Sony Ericsson W580 Review

Sony Ericsson W580 is one of the newest Sony Ericsson Walkman slider phones. Based on the S500, it is very similar to the extravagant slider in both design and functionality, and compared to the newer W910 lacks in features.

Even the box of the Walkman is the same size as that of S500, with only a little difference in the kit:

• Sony Ericsson W580
• Battery
• Charger
• USB Cable
• Stereo Portable Handsfree HPM-70
• 512 MB M2 card
• CD with software
• User guide
  

The items that have been added to the kit of S500 are: the memory card and the improved handsfree, which is supplied with a transition to a 3.5mm jack, so that your standard stereo headphones can be used.

Design:

The W580 isavailable in four color versions: Style White, Urban Grey (our unit),Boulevard Black and Metro Pink. Under the Walkman branding, the W580 ismid-level music phone.

Based on the S500, the W580 has identicaldesign and same dimensions – it is mid-sized slider with average weightand relatively slim profile measuring 0.6” (14mm). It fits nicely inthe hand, and for the opening of the slider, spring mechanism assistsyou. We don’t like that its movement is not smooth and when you open itto the half, the mechanism pushes it sharply to the end. Also, theupper slider doesn’t cover the whole bottom part, and you cannot pushfrom the bottom, but should push the front side instead.

Model	Dimension (Inches)	Dimension (mm)	Weight (oz)	Weight (Gramms)
Sony Ericsson W580	3.89" x 1.85" x 0.55"	99 x 47 x 14	3.3	94
Sony Ericsson W910	3.91" x 1.96" x 0.49"	99.5 x 50 x 12.5	3.0	86
Sony Ericsson W960	4.29" x 2.16" x 0.62"	109 x 55 x 16	4.19	119
Sony Ericsson W660	4.0" x 1.8" x 0.57"	102 x 46 x 14.5	3.28	93

Thedisplay and the navigation buttons are on the front side of the topslider. The screen is the same as on S500 and is QVGA with 262k colorsand size of 2 inches. It is bright and contrasting unit but as it waswith the W910, the colors could be more and the transition from one hueto another is not very smooth.


Below are the navigation keys,including two software buttons, back (arrow) and clear keys, Walkmanbutton and shortcut. Typical for Sony Ericsson, they are small but arefelt easily thanks to the relief. We don’t like that the soft keys andthe back/clear are put in common volume, as a two-way key. They presshard and with almost no tactile feedback. In the middle is the circular5-way d-pad which is illuminated in bright blue.


The numerickeypad is almost totally flat and they keys are small, grouped togetherin rows. We would have preferred them with bigger size, using the spaceotherwise left in areas around them. They are illuminated in dark blue,unlike the navigation keys which glow in white. Pressing them is easyand would hardly cause a problem; they also have a good tactilefeedback. It is also a convenient feature that the basic operation keysare available at a closed telephone, thus making it even easier to use.

Unlikethe S500, there is no speaker grill on the front of the W580, but itseems that the loudspeaker is in the same location – on the bottomfront side of the upper slider. It is loud, but one of the trackspreloaded with the phone had noises when put to highest level.

Onthe right is the proprietary jack, and on the left is the volumecontrol rocker, which is the only side key. Rather strange for thebrand 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 inRed-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.

Thebattery cover lid takes no less than the half of the phone’s back; moreprecisely – its lower part. It is well secured, without any instabilityor play and the ends are slightly curved. The pursuit of Sony Ericssonto secure it tightly has led to a fairly difficult opening – even moredifficult than that of S500. The easiest way to remove it is pressingin the middle and then pushing it away with a jerk. One gets accustomedto this after a few tries, so irritation might fade away a little; andstill, it is rather annoying not to be able to open your phone at thestart, or open it in the end, but only after minutes of unsuccessfulattempts to do so.

We noticed another, though small,inconvenience – when inserting or replacing the SIM-card one has topress it a lot to the inside until the mechanism clicks. In case youcannot rely on fingernails, you must have another object at hand inorder to press it; for us the most frequently used one was the cornerof 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.

Standard for a Walkman phone, flashthemes are supported. Preloaded there are 5: Walkman, Clarity, Spinnin’, Splat, Strobe. They can change the menu icons, and even the way the menu looks. By default, it is 3x4 grid of icons, but with a theme it can change to a horizontal list for example.



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, Code Memo and Alarms are all at your disposal. 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.

Connectivity:

Sony Ericsson W580 is a quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) GSM/EDGE device, which allows for its trouble-free use everywhere: not only in the USA, but in Europe and the rest of the world as well. 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 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.

2 Megapixel Camera lens

Camera:

The first noteworthy feature is the 2 megapixel camera, unfortunately without an auto-focus or a flashlight as in the Cyber-Shot series. The camera interface is as the one of the S500 – it is neither like in K800/K810 Cybershot phones, nor the new one we saw in W910. It is in portrait orientation and in menu-structure offers options like shooting mode, night mode, self-timer, Effects, White Balance and settings. Here also is the camcorder.

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 W580 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 W580 has the Walkman 2.0 player for music playback. Unlike the 3.0 version we saw in the W910, this one cannot be used in landscape orientation. You sort the music by Artists, Albums, Tracks, Playlists, Online channels. Options include Equalizer, Stereo Widening, different visualizations and 3 skins, and the player displays the album art cover of there is one. Depending on the Theme you use, the phone may visualize the song name when it starts with flash interface over the homescreen. Such feature we saw in the Spinnin’ theme.

The Shake control function of the Walkman will be of interest to many of you. It is a bit odd why the user manual dedicates just a few lines to elicit this otherwise wonderful way to operate it. In reality, these do not make clear how to manage this function. It gives a short description saying that it must be active when the player is on, but in fact one should proceed as follows: hold the Walkman button (when the player is on or is minimized), then perform a movement to change the track. This can be done with the keypad locked; the phone will signal the command has been fulfilled by vibrating.

If you do not know the name of a song that is being performed, the Track ID function can be of help. This is a service for music recognition, which records a fragment from the piece of music, sends it over the Internet, and then feeds back information about the artist, song, and album. We have been delighted and fascinated by the excellent performance of the Track ID: it coped with identifying all the songs we included in the test.

The phone also disposes of an RDS radio, capable of storing up to 20 radio stations, either manually or automatically. However, if you wish to listen to the radio, plugging the “cable” headphones will be indispensable – in this case they serve as an aerial.

Software:

The phone comes with a preinstalled three applications called MusicMate2 (a music utility), Pocket Trainer and Walk Around the World (calculates the time to walk between some major cities). And killing time is secured by the Lumines Challenge game – a modification of Tetris, and Sims 2 – a mobile version of the well-known, computer game.

There is an icon in the main menu called Fitness. This Fitness application measure your activity, if you want to. You can see how much you have walked (distance and steps), information about running, and data about used energy. To make sure that the results are correct you need to calibrate the application before first time use.

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 is 930 mAh (BST-38) and according to data, supplied by Sony Ericsson, it must endure no less than 9 hours talk time or 370 hours in standby. Testing proved that the device performed slightly worse than the officially cited timing. Its achievement of 7 hours prolonged talk is the same as that of S500 – a fairly good result, which will provide for normal work even in case you are a long-talker. 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 performance of W850 is medium and absolutely the same as that of S500, so we evaluate it at 5 out of 10.

During conversation you hear at a level slightly above average; the voices lack high frequency, though in general sounding clear. At the other end of the line the sound is similar, with voices a little sharp and monotonous.

Conclusion:

Sony Ericsson W580, being a Walkman variant of S500, disposes with the extra functions, typical of this series: an improved music player, FM radio, as well as the new Shake technology for changing tracks by a jerky movement. Like many of the new models of the manufacturer, this one also features quite interesting Flash themes, which add some freshness to its appearance. One is left with a pleasant feeling when operating it and its functionality is just sufficient to meet the basic needs of the musically oriented users.

It will be curious for our readers in the USA to know that it is on offer by AT&T with an option to get it for free. This is yet another, even cheaper alternative to obtain a music phone, apart from the iPhone of Apple.

As a whole, the W580 is a nice Walkman phone, but as the W910 is already announced, the W580 looks as an old phone, with no appeal.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

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