Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 55
 Sony Ericsson W580i vs LG Shine CU720 August 7, 2008
Joe Smo (New Zealand)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Background: Over the past two months, I have spent a great deal of time debating between whether to get the Sony Ericsson W580i or the LG Shine CU720. After making numerous threads at various forums regarding this question, reading countless reviews, watching many videos, looking at hundreds of pictures, and mapping out the pros and cons of each one multiple times, I have settled on the Sony Ericsson W580i. Since my family just got a family plan with ATT (3 lines/550 minutes shared) and one of my sisters got the Shine, I was able to do a comparison between the phones.
Battery Life: The claim that Sony Ericsson has poor battery life, in short, is complete bull ****. Those that say they had short battery life... you just got a lemon (or are trying to reason yourself out of the fact that buying a shine was actually a poor decision). My OTHER sister, who also got a Sony Ericsson, also gets great battery life with hers. Rather than the claimed "3-4 day charge" that many people on this forum and others are claiming, I have found that the phone will last over a week (11-13 days). The LG Shine, which is said to have poor battery life, disappoints: its battery life is indeed very short. The papers that the LG Shine comes with claims that battery life is around 3 hours of talk time, up to 240 hours (10 days) of standby time, is standard marketing bull ****: through a test of 10 different charges with three different batteries, the phone has lasted no more than 3 days before it required a charging.
SE: 10/10 Shine: 3/10
Durability: People say the LG Shine has a stronger build than the Sony Ericsson, but if you actually compare the two, you find that you cannot actually compare the two... Why? The SE is a plastic phone; the LG shine is a plastic phone with metallic components. One thing that is not usually noted is that the Shine actually has VERY little metal in its body; it's only the battery cover and some of the front. The LG shine doesn't really feel that much more durable than the SE. If you drop the shine, you will certainly damage the screen, and/or scratch the body, and/or break the phone. With something plastic, eg. Sony Ericsson, a drop will do no more than give a few scratches. Regarding the slider mechanism, the LG Shine's "snaps" when you open and close it, whereas the SE's slider is not as snappy. Due to the difference in the way that the phones slide, it isn't really accurate to say that one feels more durable than the other. Since the durability was one of my biggest concern in getting the phone, I did a test of each phone upon cracking open the box: I opened and closed each phone 300 times. Results: The LG Shine's slider remained the same; the SE's slider got smoother after the test.
SE: 9/10 Shine: 6/10
Fingerprints/Scratchability: The claims that the Shine is a fingerprint magnet could not be more true. The Shine cannot stand to be touched at all. Walking around with the Shine put in my side jeans pocket for a day, the Shine went in looking stellar and came back looking pretty poor. The back plate had obviously been rubbed on, the front plate exhibited small, but noticeable scratches. I'm sure you could prevent the Shine from getting scratched by getting a screen protector and/or case, but the hassle of one is not something that I'd want to deal with (not to mention such protection would take away the "beauty" of the Shine). The Sony Ericsson, as one may predict, does not scratch easily. Same jeans, same walk, and the SE still looked great after. There was something that looked like a small scratch on the front screen on the SE, but nothing a wipe could clean off. Speaking of which, with the LG Shine, you cannot wipe the phone with any shirt; it will scratch if the fabric of the cloth/shirt is rough. A BIG reason people get the Shine is because it looks good. Well, if you don't take care of it like a newborn baby, it's going to look like **** and ipso facto, it was a poor decision to buy the phone for its looks.
SE: 9/10 Shine: 1/10
Keypad: People always complain about the keypads of the Sony Ericsson and the LG Shine and say how small they are and how difficult it is to text with them... Most of these complainers are complaining from hearsay (they repeat what they read/hear from others, not from their own experience). The problem of cracking keypads is also a huge concern for potential buyers of the SE. First, to address the keypad. The size of the keypad is very usable for texting and other usage. I have 6'2" and have large hands and I can still manage to comfortable use the phones' keypads. Texting with both is very easy (albeit not as easy as texting on a RAZR). The SE's keypad is not as responsive as the Shine's, meaning the click down are not as solid, and that the row of numbers are connected so that one press on a number slightly depresses the row, but nonetheless, it is very solid. The LG Shine's keypad is like a smaller version of the RAZR. Regarding the cracking keys on the SE, I performed a test to see if this rumor was true. Over a period of 2 days, I had the phone off and during my spare time (which is a lot since it's summer), I've been clicking away at the keys (with a good amount of pressure I might add), and the keys exhibit no sign of cracking. Clearly the cracking keys is an issue with older phones (which you could potentially still buy if the reseller of your phone has old stock).
SE: 9/10 Shine: 9/10
Navigation: Those that say navigation on the Shine is difficult are clearly retarded: physically or mentally. The joystick on the Shine takes no practice to nail. It is very easy to use, and is not too small. The SE, with no joystick, as imagined, is also very easy to use. My only caveat with the SE is that there's no dedicated end call button like my old Nokia. The numbered menus in the Shine are very easy to use.
SE: 9/10 Shine: 9/10
Reception/Sound Quality: I live in Northern California in a well populated city, and everywhere I go, I get 5 bars with the SE and from 3 to 4 bars with the Shine. I have found the number of signal bars that you get has a big impact on the call quality (as it should)... The Shine frequently echoes what the other person says, and a background static seems to be present in all calls. To ensure that I didn't receive a lemon shine, I tested a friend's shine and sure enough, it was the same. My friend told me they didn't notice the static (he probably got use to the poor call quality)... The SE's reception and sound quality it top notch. No complaints whatsoever here. Even with 3 bars (in a tunnel), the call was still strong.
SE:10/10 Shine: 5/10
Features: SE wins hands down. Read the features at each phone's respective website; I won't waste your time here. The LG Shine is the most basic of phones. The only thing its got over the SE is 3G. The Shine is all looks.
SE: 10/10 Shine: 2/10 (absolutely pitiful for a phone be so lackluster in features)
Other concerns and notes:
- The speaker on the SE kills that one which is on the Shine
- Both phones have ringtones are loud enough to be heard
- Both phones can [be modified to] receive games and , but with the SE, you have more options.
Amazing phone!! December 24, 2007
M. Arshad
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
When I got the phone, the 0 button was not working. Sent that back and got a replacement phone. I am not the most gentle person when it comes to phones. I was kind of skeptical about the slider, whether it will stand up to abuse etc.
I absolutely love it. You can play mp3 and radio(with the headset). I've had it for about 4 weeks or so and I love this phone more and more. I've always been a big fan of Sony Ericsson phones, so this might be a very biased review. But this phone IS amazing..
I was running to catch a train, forgetting that I had left the phone in my jacket pocket. And then the most unthinkable thing happened! The phone flew out of my pocket and onto the tracks right behind the train. I actually saw it hit the ground and the battery cover and battery breaking loose upon impact. I was just ready to cry right then and there. I picked up the 3 pieces, battery, cover and phone. Proceeded to put it back together and just basically praying it works. And to my amazement, it started up without a hitch.. it still slides as normal, and the phone still functions as it should. My phone has a few battle scars, but I love it even more now.
I have the white one which actually comes with a 256 mb memory. The only hitch is the Sony Memory Stick M2 micro, which is expensive and can only be used with other Sony products. Other than that, this phone is the BOMB!!
 Great phone...when it works November 12, 2007
S. R. Collins (Seattle, WA)
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
I loved this phone--for the first month. The sound quality was great, the design was creative and fun, and the features were useful.
And then, one day, it wouldn't power up at all. I tried every troubleshooting option listed on the Sony Ericsson website, including charging up the phone, removing the battery, and cleaning the battery connections. No luck.
I then spent two hours on the phone with AT&T. I was told that because I bought the phone through Amazon, I had to return it through them. However, Amazon's return policy was only valid for a month. So I went back to AT&T, and four phone calls later, they agreed to accept a return the phone. (The number to call is 800-801-1101 if you find yourself in the same situation.) There are a couple of catches, of course. First, I have to pay $12 for 2-day shipping or wait a week to receive the phone with free shipping. Secondly, they can't guarantee me a new phone. The replacement will likely be "reconditioned." I extended my contract for two years for a USED phone? I'm not pleased at all.
In the meantime, I bought a $20 GoPhone and put my old SIMS card in it. Sadly, a $20 phone is working better than a $400 phone.
When the Sony Ericsson works great, it's fantastic. But AT&T's return/warranty policy is disappointing. I paid $0.01 for this phone. I obviously got what I paid for.
 W580i Slick phone with a few problems November 2, 2007
Bruin248 (Detroit, MI USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
When I first got the phone I was amazed at the types of things I could do with it. The phone feels heavier than I thought it would, but the weight is balanced in your hand whether open or closed. As other reviewers stated, this phone is more of a light silver than pure white.
The reason this phone gets a 4 over a 5 has to do with AT&T. And since this product description includes AT&T I will comment. Many features that come with the phone are locked or altered. An example the games. Sure, you could unbrand your phone, but that is something that some people would feel very nervous about doing. The real problem (and something I was aware of when I purchased it) is that you can not use regular MP3 songs as ringtones without modification. I chose to edit my MP3's down to about 30 seconds and they work just fine. There is also a small circular button on the lower right of the face of the phone that opens up a connection to the internet. I found this out when I removed my phone from my pocket only to find I had inadvertantly connected and was on for about 30 min. This just seems like a money grab by AT&T and a sneaky one at that. I fixed the problem by creating a "fake" profile for all applications that would access the internet.
Overall, I would recommend this phone. Despite a few problems with what AT&T did to this phone, most problems can be worked around and the functionality of the phone doesn't suffer too much (at least for what I use the phone for).
Penny for Your Phone? October 18, 2007
J. Buchanan (USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I purchased this phone with the AT&T plan. This was a good bargin, and I got a great phone out of it.
The first time I recieved the phone it had a bad speaker on the phone itself. When talking on the phone, peoples voices were muffled and unclear.
Amazon was quick to help me replace this bad phone at no charge to me.
The phone is great, once everything is programmed in, you rarley have to slide the phone open. Probably the best thing about the phone is that it came with a USB cable to aid in file transfers.
After 2 weeks of use, everything is still functioning like new.
**Update 11-20-2007**
After four weeks of using the phone, the speaker once again had the same issue. The speaker started buzzing again.
After spending a week trying to deal with Amazon, I called AT&T about a replacement. They weren't helpful this time, and told me I was SOL with the broken phone for the remainder of my contract. So now I had a broken phone and a year and a half on the contract.
Upon talking to some people I called AT&T back and talked to their warrenty and return department. They promptly replaced my phone.
So now I'm on my third phone, just waiting for it to die.
AT&T will replace the phone if its broken up to one year. After that, if I'm still having problems, I'll just get a GoPhone.
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