Sony Ericsson shakes things up with its new quad-band W580i Walkman phone, introducing an innovative "shake to shuffle" feature that randomly chooses another song stored on your phone with just a flick of the wrist. This thin, slider-style phone also features a 2-megapixel camera/camcorder, fast Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR connectivity with music streaming, Memory Stick Micro expansion, Web browser for viewing full Internet sites, email access, an FM radio with RDS, and EDGE data support. This unlocked cell phone can be used with a GSM network service provider and it provides quad-band connectivity (850/900/1800/1900 MHz). It does not come with a SIM card, and it requires that you provide a SIM card for usage with your selected service provider.
 The slim slider W580i measures just 0.55 inches thin and includes a brightly colorful QVGA screen and dedicated music controls. |
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The W580i Walkman phone offers a full-function digital audio player that's compatible with MP3 and AAC files. The front of this slider phone includes dedicated music control buttons, and it includes Sony Ericsson's innovative "shake to shuffle" feature. With Shake control activated, press and hold the Walkman key and flick your wrist. A vibration lets you know that the track has been changed--a new song from your current playlist is randomly selected and automatically played.
With the TrackID service, you can identify any song that you can hear by just recording a snippet of sound using the microphone. After sending the file for recognition, you'll have the name, artist and album sent to your phone. Other Walkman features include MegaBass enhancement for added depth of sound, a flight mode that lets you keep listening to tunes with the phone's network connectivity turned off, and Disc2Phone software for easy transfer of song files between phone and PC. It also includes a built-in FM radio with RDS, which displays the name of the currently playing song (when tuned to compatible radio stations).
This phone provides Bluetooth version 2.0 wireless connectivity with EDR (enhanced data rate), and includes profiles for communication headset, handsfree car kits, and audio/video remote control. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones. You can connect your laptop (either via Bluetooth or wired USB) and enjoy dial-up networking--surf the Internet, send email, and access files from a server.
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You can even take your favorite tracks to the track with the W580i, which will count your steps, your calories and monitor your running speed/distance/time with the integrated motion sensor. Your workout results are stored in your phone so you can monitor your progress.
The phone also ships with a built-in email client with support for POP3 and IMAP4 protocols, while the included Access NetFront Web Browser allows you to surf full HTML web sites. It also supports RSS feeds, allowing you to use your phone to view up-to-the-minute news and other content from selected Web sites and blogs. Just subscribe to the feed and let it come to you. Support is built in for sending and receiving text, video, graphics and sound via messages.
The phone also supports the SyncML PC synchronization standard. This means the phone can be used with the included Sony Ericsson Sync Station software, which lets you synchronize your Microsoft Outlook calendar, contacts, notes and tasks on your PC with the phone.
Other features include:
- 2-inch LCD with a 240 x 320-pixel resolution and support for 262K colors
- Up to 1000 contact entries, each with five number fields
- Java support for online and offline 3D games
- USB 2.0 wired connectivity with mass storage capability
- PIM functions including calendar, tasks, notes, alarm, calculator, stopwatch, and timer
- T9 text entry technology
- 72-chord polyphonic ringtones and MP3 ringtones
- Digital audio file formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+
Vital Statistics
The W580i weighs 3.32 ounces and measures 3.9 x 1.85 x 0.55 inches. Its 930 mAh lithium-polymer battery is rated at up to 9 hours of talk time, and up to 370 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies.
Customer Review: Not for Texts
I originally picked this design because i enjoy the ease in which you can navigate through the Sony Ericsson models. Being able to create your own shortcut keys is a nice feature. However, if you are a big text messager, like me, then you'll likely want to look elsewhere. They keypad is incredibly small for starters. Thumb cramps take no time to develop. Also the keys themselves have an overall tendency to crack with overuse. I had my phone for maybe 5 months before at least 3 of they numbers cracked in half. A big draw back for sure.
Customer Review: Walkman FM radio +++ but small keypad
I bought this phone because it had Walkman FM radio, too. This phone is pretty (I got the PINK one), lightweight, has lots of whiz-bang menu selections, but doesn't wow or impress me as much as the Samsung A737 or Samsung A747 models which I bought for my children. I listen to the radio a lot, more than MP3s and really thought this feature would be cool. If you like effects, it has 16 settings for flashing light patterns customized for every caller. It takes a day to find out how to set the patterns in all the menus....
The keypad is a bit on the small side, and feel like dry plastic. It's OK for me because I have small hands, but I don't think a man would enjoy using the small, non-descript keys. The letters on the keys are hard to see being so small. When I enter text, I still have to look--er, squint--at the keypad. I don't pay for texting service, so it's not a huge hassle, but if you text, I can't imagine it would be much fun.
When I enter an phone number in the address book, it doesn't put hyphens between the area code, prefix, and last four digits. That's not fatal, but a pet peeve, and makes it difficult for me to figure out the numbers as they come up.
The M2 Memory Stick is not common, but Sony Ericsson uses it. They supply a 512MB one. Buying one with more memory will not be cheap. The access slot is on the top. It took me a while to figure out how to open the little, flat plastic door. Which side to open? It doesn't have a flap, can't open with a fingernail, so I use an unfolded paper clip or other similar-sized object to pry it open.
You need the wired earphones to have FM service. If you like radio, it's just one more thing to carry around. The sound quality is EXCELLENT on this wire unit and the ear buds very comfy. It also works as "handsfree" phone device if you don't want to do Bluetooth.
The display, although narrow, is bright and sharp. The sound is good, and it interfaces well with my Bluetooth earpiece and Palm device. The phone is very lightweight and slim. I dropped it a few times but the case didn't scratch or crack. The pink IS pretty, and has little red "jewels" between the number keys (other color models have different color jewels). The speaker phone option works well and is clear to hear. The slider is a little unusual to work at first, but works very nicely. Sony Ericsson phone support is SUPER, too.
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