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.
With AT&T's Mobile Music service, you can access your Napster subscription service for music downloads to keep you booming out the tunes for up to 20 hours.
AT&T Service The W580i operates on GSM 850/900/1800/1900 networks and can handle high-speed data connectivity via AT&T's EDGE network (which stands for "Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution"), with availability in more than 13,000 US cities and along some 40,000 miles of major highways. This third-generation, high-speed, mobile data and Internet access technology is fast enough to support a wide range of advanced data services (with average data speeds between 75-135Kbps), including video and music clips, full picture and video messaging, high-speed color Internet access, and email on the go.
The phone has a built-in web browser for MEdia Net downloads and mobile web browsing. AT&T's MEdia Net service enables you to receive and send emails, read news headlines, get weather updates, download games and ringtones, and more. It also features AT&T Mobile Music, which provides access to the Napster subscription music service in addition to Music ID song-recognition software, music videos and The Buzz music news portal. (A MEdia Max subscription bundle is recommended for accessing AT&T's Internet, video, and music services.)
Phone Features 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.
The built-in 2.0 megapixel camera captures stills and video--and playback of video or still pictures is only limited to the memory card size. Picture effects and custom screensavers, backgrounds, and themes can be setup to fit your personality. It provides support for PictBridge technology so you can print your photos without the need of a PC (either using USB or Bluetooth). And the W580i makes it easy to send snapped photos directly to a blog or an online photo, complete with text. This phone is also compatible with RTSP/3GPP streaming video playback
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
Built-in pedometer and fitness applications
Picture blogging with Google Blogger
Mobile email and messaging via AOL/AIM, Yahoo!, and MSN
Java support for online and offline 3D games (preloaded games include PacMan and Ms. PacMan)
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; the phone will also play for up to 20 hours when in Music Mode. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
FLIMSY:
Everything is cheap plastic with this phone. You could make a sturdier phone from a PEZ dispenser. I'm an agile fingered pianist with a sensitive touch, but nevertheless all of my keys have split in half. And, the menu keys have lost their sensitivity. Also, the sticker/emblem on back has popped off. All of this started just a few days after warranty (which is almost immediately).
Good solid phone; lots of features:
I've owned this phone for nearly a year. My wife's started crashing on her, but AT&T replaced it under the warranty. Except for that, this phone has been great. It's quite easy to use, syncs to my Mac nicely, and has a nice screen. The battery life is fine for my uses (charge every 3-4 days, but I don't talk much). It will run java applications and whatnot. However, and this is sad, the best feature is that you can disable the stupid press-to-connect-to-the-internet button only by manually setting up... more info
Tried six different phones -all bad!:
My wife and I both had 580i phones. AT&T customer service replaced both phones twice. That's six phones over a six month period. Audio was very difficult to hear. Unclear sound on two of the phones. Marginal sound quality on the others. Two phones would not take a recharge properly. Factory chargers would bring up " must use an Ericcson battery" when I was using the supplied AC charger. This happened on two of the phones. Battery could not be recharged. We are Mac people. The phones would not function... more info
Poor basic funtionality:
As others have pointed out this phone has a number of design flaws. I'm a user that expects a phone to be a phone 1st and once it has that functionality down cold then start adding the bells and whistles. (Sounds a lot like what we've been wanting out of computer manufacturers for years, doesn't it?) 1. The phone can easily become unlocked and make calls. My daughter's phone called me while she was sitting next to me in the car and her phone was in her pocket. 2. The interface is not customizable.... more info
