Sony Ericsson Z520 / Z525
Average Ratings
The best phone I have owned.
My previous phone was a Sony Ericsson T637 from ATT. It was an awesome phone but suffered from a crappy joystick, slow menus, limited memory, overly sensitive microphone, + a finicky charging system.
My z525a from Cingular is amazing. The Bluetooth is completely uncrippled + supports all kinds of profiles, including the HID profile allowing me to use my phone to control the mouse, make a ppt presentation, or control Winamp on my computer. Syncing my Outlook Express contacts over Bluetooth was a breeze.
The phone itself is well made. The navigation buttons are a bit small, but I can overcome that. The external screen is nice, but a little weak. The internal screen is beautiful + bright.
The PTT button on the side is incredibly annoying, but there is a ridiculously simple fix: take the sharp end of a toothpick, push in between the button and the case, and then snap it off. The stub of the toothpick will prevent the PTT button from ever being pushed again.
This is basically a flip version of the T637, but it is much faster and has more onboard memory (plus adds MP3 playback, video recording, etc). Its a great mid level phone, but does everything it is supposed to do very well. There is an abundance of onboard memory (16+MB) which is plenty for pictures and contacts. However it won't be much for MP3 playback (but this phone isn't targeted as a cell walkman like Sony's other phones).
Reception is good so far, and voice quality is good. It helps to make sure you speak into the microphone (make sure the cell phone is against your mouth!) and the speakerphone is good, but does distort a bit at the highest setting. The ringtones are loud and call volume (caller's voice) is loud enough for all but the noisest environments.
CONS:
* No external memory options
* Ext. display not too bright
* Can't manually choose cell network like old t637
I can't understand other peoples problems with this phone, but the latest version from Cingular seems to be fine.
This phone is terrible, stay away
I'm giving it a 1 instead of a 0, because it does get great reception vs. my LG CU 500
PROs:
- Reception is great
- Screen is easy to read when dialing
CONs:
- Screen is difficult to use for everything else except dialing :) SonyEricsson just tried to back too much in there
- PTT Button... THIS WAS THE KILLER, I bought 3 of these phones for my family and we ALL were hitting the button constantly and there NO WAY TO DISABLE it
- User Interface is NOT intuitive at all
- Backlight... it turns off WAY to quickly and there is no setting to keep it on for longer periods
- NO SEND OR END BUTTONS... 2nd only to the PTT button was the lack of SEND and END buttons, I'm sure it's not a big deal once you're used to it, but frankly the SEND and END button should be required on a phone-first wireless device
Z520A / Z525A Love it or Hate it
After much research, and great reservation, I purchased this phone through Cingular. I have been a Nokia candy bar phone man for many years, and this was my first venture into a flip phone. There were many reasons I chose this phone, among which were: extremely long talk time and standby battery life, compact size, unique appearance, and many options. I did not need a camera phone and wish it was available as a basic phone, but this was the best compromise available to get what I needed.
The battery life is unbelievably long. I have yet to run the battery down, and I talk on it a lot. Since it has such a long talk time (over 10 hours), I saved money by not having to buy a car charger. The clarity of the phone is very good. It's compact size is easy to carry in a shirt pocket. It has more options than I will ever use, including camera, video, internet, IM, text messaging, and many more.
The display on the phone is extremely dim outside in sunlight. In fact it is virtually impossible to see the screen without a lot of shielding. The push to talk button, and the volume controls are on the side of the phone, and when removing the phone to answer it, I frequently hit the volume control, which silences the phone and send the caller to voicemail.
Overall this is a pretty good phone, but it is way too complex for someone who just wants a telephone. If you are a teenager who likes to play or a business man who needs a lot of features, then this may be the phone for you. I have also ran into security issues trying to enter government and corporate businesses which prohibit cameras, even on cell phones.
Pros
Compact size
Light weight
Long battery life
Lots of features
Cons
Too complicated
Too many features
Poorly placed outside controls
This will probably be my last camera flip phone. I wish there was a good flip phone to equal my Nokia 6010 candy bar phone. Just a good basic phone to make and receive calls with.
okay, but could use some improvement
I just upgraded from an old Nokia 5160 TDMA phone. I was forced into an upgrade by my carrier, otherwise, I sure would have kept that great Nokia phone.
Pros:
nice small size. Although the loop antenna seems to make the phone larger on the top than other phones of similar size.
The RF performance is good, even in rural Oregon -- which is often rough. For that reason alone I choose to keep this phone.
Keypad is easy to use.
Battery lasts forever, but I'm upgrading from a phone that required charging basically every night, so my expectations are calibrated to a 6 year old phone.
Free software from SE for interface to my computer.
I found a great belt case for the phone at the R.E.I. outdoor store. I hardly notice the arrangement on my belt.
Cons:
receive audio sounds bad. Like the person I'm talking to is in a tin can or something. Much worse than the Nokia 5160 that I upgraded from.
That crazy PTT switch on the side of the phone has either got to go, or have some method to disable it. I must accidently push that switch 100 times a day. PTT switches on real 2-way radios aren't so easy to push.
The sleep clock is very difficult to see unless the lighting is perfectly optimal. I use my phone as a clock, so this is particualry disturbing.
When the clock is lit up, the clock text is too small. All those pixels, yet so few of them are used for useful information.
For both the internal and external dislay, I had to monkey with the phone for a long time to find a background and contrast that worked for me.
The camera is low res compared to other phones of model year 2006.
Carrier: Cingular, Portland Oregon
This Phone SUCKS!!!
I own this phone and it extremely sucks. I will be talking on it and it will just cut off all by itself. It is like it has to reboot or something. The speaker phone isn't work .10c. You can barely hear on the phone much less the speaker phone. Do not buy the phone. They need to make it better. I don't have anything else to say except for it sucks really bad!!!!!
Great technology...but terrible design.
I had this phone for a week and I ended up returning it. It without a doubt has the latest technology but it lacks the basics.
Pros:
1. Very good color screen on both sides.
2. Very good reception and sound quality.
3. The loop antenna is a great idea.
4. Good picture and video quality.
5. Has bluetooth.
6. Perfect size and easy to hold.
Cons:
1. Buttons are too small.
2. Does not flip open or shut smoothly.
3. Limited ringing options.
4. Screen flickers when opening.
5. The soft keys are laid out VERY bad.
6. You have to wait a few seconds for the ringing to stop before you can put it to your ear.
very good phone
pros:
nice design
bright screen
cool games
call quality
cons:
camera quality
i'd definitely recommend this phone!
Great phone for the price...
This a great phone with the price that I paid. The size is compact and the color quality is decent. The speaker is great, you can at least hear what the other party is talking about. Some other phones that I have used in the past have bad speaker quality.
The phone do freeze up, out of my two months of usage, I have to restart to get it working again, just like a computer. The camera button is also an issue, I sometime takes picture while the phone is still in the pocket. The button is just too sensitive or the placement of the button is wrong.
Overall, it is great phone for the price and the features.
cheaply constructed
This phone is flimsy. I've had for 5 months and it already is falling apart.
It will not charge, unless I wiggle the plug and hold it in a certain position.
The side button for the camera is so sensitive that I end up with countless pictures of the inside to my pocket!
The keypad keeps sticking.
I keep getting a message to insert my smartchip...
The list of cons keeps going as each day passes.
There are no positives to this phone!
Crash Alot
I'd like the phone if it were reliable.
pros:
The phone is great. Small, Color full, Good navigation and lots of features.
Cons:
It crashes... alot.
I have two of these, one for me and one for my wife.
Both will just drop calls then emit clicking sounds.
This is really infuriating and embarrassing during business calls.
My wife's phone will sometimes just not ring. I have to remove the battery to get it to work again.
The display will sometimes go to some kind of safe mode and is barely usable.
Again, I like the phone.
I have replacements being shipped from cingular.
If the new phones don't have corrected software and still have problems, I'm going to get something other than Sony/Ericsson.
