless stereo signal.


The music player is the one from non-Walkman smartphones. It can sort the music by some artist/album but the interface won’t visualize album cover during playback.

Software:

The phone comes with a preinstalled two web based application, called AccuWeather, providing information and weather forecast after connecting to the Internet, and with Audible you can download spoken audio entertainment, information, or educational programming.



And killing time is secured by the Lumines Challenge game – a modification of Tetris, and Brain Juice, which displays differently shaped and colored images, requiring the fastest possible answer to a question that has been asked beforehand.

Of course, one can always complement this software with favorite games or programs thanks to the Java MIDP 2.0 support.

Performance:

The ringtones are loud enough to be audible at noisier surrounding; there is also the vibration, which should not be relied on at such moments, though – it is fairly weak, as with T650, so one can hardly perceive it.

The phone battery has a capacity of 930 mAh (BST-38), which should be sufficient for no less than 9 hours talk time or 370 hours in standby mode according to data, supplied by Sony Ericsson. Testing the device by a prolonged conversation revealed duration, slightly shorter than the officially stated one. Nonetheless the 7 hours achievement in a prolonged conversation is quite good and will secure normal exploitation even for the long-talkers. Sometimes, one of the most important conditions for making a call is the sufficient signal reception power even in areas with low-level coverage of the respective company. In this respect the S500 performance is medium, so we will rate it 5 out of 10.

The sound you hear during conversation is medium loud, with voices comparatively clear, though somewhat monotonous in a way. At the other side they can hear you more loudly but the voice sounds sharply.

Conclusion:

Sony Ericsson S500 is a very interesting offer, combining a little from the three qualities: design, functionality, and convenient operation. As a whole the phone is not oriented towards a specific customer group, though its fresh colors and design suggest that it aims at attracting the attention of those users, who would rather be different from the rest.

The device will prove to be most attractive to the young, whose way it is to be seekers of novelty and individuality, combined with good functionality. S500 is certain to satisfy the best part of their needs.