As the recent release of a Taser with a music playing holster proves: we are living in the age of convergence. Twenty-five years ago you could be the coolest dude on Wall Street with a phone the size and weight of a loaf of ciabatta sourdough bread. These days, if your mobile phone can't take A3 photo-quality prints and doesn't have enough internal memory to carry 4,000 songs, you're considered a techno-joke. Considering this, we were surprise to see that Sony Ericsson's S500i has none of the high-end selling points of other convergence devices on the market, but nonetheless is managing to be a very popular mobile phone, while avoiding a high price tag in the process.
Design
The practical design of the handset is that of a standard slider; a circular directional button and menu selection keys on top and a numeric keypad underneath. However, it's in the S500i's aesthetic design that you'll either swoon or roll your eyes. Of the two available colour options, we had a chance to test the "mysterious" black and green model, and we have to say, it didn't fail to impress around the office.
Below the top half of the slider is a bright backlight that emits either an electric blue or "mysterious" green light from the sides of the phone, depending on whether the phone is in daytime or night time theme mode. That's right; the phone changes theme based on the time of day and, apparently, on the current season. Neat, huh? Similarly swish is the main standby screensaver that looks like a snapshot of a fantasy garden, complete with animated butterflies, and again following the blue or green theme based on the time of day.
At 14mm in thickness the S500i shares very similar dimensions to another recent release and "pocket-friendly" Sony Ericsson phone, the W910i Walkman phone, including the gentle curve at the bottom of the handset which makes the phone look like a snow sled when laid face down. On the right side of the device is an all purpose Sony Ericsson input port for charging and USB transfers, volume adjustment on the left, and an M2 memory stick reader on the top of the phone.
Features
Aside from fancy lights and animated backgrounds the S500i is without the top-line features you might expect in a mobile phone; though that's not to say the S500i is devoid of features. There is still a serviceable 2-megapixel camera, Web browsing (albeit at GPRS speeds), a very handy music player, Bluetooth for hands-free and file transfers, and a couple of cool pre-loaded games.
As with most new Sony Ericsson handsets the S500i gives you access to the Sony Ericsson "Picture Blogging" service, and content downloads from the PlayNow net portal; although, when we logged on to the portal we struggled to find any content worth the time or money involved in downloading. Photos taken with the camera can be manipulated with a small set of image filters and then printed directly via the supplied USB cable.
Performance
We found using the S500i for the purpose of our tests to be a pleasure. The calls we made were crystal clear and text messaging is a predictably simple task using Sony Ericsson's predictive text system. Using the menu system is fast, with only a small amount of lag when accessing menu items and applications.
Mobile Web browsing isn't the best experience without access to 3G network speeds, but the QVGA screen is large and bright enough to make the pages easily legible if you persevere with the time taken for data transfers. Other entertainment options on the handset are much better; the music player sounds great through the supplied stereo hands-free headset, and has a basic audio equaliser built-in. As noted above, the handset comes with two pre-loaded games -- Brain Juice and Lumines Block Challenge -- and both are a decent way to while away a bus trip.
Sony Ericsson estimate battery life to be nine hours of talk time and about fifteen days of standby time. With moderate use of calls, messaging, the camera and the music player we experienced about four days between charges. Of course, you could expect this to drop considerably the longer you use the music player or Web browser.
Overall
The S500i is a rare treat, a phone that doesn't punch above its weight with a list of expensive features, but instead is a budget priced, fashionable handset that performs all the basics well, and looks fantastic doing it. For the recommended retail of AU$199 the S500i is a bargain -- a very stylish bargain.
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myndiii
09/10/2008, 12:28 PM
rating
5/10
Oh god!!! I just ordered this online at Virgin yesterday! it's going to turn up on my doorstep any tick of the clock! I am very nervous now,I thought they had fixed the key cracking problem..maybe I should send it back before I open the box?????? What do you all think???
Pros: don't know yet????
Cons: I hope none!
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aj5816
05/10/2008, 05:34 PM
rating
8/10
i found this phone to be one of the best i have used. I tend to go back and forth between brands and i found that this one seemed to have the whole package. A great camera, an mp3 players and an expandable memory which i loved the most! The only problem was that when i bought it, it was only available on virgin so i had to pay an extra $80 to unlock it so i could use my own sim.
Pros: - good sounds
- good camera
- great design
- sleek
- personalisation using the lights, photos and ringtones
Cons: - buttons tend to crack not long after purchase
- sometimes has trouble connecting calls and cuts in and out
- quick battery life
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S500I GUY
05/10/2008, 03:30 PM
rating
9/10
this fone is fantastic all its features are bang for its buck. it has teriffic themes and the speakers on it are amazing. best fone i have ever had.
Pros: music play
speaker
camera (2 meg)
themes (flashlite)
amazing colour on screen
very stylish
Cons: keys break after a while.
BATTERY LIFE >_
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baz
04/10/2008, 02:02 PM
rating
6/10
at first i was loving this phone, great looking slide phone at an affordable price but further down the track a number of things started playing up.
Pros: great interface
nice glowing lights
good userbillity
sleek and stylish look
Cons: -every button is cracked
- hash key does not work at all anymore
-doesnt read my 2gb memory card
- entire phone freezes when i try and access the camera interface
- phone overheats which leads to taking the battery out and resetting the phone.
- doesnt tell you how many msgs are in the inbox
- these ugly black lines are forming accross the entire screen that cant be taken off.
- doesnt autolock sometimes
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casey phoenix
28/09/2008, 11:48 AM
rating
9/10
MARKED AS SPAM BY AKISMET
I am very happy with this phone. I've had it nearly 12 months and the only problem I am now having with it is that the keys have cracked.
Pros: Cute, easy to use, good ring tones, good pics, good software to download from Sony Erricson, CHEAP!
Cons: Cracked keys. Dick Smith are sending it back for repair next month so that is fine.
Not perfect in warm climates. I previously lived in Darwin and the software crashes when it gets too hot.
Sim card can't be removed without a knife.
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jane
25/09/2008, 10:02 AM
rating
9/10
I have no idea why there are all these complaints below about this model of phone. I bought it just over a year ago and LOVE IT.
Yes, about 3 of the keys have tiny cracks but considering I send a million text messages a day I think that's just general wear and tear.
I've never had any other problems and it's been one of the best phones I've had in the past few years. I 'downgraded' from a k800i to this model because of the problems I had with that.. so paid $199 for this but kept it on my postpaid a/c with optus and it was a good decision.
There's no flash so even though the camera is 2 mexapixel, you do need a lot of light. But it's not a big deal.
For a CHEAP phone, this model is fantastic. You get what you pay for and this model is much better than other cheap Sony models at the same price such as the w200i.
Throw in a memory stick for your music and you're set. I had a 2gb memory stick in it and had about 30 albums, plus around 200 photos stored.
Personaly, I love this phone. I have now upgraded to an iPhone but I'd recommend this.
Pros: Easy to use
Gorgeous looking phone (very girly)
Cheap
Sound playback is great, even without headphones
Cons: No flash on camera
Keys crack after LOTS of use.
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frank
22/09/2008, 05:07 PM
rating
1/10
Horrible phone!
I actually threw it out 8 months after purchase
waste of 200$ and for a low income earner that is a lot of money.
I am now using a 3315 Nokia because the phone I purchased in the s500i broke on so many occasions (11 different faults and two replacement phone) I have lost all faith in Sony as a company to deal with.
Pros: none
Cons: Pathetic excuse for a phone and a company with the most appalling excuse for customer service I have ever witnessed.
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the legend
17/09/2008, 06:50 PM
rating
9/10
its not too bad loveing the design easy to use nd rly nice but dont get it!!!!!!!!!
Pros: looks nice, good qulety speekers, price is cheap && got flashy lights:)
Cons: not enough memory, back breaks off, sometimes dosent turn on,battery dont last too long && hard to get memory card in nd out
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EbonyRenee
08/09/2008, 11:15 PM
rating
8/10
over all a good phone, haven't had any problems other than the keys cracking but it hasn't bothered me too much.
i don't like how it doesn't tell you how many messages are in your inbox, anyone know how to find that out?
Pros: - great design
- good sound
- pretty lights :)
- camera isn't bad.
Cons: - keys cracking.
- not knowing how many msgs are in inbox.
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snoop
07/09/2008, 05:48 PM
rating
5/10
bought one last week, 4 keys have cracked already, lucky if battery lasts more than a day, and having problems downloading anything, have set up phone but still tells me communication error
Pros: stylish
nice design
Cons: keys crack
charge doesn't last long
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