Sony Ericsson Z520 / Z525
Average Ratings
z520i
I bought this unlocked. My two requirements for a new phone were: quad band for international use, and synchronization with my Mac via iSync. This phone satisfied both requirements, and I have to say, it is in the nicest phone I've ever owned. It is just the right size, it gets reception in places my previous phones (Nokia 3120 and Motorola v620) did not. The sync with my Mac works perfectly.
It is not a high-end smart phone, but it holds my contacts and calendars, which is all I need.
Grrrrrrrrrr
I bought this phone because I liked the way it looked. BAD IDEA! I was excited when I got it becuase it looked like a fun phone. But when I got into it and started setting it up, I quickly realized that there were too many moving parts and it was NOT user friendly. I am not technologically challenged, but gimme a break. There are 19 buttons on the front of this phone - who needs that? That being said, here are the pros & cons, for me:
Pros:
1. great size - not too big, not too small
2. great colors & graphics
3. you can change the cover
4. signal strength is awesome
5. bluetooth is pretty cool
Cons:
1. The backlight will not stay on - that is SO irritating.
2. Making a call on this phone is not as simple as pushing a button twice, you have to to thru an entire process, it's too much!
3. the headset doesn't always click on right away
4. it has dropped calls, with 5 bars
5. you can't talk on the headset and close the phone, it will cause the phone to hang up
6. there are like 5 different call menus - what is that?
7. the camera keeps taking pictures of the inside of my purse becuase the button is so sensitive
8. the camera shutter noise is LOUD - it's cool to have the noise, but it's so loud it's distracting
I am a simple girl - I want a phone that's simple to use. If you like a lot of bells and whistles, this is the phone for you. If not, buy something else.
Great Phone/Lousy Firmware
Let me begin with, I loved this phone. Event with all the firmware problems I have had with it, I have loved using this phone. Unfortunately, the firmware issues are to great for me to continue to use the phone, so I am going to give the RAZR a try. For me, the best part has been the Z520a's ability to sync with my Outlook. File transfers are quick and easy. It is also great that this phone has both IR and Bluetooth capabilities.
The firmware is the greatest shortfall for me. My particular phone continues to shut down on its own, stop the audible ring-tone as it chooses, the screen goes bezerk when I receive a phone call and dialing out does not always work. I wish it were just a matter of connectivity, but each of these issues is resolved temporarily when I shut the system down and restart. On more than one occassion I have even had to remove the battery in order to fully reset the phone.
Pros: size, features, camera, MP3 quality, memory size, on and on....all the features are awesome. Reception has been unbelievable. I have had reception where others have not. Full bars in the middle of nowhere.
Cons: The external camera button has led to many "in-pocket" photos. How many times do I need to see the inside of my pocket. There needs to be some way to turn the external button off. The firmware is problematic. Charging has also become difficult lately. Connectors on the charger no longer make contact with the plates at the bottom of the phone.
If SE could resolve the firmware issue, I would probably keep this phone.
Very good phone for reasonable price!
I finally gave up on Motorola so I took a shot with this phone and it has really paid off. The phone is loud especially with the bluetooth function so I can hear in bad places. The signal strength is awesome and the call quality is as good as I've seen in any phone.
CONS
No FM radio or I Tunes but that's about it!
Buy this phone. It's definitely worth the money.
Great Phone!!!
I love this phone. I've had it for a little over a week and still can't believe how awesome it is. My only complaint is that in some rural areas I cant get a signal, but its not a major problem. Initially I had a problem with the screen(scratched easily), but it was actually a removable film to protect the screen during shipping. If you buy this phone make sure you remove it. Other than that this is the best phone I've ever owned.
Excellent Phone
This is the first Sony Ericsson I've owned after many Samsungs and a few Nokias when I was with Sprint. I got three of these for a new account with Cingular - for a free phone with bluetooth and video capture this is very hard to beat. I read the reviews here before deciding on a phone, and to be honest some of them scared me. I'm happy to report that this latest release (Z520[a]) seems to have the memory issues resolved, and the camera button doesn't seem to be as much of a problem as other have described it to be. Although the location of the button could be better, you have to (unconsciously) hold it down for quite some time before it actually takes a picture. Once you get used to it's location it's not as big of an issue IMO.
PROS
* excellent feature set for a freebee phone
* very customizable (easy to create custom themes and add your own ringtones)
* excellent signal strength / call quality
* one of the few phones I've owned who's battery lasted as long as advertised
* menus are quick and intuitive
* lots of memory when compared to the moto v557
* nice camera quality for a phone (vga)
CONS
* speakerphone isn't loud enough for me
* found it difficult to switch out of speakerphone mode during a call (while driving)
* backlight on main screen turns off momentarily when you open the clamshell
* unable to adjust the amount of time the backlight stays on
* camera button is poorly located for righties
I gave this phone 4.5 out of 5 stars because I would like to be able to adjust the amount of time the backlight stays on, and because the designers should have recessed the camera button or placed it somewhere other than the spot where a righty instinctively puts their index or middle finger when handling a flip phone. Other than these two very minor issues this is great phone, by far the best I've owned. If it had an SD cardslot and a stereo headphone jack I think this phone would be my version of gadget nirvana.
Worse phone ever
This is probably the worse phone I have ever used in my whole life.
Pros
neat flashing lights that will inform you of a call when you cant hear ring tone
small form factor
mp3 ringtone play back
cons
buggy software, very similar to windows os... you need to reboot your phone every couple of days or it will crash on you. This is extremely annoying when your in a middle of a call and you get cut off and you try to call them back. Software tends to go haywires when small glitches happen.
frequently dropped calls
constant reception fluctation
mediocre camera
blue tooth is very unstable
a litter more improvement needed
I expected a lot from this bluetooth enabled phone, however, there are few things that I really would like to ask Sony-Ericsson to improve:
1) Camera key on the left side is so easy to press when I don't want to press it! and there is no way, software-wise, to disable this camera key.
2) The back light goes off so quickly, probably for the longer battery life, so that I have to keep pressing a key to look at the screen and think for a brief moment and there is no way to prolong this time software-wise.
3) Speed dial is set differently from most of the other phones. I want to press and hold 2-9 number keys to speed dial but on this phone you have to choose the number then press "dial". This is not really speed dial to me.
4) I wish there is a regular headset jack.
5) I wish there is a hole for phone string accessory
Lastly, here is my personal preference:
5) If this is not your first phone, you might be confused about the unique key assignment. I was expecting regular talk key (green) on the upper left and cancel key (red) on the upper right but there aren't.
I don't really need complicated phones with internet/data functions but one with basic voice communication functionality, which has been so hard to find.
But for the price, it is a nice phone with big memory in its small body.
Excellent phone with some bells
Pros:
Provides great reception (I'm in a building where I couldn't get reception with my Motorola v220 but I can now with the z520a)
Sony OS is the Sony OS... Good
Good picture quality
Compact
Stylish
Cons:
That darn camera button absolutely does take a bunch of unwanted pictures, both when you're talking and when it sits in your pocket and you can't disable it.
It seems the screen takes a second to turn on when you flip the phone open.
I haven't been able to figure out voice dialing with my bluetooth.
Both me and my wife got this phone and so far both of us have experienced one occassion where the phone seemingly went into some kind of hibernation/standby mode where the screen went blank and after about 15-20 secs of pressing buttons and opening/closing the flip it came back to life.
I know the cons are detailed, but the pros really make this an exceptional phone, especially since Cingular is giving it away free right now. By the way, the stores must match their internet prices.
My friend did just get the w600i so I think I'm gonna return this phone for that one since that one also dropped in price.
great phone for the price
I've had my new se z520 for over a week now and I am loving it pros bluetooth great reception great design mp3 ringtones lots of features voice dialing changable faceplates great vga camera video capture cons speaker not so great hard to open but those cons are really minor things for me in all the se z520 is a great phone good job sony ericsson,oh did I mention the price great deal for a phone with that many features.
