Sony Ericsson Z500a (AT&T)

I have read a few of the other reviews of this phone and see alot of complaints about what the phone doesnt do. Well, thats why you compare phones to get the options you want, not buy something that doesnt fit your needs and then complain. Anyhow, I have had my phone for a year, not just a few months etc. The reception is very good; better than my wifes Nokia. The camera is easy to use, and takes fair pics. The paint on mine hasnt come off in the least bit, and still looks great. The screen is crisp and faily large. Its a nice phone all around, with just a few drawbacks: The keys are flush and dont inspire confidence when trying to text. And the screen is difficult to see in broad daylight. Aside from that, it does all it is supposed to do, and does it well. Hope this helps.

I look at a lot of cell phones, I am in the business. I came across this phone recently and was really amazed by all it has to offer and the price you can buy it. The phone really excels in some areas.

First, it does text messaging in every way it can be done SMS, EMS, MMS. You can send pictures, video, audio files in MP3 that you record, and it has this neat feature that lets you see your contacts that have their phone on for instant text messaging. It is like instant messaging on your cell phone. It is called Wireless Village.

Second, Ringtones. It lets you download MP3 files and a really good ringtone composer that lets you really personalize the ringtones for your phone.

Third, it is a World phone which Sony Ericsson is really known for and, if it is unlocked, you can use it all accross Europe and parts of Asia.

Finally, it has the easy slip on covers in case you scratch your phone, you can just slide on a new cover and keep it looking new. It is one of the only phones that lets you do that and I think it is a great feature. I am not so concerned if I drop the phone and put a big ugly scratch on it, I just slip on a new cover. Oh, the phone is known for its durability and I would concur, it is very durable.

The phone gets good reception and the color screens are very clear. I rate this phone very highly and I think that people don't know that much about it and that is why you can buy it at such a bargain.

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I have been through cell phone after cell phone, I have 3 boys and all kids love playing with mommys phone and what better way to keep them quite in line at a store. My cell phones would never last more then 3 months before something on it broke. My sony Ericsson I have had for 10 months now, and it still works perfect. I am a mom, not into text messaging, downloads, and all the other stuff that phones come equipted with today. Sometimes I take pictures but I mostly just like to be able to make outgoing calls and recieve my incoming calls. My 3 year old has thrown across parking lots, over cars, across Wal-mart at one point it was very close to being in a fountain at Disney. It has a few scratches but not even a dent, the internal anntenna, can't break it. I even get calls in Wal-mart, not many people can claim that. When Sony took over this phone division they made a winner. I will never go back to other brands. Even my battery has been the best. I am a big Sony fan, there products seem to hold up very well with kids and there phone is no exception. It has my vote over and over. I have also been asked by other parents in stores what phone I have because as my children are fighting over with one gets it and then it is thrown across the floor and some very nice person returns it to me and they see me give it back to the kids, after what they just did to it, they want to know because they have kids and they are on phone # ? just like me before my Sony Ericsson.

My son calls the phone "the brick" ...ok so yes the phone is "large" for the times but comeon. You can make your own ringtone, take a TON of pictures that are pretty good quality. you wont loose the phone, and you can seriously drop, smash, ignite, and throw the phone and nothing will happen. My son has bought threee RAzors's because he has dropped them getting out of the car. I have dropped mine from a bridge into an arroyo in new mexico, lost it for 10 minutes in 110 degree heat and there was no problem.
Enough said.

I had previously bought a Sony Ericsson Z500a in the summer of 05 when the Star Wars promotion was going on. At the time I mostly wanted the phone for the Star Wars ringtones and face plate. This was probably one of the best flip phones I have ever owned for me. I don't care for the camera although I thought it was neat that I could assign pictures to callers and it shows up on the caller ID. I dropped my phone one too many times and it died on me and I knew my contract with the formerly known Cingular was up in May. I didn't want to sign another 2 year contract and I didn't want a new fancy smancy phone so I looked on ebay and happily found several Sony Ericsson Z500a phones being auctioned. Some were being auctioned for the same price I originally paid back in 2005. I was starting to get discouraged but I knew that I needed a phone for personal reasons so I kept looking and finally found a phone being auctioned at a decent enough price and I ended up paying less than $30 for the phone. I am most happy that I didn't have to get another phone and sign another 2 year contract especially since I am considering switching cell phone carriers. My only disappointment is that I have lost my ringtones and pictures that were on my other phone. But, I was able to put my Star Wars faceplate back on because luckily it wasn't damaged when my phone got broke. To me this Sony Ericsson Z500a is perfectly fine for a phone. I don't really care about all the bells and whistles as long as I am able to make clear calls and the person I am talking to can hear me and I can hear them.

This phone is great for making calls and cool ringtones,videos. The picture on the phone makes are not the clearest I have seen but they are adequate if you just want to use it to play with. We have 3 of these phones in the house so must be something we like about them.

This phone has a great battery life!
The camera is is pretty good quality and the reception is always great!
I recommend!

The Sony Ericsson Z500 flip phone compared to all the phones I've had(Kyocera,Nokia,Audiovox,Motorola)Is in my opinion one of the best phones I have used.(Have yet to use LG,Samsung or Sanyo)but I heard those are good phones also. As for reception and features:"excellent".I had problems with my Kyocera and Audiovox. Also, believe it or not my reception was not to good with the Motorolas Ive had(pictures come out best though). The Nokia was perfect if like "bar" type phones. Now as for wireless service.. TMobile had the best overall minutes and pricing but had dropped calls and long wait time for customer service. Ive been over charged by Verizon and Cingular but Sprint over charged minutes AND pricing!!!! I stayed with Cingular because of rollover and if you go to wirefly.com you can get a free phone with online activation. Good Luck!! Karen in CA.

This phone was everything that I needed and more! Has everything you could need in a phone and was always reliable even when my motorola wasn't. Very pleased.

This phone is awesome. Great sound quality, never had any dropped calls. Super features.It's high tech but also very user friendly. Pretty big screen and lots of things you can do with it.

well I am also a die hard sony ericsson fan. I have been with sony since the t237 first came out. I had this z500 after a T616 with att&t. I liked the fact that it had video and photo. I don't recall having any problems with the software as I have with my K700i now. The resolution isn't that great for a sony, if it was bluetooth compatible, infrared, and not as big it would be a great phone. it can hold maybe one or two mp3 songs depending on the size of the file, it had really good reception when compared to other brands.

If you find it cheap...definitely go for it!

Phone is easy to use, but battery life if very short if you use it a lot. Love the camera easy to use also, but to download pictures, etc it is difficult. The speaker phone feature is the best feature on the phone. Very simple and great in the car of when your hands are busy, can be heard at quite a distance. Overall the phone is good.

I have had my Z500a for quite a while. Ever since AT&T and Cingular joined
together. I had a Nokia thru AT&T and could not convert it because it did not accept a Sim card thru Cingular so I picked this phone. My husband was already signed up with Cingular so we chose the Family plan. He picked a Motorola and had reception problems with it and insisted on another Motorola which again has reception and hearing problems. So I have talked him into a Sony.
I love the reception, etc. I use this phone for only the basics and should
check out the other functions that other reviewers have noted as good.
The only drawback that I have noted is the cosmetic look of the phone and thru
much use the gray covering has started to wear off so I will have to buy a
cover for it soon.

This phone should be put in a museum because of it's good reception.

Pros
good recepton
sony interface
good battery
good speakerphone

Cons
2005 technology
grainy screen
slow processor
cheap sony finish but otherwise durable.

We needed a heavier cell phone than the one my husband was using. He is a mechanic and quite hard on his phone!! This one fills the bill. He is hard of hearing and this phone has a louder ring at a tone he can hear! It is also a camera-phone, which pleased him. The only problem I had with it was trying to figure out how to load in the SIM card!! Luckily, our son came along and figured that out for us.

i have had this phone for 2 years..until i upgraded and let me tell you the good and the bad...

good-

great reception, never had a dropped call..even at a basement level floor at the mall i was able to get reception

you can record and use it as ringtone, which save me couple of bucks here and there

very simple easy to use, not complicating at all- even my mother had no problem with this

you can change covers

perfect size

i dropped it a few times, and still had no problems with it

bad-

i dont really know how to explain it, but this phone have a very cheap feeling..

one thing i REALLY hated about this phone is that it would freeze out of no where when its in my bag or pocket. its not everyday thing, but it was like a once every two weeks kind of thing. i would have to take my battery out, reinsert it and turn the phone back. i mean, its not such a big deal, but when this happens, it tends to drain the battery out, and your left with not much battery left..if your in the middle of nowhere cross your fingers that this does not happen..

this phone is kinda bulky for a phone compared to others thats out right now

battery life isnt that great.. before i had this phone i had motorola..and when i upgraded to this phone, i remember thinking..wow battery life sucks! you would need to charge everyday if you use phone frequently..if you dont use phone much it can last 3 days i bet, but once you use the phone it will drain the battery out, so dont even risk it..charging everyday is like a neccessity with this phone

picture quality could be better..

SO WHO WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS PHONE TO?
if you are planning on purchasing this phone, i think you should only purchase this phone if you need TEMPORARY replacement, for instance..if your phone broke and you are not due for an upgrade, or have no warranty..this phone shouldnt give you much trouble..i mean..this phone isnt a BAD phone..but there are FAR better phones out there right now..so invest in a better phone if you are planning on using it for a while.

Sony Ericsson has the best yet with the Z520a. It is a tough little phone with great features. This phone has taken some fairly rough treatment in my line of work, and keeps going just fine. Great reception on the Cellular One network. The camera takes great pictures. The ease of use when adding a bluetooth device is incredible.

Being a big fan of SONY products, didn't enjoy color being coming off!!! Consequently looks quite bad and also, it's a fat phone. The picture quality of the videos and images are pretty bad... It has a good frequency range and works inside elevators and rural areas. Overall it serves your purpose though!

The first thing that needs to be said about this phone is that it operates on a higher frequency than most. If you live in a more rural area or an area with fewer cell towers, you already know the difficulties of dropped calls, missed incoming calls, not getting a signal when you really need one, etc. That was my problem - and after going through countless cell phones over many years, I found this one. I could suddenly make calls from my home (practically impossible before), dropped calls were rare, and my messages were never delayed (or lost). I've had the Z500a for around 5 months and I'm still amazed at the difference. It was only after researching the phone that I found out about it's higher frequency operation, which apparently makes all the difference.

However, if you have no trouble with connections, your personal preferences vs. what you need in a cell phone may have to seriously compromise for the Z500a. The plastic case looks and feels cheap, but then again, it also has a color external display that works for Photo Caller ID as well as a camera viewfinder. The keypad gives you a lot of easy-to-see options for quick access to other functions, but the keypad itself is flush with the casing - big fingers and fast 'button pushers' will constantly be pushing the wrong buttons or 2 buttons at once. The phone has a great VGA camera and amazing video capabilities, but forget being spontaneous - you have to be very careful and very 'still' or pictures will be a solid blur (but the phone will hold over 80 photos). Phone has a class 10 EDGE modem and supports push-to-talk, but NO BLUETOOTH! Overall, the Z500a works great, has great sound, great color, and lots of options - just a lot of trade-offs. I would recommend it for anyone who simply wants a good, reliable phone - -but techies will be seriously disappointed.

I've only had this phone for a few days, but it has great features! I wish it were Bluetooth compatible and a little smaller. Other than that, no problems at all!

I bought this phone for my sister, she seems to like it okay. She especially likes the fact that she can just insert her sim card in and it starts working .

This phone gets excellent reception and has a lot of cool features -- most of which I do not use. I have a talk-only plan, but on the rare occasions I have texted a message or downloaded something, the phone performed well. The menu is intuitive and easy to use.

I have no real complaints about the phone's functions, but it is a bit bulky by today's standards. For me that is a plus when actually handling the phone, but when it is carried in a case on your belt or waistband, it gets to be a bit cumbersome. If you're going to do that then I would recommend using a horizontal case, so you can sit comfortably and not have the phone too far off to the side.

The phone has replaceable front and back plates, so you can personalize it with different colors, designs, logos, etc. The camera and video work well. I am overall very happy with this phone and will stick with it for a long time. Even after the one I am using dies, I have several of these for backup.

I already owned a z500a and was not ready for a new style of phone. I already know all of the features of this phone and thought, why not replace it? Besides AT&T no longer offered this phone, so I looked to Ebay to replace it. I have purchased two of these on Ebay and have had good experiences with both.