Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 60
 better than the razr, with some drawbacks May 26, 2008
J. G, (Silicon Valley)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Pros:
- small size
- great voice quality
- play music without headphones
- 2 MP still and video camera
- great screen
Cons:
- non-standard connectors
- no per-group ringtones
- poor mp3 management
- AT&T branding
- small keyboard
Upgraded from an original Razr to this via AT&T a few weeks back and I love this phone. I carry my phone in my pocket wherever I go, so I want a small phone with good battery life and great voice quality. This phone has that.
First thing to do after getting the AT&T version is to debrand it (search youtube for tutorials), and make sure you don't use the Sony Ericsson updater or it will update your phone firmware to a version that can't be debranded or further modified (e.g. changing the walkman skins). Debranding gives you flash menus, unlimited length mp3 ringtones, and the shortcut button on the front is customizable rather than being hard coded to AT&T Medianet. The phone is still locked to AT&T, but it's more fun to use and you no longer have those annoying AT&T splash screens.
The biggest annoyance is that the phone doesn't use standard connectors, so the headset, charger, and file transfer all go through the custom connector on the side. It would so much more convenient if they used standard headphone connector for audio and standard miniUSB for charging / data. And of course the micro M2 memory stick is annoying since no one carries them so I had to mail order an 8GB card for my music, video, pics, etc.
Keyboard is tiny. It works ok for texting, and I haven't had any problems with keys breaking, but it is tight. There's plenty of room for larger keys, so a larger keyboard with more tactile feedback to make it easier to differentiate the keys would be nice.
MP3 management is lame. No other way around it. I was very disappointed to find that the only way to manage playlists is to manually create them on the phone. This is so painful that it's effectively impossible. I have playlists for itunes and winamp. I should be able to drag a playlist into my phone and have the playlist and the songs copied over and accessible on the phone. Instead, I create folders in my "music" folder, copy the playlist songs into that folder, and then go into that folder via the phone, send the songs to the walkman, and save as a playlist. Annoying for you to read about it, and even more annoying for me to do it. Huge oversight on the part of Sony.
Finally, the group ringtones. On my razr I can set a default ringtone for my phone, and then I set up groups of contacts (friends, family, work, etc.) and I can assign a ringtone for each group so I can easily tell from how the phone rings who is calling. The best part of this is that anyone not in my phonebook rings a different way, so when I hear that, I know I can ignore it or set that ringtone to silent so I'm not distracted by people I don't know. The w580 lets you set ringtones per contact, but not for groups. You can only SMS to a group and that's about it. This means I have to set the ringtone for each individual person which is impractical, and there's no way to set a silent ringtone for people not in your addressbook. This is basic phone functionality, and a huge hole in the w580 feature set.
I don't use the Internet on it, so no comments there. Overall, it's a good phone, and I expect to be happy with it for the next few years. I'm glad I bought it, and if it breaks I would likely buy the same thing again unless something that fixes the above problems in the same form factor becomes available.
 Good..BUT October 2, 2007
T. Kaur
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
Looks great, decent pictures and sounds good BUT:
- Drops calls
- Speakerphone is bad ["tinny" and static]
- Speakerphone produces echo at the other end of the call
- Flimsy feel
- No autofocus
- Uses M2 memory
Good Phone - Some Drawbacks November 22, 2007
C. Geary (San Jose, CA United States)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I've used this phone now for a month & am really impressed with the quality. The small size has tempted some to slide it into a pants pocket & then be surprised that the screen cracked. It's a small thin phone that's just long enough to be stressed when you sit down, so don't put it in your pocket. The Walkman features are fantastic, the sound quality is exceptional from the included headhones, which are also a handsfree (sort of). The cable has a switch that ends up right below your neckline... you just press it if a call comes in while you're listening to music, the call is answered. The switch has a mike built into it, so you don't have to start fumbling for the phone to talk.
Others have mentioned the internet access button is on the outside of the phone & yes, this is a real problem/design flaw. It'll connect you at random every time the phone presses up against whatever you're storing it in. I had 8 hours of unintentional internet usage my first week of ownership. There are a variety of ways to deal with the problem, one reviewer here mentioned changing the internet settings so it won't connect. You can also call ATT & they can offer some good options. There is a keyboard lock function meant to prevent problems like this, but it sometimes doesn't work. If you get this phone DO NOT use a phone case with a magnetic clasp. With the keyboard locked, the magnet will not only deactivate the lock, but will activate a variety of phone features, from placing phone calls to people in your address book or recent call list, to connecting you to the internet. I know this from personal experience. I could pass the case over the phone without even touching it & it would place phone call.
The display screen is small, but it's very hi-def, bright, and has deep color saturation. I have bad eyes yet have absolutely no problem seeing the display. To me, this is a real plus over a lot of other phones.
So in conclusion, Sony... get that internet button off the cover of the phone! That was a really stupid idea. All they have to do is put it underneath where the number pad is where it's protected.
 Very disappointed with the W580i. December 19, 2007
curtO (Pittsburgh, PA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
My previous phone was the Sony Ericsson S710a, and loved it. So I thought the W580i would be an improvement from that. But sadly it's not. And for the price through Amazon being $.01, I should have bought a different phone even if I had to spend more.
Good:
Clear sound.
Small but good clear screen.
Bad:
Keys cracked right after I had it a month. Amazon didn't seem to know their own return policy as, of the 8 representitives I spoke with, 4 said it could be exchanged with no problem for a different phone, and 3 said they would research it only to send a standard denial email, and one had the courage to say all of them were wrong, apologize for being transferred, and tell me what did I expect from a free phone.
No light on the camera
So so camera, there is pixel lines in every picture
Horrilbe speaker phone
Don't even think about using the speaker to play music.
Sometimes will receive an error of death.
Slider feels flimsy, and I worry that it will eventually break.
Battery life isn't great.
Wrist strap hole is useless
Overall it's a basic phone aimed at teens. Wheras the S710a I would say was marketed towards an older crowd. So I was a sucker for buying this, and now I have to live with it for my 2 year contract. I will most likely end up buying a phone off of eBay within 6 months just to get away from this one.
I recommend a DO NOT BUY...plenty of other phones are better than this one.
 Awesome Phone, Awesome Deal September 27, 2007
Ixstala (Pittsburgh, PA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This phone is amazing. If you need to renew a contract or sign a new one this deal can't be beat! I got the phone two days after placing the order on Amazon, not the 2-4 weeks as advertised.
I won't repeat the admirable qualities of the phone here, other reviews do a good job, but there are three things to note. First the walkman logo on the front of the phone is AT&T not the sony W, the W is on the back however. Second, no memory card is included in this hardware package. Third, the branding on the phone disables the flash based menus and locks out other standard features such as mp3 ringtones over 600k, although there are ways around this you can end up breaking your phone if you're not careful. Also the battery cover is really hard to get off if you don't have finger nails, the best method is to use your index nails at the top sides of the cover and pull towards the bottom of the phone. Otherwise, perfect.
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