When Sony Ericsson decided to part ways from the Walkman for it's slider phones, it could not have picked a better design than that of the S500. However, the design is about all it has going for it, because as ar as technology goes, it is a W580 in disguise. With the snazzy ligh teefects and daring color schemes, the s500 will not blend into the crowd.
Things I liked
* Very slim body
* Great design and color options
* Size: 99 x 47 x 14 mm, 94 g
* Cool themes and wallpaper animation
* Good 256K-color QVGA display
* M2 memory card support, up to 2GB
* 2-megapixel camera
* A2DP enabled Bluetooth
* Quad band support, GPRS and EDGE Class 10
Things that disappointed me
* Only 12MB of memory
* No indicator of missed calls
* Will not work without SIM
* No autofocus and flash
* No FM radio
* Awkward handling of SIM card and rear cover
Until now, the Sony Ericsson S line was only for the swivel handsets, such as the Sony Ericsson S700, one of the first mobile phones to offer a memory card slot, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and a QVGA display. These days, however, it takes a bit more to turn heads.
Difference is the label
Sony Ericsson S500 is essentially the W580, minus the Walkman logo and music player. They both share the same size and form factor and a great number of their functions are identical as well. It is only the very conspicuous case on the S500 that lets you tell them apart.
Sony Ericsson S500 measures in at 99 x 47 x 14 mm when closed and weighs 94 g. The handset is a pleasure to hold and operate and, once again, the 14-mm slimness is very nice for a slider.
Sony Ericsson has went the extra mile with this phone by offering some unusual color combinations and visual patterns. The S500 unit I tested was the Mysterious Green variety, which has a silver-framed black body and a green keypad. A combination of gold and white is an option with the Spring Yellow handset. Contrasted Copper and Ice Purple are the other colors you could get.
The phone is made entirely of plastic, but is still quite solid. The sliding construction is very well done. The rim of the navigation key provides a comfortable pushing off point to slide the handset open, the spring-loaded case making things slide easily. Using the raised navigation key for sliding will save the screen from your fingerprints, but you will still get them on the phone's glossy front.
Great colors
On the left of the phone is a silver volume rocker, which also operates the zoom when taking pictures. On the right is the Fast port connector for the headset, charger, and USB cable. The bottom is home to the wrist-strap eyelet. Memory Stick Micro memory cards go in a slot on the top side of the device, protected by a plastic cover. One disappointment was the lack of a memory card with the phone, leaving you to buy one in the after market.
Looking at the rear of the phone, you see the manufacturer logo and the very tiny switch-off key at the top. The lens of the 2-megapixel camera is on the rear of the slider. The battery cover was a bit tough to take off; under it is the 930 mAh Li-Pol battery. The SIM card is inserted into the phone body right above the battery bed, and just like in the W580, removing and inserting it is just a pain.
The Keypad
The D-pad is dominated by the four-directional navigation control with a press function. Just like in the W580, under the confirming center of the navigation key is the loudspeaker. The navigation control is surrounded by 6 other keys: the clear key, the back key, the Internet key, the Activity menu key, and the two silver selection keys. The latter are the only control elements that require some practice. Otherwise, the D-pad is very user-friendly.
The keypad is green, just like the surface that surrounds it. Although a bit narrow and featuring a low uplift, typing is comfortable on the user-friendly keys. Touch orientation also works fine.
Small display, fine image
The display is, of course, the same as in W580. It has QVGA resolution and 256K colors. Given its small size (31 x 41 mm) the image is especially fine and amazingly detailed. Brightness can be adjusted and display legibility under direct sunlight is adequate.
As we already complained in the section on color effects, the display enters power saving mode after a certain time of un-use. You then have no other option of checking missed events but to power it back up.
Been there, done that
Most of the functions and features in Sony Ericsson S500 are the same as those of W580, So I will gloss over most of them. The phonebook can store up to 1000 multi-field entries, but the number of phone numbers it can hold is only 2500. The contacts in the phone memory and the SIM card cannot be displayed at the same time.
There are no new features in the message menu, either. I would have welcomed the option to change font size, but it's still not available. Messages are typed and read in 8 lines. A character counter only appears when you're only 20 characters short of the limit. MMS limit size is 300 KB and can contain virtually anything. An email client and RSS-feed reader known from previous models are available too.
Camera and multimedia
The built in organizer is your standard calendar, with repeating options for entries and is easily synched with Outlook. The alarm clock has its own icon in the main menu and has five alarm slots and independent repeat patterns. The S500 also has a Tasks application, text notes, a simple calculator, stopwatch, countdown timer, voice recorder, and the Code memo feature. Again, nothing new or remarkable here.
2 megapixel camera
S500 has a 2-megapixel camera, with a maximum resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels. The image quality won't surprise, but neither does it disappoint. The camera would've definitely been better with a LED flash and autofocus, but has neither.. Setup options are extensive as usual, including night mode, white balance, panoramic pictures, and user-configurable exposure compensation. One thing that hasn't changed is the video resolution. Videos are recorded in 3GP format, with resolution at the barely adequate 176 x 144 pixels.
The S500 music player filters music files by ID3 tags and is compatible with virtually all available formats. It has no problem running in the background. Loop and Shuffle modes are available, as well as a stereo enhancement and equalizer setting. The biggest letdown is the absence of an FM radio. Comparison on this feature totally indicates choosing the Sony Ericsson W580 Walkman.
The earphones enclosed in the retail package are standard quality, but no better. Should you want to upgrade (and you will), you will need to buy a 3.5mm jack adapter.
Another multi-media feature is the standard video player. It plays videos in 3GP and MP4 format and supports full-screen mode. Already standard features for Sony Ericsson, the MusicDJ, PhotoDJ è VideoDJ applications are also available in the S500, letting users play with pictures and video recordings and create their own ringtones.
The data technologies S500 supports are GPRS and EDGE, both Class 10. Bluetooth and the enclosed data cable are the data transfer alternatives. Mass Storage mode also available. A CD with software is included in the retail package, offering PC Suite used for synchronization, Disc2Phone for transferring music, a video player, and a photo editing application. The Sony Ericsson offers a standard Access NetFront internet browser. All very standard, very vanilla.
The Sony Ericsson S500 is a mid-range slider phone of slim design and beautiful exterior, which offers very standard, very vanilla, functionality. On the market for about 225 Euro, the S500 is easily topped by a number of Sony Ericsson models offering respectable functions in this price range. Which way you roll will depend on how important style is to you.
The S500 will easily appeal to the more visual phone lovers, but the Walkman W580 could well be the more reasonable option. FM radio, fitness application, superior headset, and a 512-MB memory card are enough features to make the Walkman phone worth the additional investment. Otherwise, you are just paying for a pretty face.
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