Sony Ericsson W580i Gray Phone AT&T :: Education by Design Store

Editorial Review
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.

The slim slider W580i measures just 0.55 inches thin and features a brightly colorful QVGA screen, external music keys, and a 2-megapixel camera/camcorder.

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 lets you do more than just stream videos--it 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+

Customer Reviews

Fell apart after 2 months.

2008-08-27
Title speaks for itself. After about a week, all the number keys developed a crack down the center, which is a very common problem with this phone according to Google. After two months, the select/backspace key started having problems, then stopped functioning completely (this is another common problem with this phone). I didn't want to bother exchanging it for another one, since it was bound to develop problems again in a few months and I was planning to travel, so I just switched to my old phone.

The phone itself is very sleek and pretty with a bright high quality screen, but that's it. Just by holding it in your hand, you can feel how flimsy and fragile it is. The aqua metal on the back of the slider has also started to wear away and develop ugly silver streaks. When we first bought it, the saleslady told us to make sure to watch it while it charges and unplug it right away when it is done, or else the battery life would quickly erode. Who has time for that?

My old phone, a Sony Ericsson w800i, which I've dropped more times than I could count and charged overnight for the past 3 years with no problem, could run laps around this junk. I'm surprised that the same company that made such a durable functional phone could also release such a faulty one.

I repeat, two months.

Don't DO IT on AMAZON

2008-08-13
Believe me don't take a new connection or renew your phone connection on AMAZON site.
I am a customer of AT&T, I renewed my phone connection with AMAZON.COM,
The cell phone which they delivered(I ordered Sony Ericsson w580i) has battery used running out charging very quickly, I couldn't even talk 15 min. continuously over the phone without connecting battery.
I filed a complaint they send me a new phone of same type. Now I have multiple problems with the new phone. The phone is hanging up suddenly, I have problem with flip, it not catching signal properly where I am loosing lot of calls and I am directly getting voice messages, the battery is not lasting for one full day.
Are they playing tricks with the customers by sending them defected gadgets.
The most interesting part comes here.
When I call customer service of AMAZON it was a big horrible hell. I don't know why they are so insensitive to their customer problems, they are deaf and dumb. I tried hell lot of times to fix my problem but they never really cared about it. I wonder how AMAZON able to grow biggest online store with this kind of cheap customer service?
So guys I advise you think twice before you order anything on AMAZON.COM

Junk

2008-06-12
Phone is flimsy and made of cheap material. Too many buttons have to be pushed to complete a transaction, like adding a contact. If not careful, buttons take you to a place to "buy" something. The phone completely died after 3 months. There are many better phones on the market.

better than the razr, with some drawbacks

2008-05-26
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.

So far so good

2008-04-28
I have been using this phone for over 2 months and still like it. I only have two minor complaints with it. First, sometimes when removing it from the holder, the lock keys can both be pressed, unlocking the phone, so when the normal action of pressing the answer key, it actually ends the call. The other is back ground noise. On the plus side, the mp3 player and head phones are great, and the pictures from the camera look good. Very nice phone for under $50.

Nice phone, but data hog...

2008-04-27
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.

The slim slider W580i measures just 0.55 inches thin and features a brightly colorful QVGA screen, external music keys, and a 2-megapixel camera/camcorder.

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.

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.

Best phone I've had 2008-04-14
Very good phone, small but mighty. It's a little bit one the fragile side, but i dont forsee myself having any problems with it. I do text alot and no probs with the keys, the slide could be a bit tighter however. Best screen i've seen on a phone, crisp and bright. Battery lasts for days and days, depending on how much i use it, i've gone 4 days with maybe 5 texts and 2 calls per day, or 2 days with me playing games on it for a good 4 hours at work one boring day. i did de-brand it to fix the At&t programming it came with... the side lights staying green no matter what, and the internet button is to easily pushed, but now the lights stay blue and the internet button is now a convienent shortcuts button. And debranding also alowed full mp3s to be used as ringtones instead of 30sec max thanks to att. Call quality is great, speakers are loud and crisp. easy to navigate, and the camera is great. the only problem with the camera is lack of flash, but i will survive. I'd reccomend it to the intermediate or advanced cellphone user, but i'd get something a little less packed full of options for a starter phone.

Excellent 2008-04-14
Overall: The phone has performed with near perfection. Every essential element works flawlessly.

Call Quality: Great. No static or interference in calls. Volume is great, and speakerphone works acceptably well.

Battery Life: Superb. The battery life has only barely decreased over four months. It performs at least as well as slated. In my experience, it lasts two days under fairly heavy usage. Additionaly, the battery can fully charge in about an hour. So a thirty minute charge can last you a busy day easily.

Screen: Excellent. Very crisp and clear. Easy to read and very vibrant. Also very sturdy, this is the place that you stick your thumb to slid the phone apart, so it recieves some pressure, so far it has caused zero problems.

Functionality: Very easy to use, menus are extremely intuitive, controls are ergonomic. One thing I have noticed when using other phones is how much better the menus on this phone look, they are attractive and clear. The additional memory is a little pricy, but performs beautifuly. I have had no snags in it's usage. In the way of durability, this phone is great. When shopping, I was afraid the sliding part of the phone may be fragile, but I have been thoroughly impressed with it's resilience.

Walkman: Good. Easy to use. Songs can be loaded on without any headache, although slightly slow. The sound quality is decent at best. However, I believe to the casual ear, the sound will be up to par. Included ear buds are better than expected. Included are multiple sizes to fit any persons ear.

Camera: Great. 2 megapixels is above industry standards, but don't expect your pictures to be photographer quality, fine details are non existent. Plenty of options and good funtionality. Night shot, variable quality levels, and shot styles (panoramic, burst, etc.).

Messaging and Internet Usage: Text messaging is easier on this phone than any other I have used. I cannot tell you much about internet usage, as I do not use it often. From what I have seen, it is pretty standard, and considering how everything else performs, I am confident this is too.

In Summary, everything on this phone is great. There are about five million other things on this phone, like a trivia game, that will keep you entertained for a long time. There is no reason not to buy this phone.

quality phone 2008-04-11
I've had the phone about a month now and love it. The speakers are great on it (can use the walkman without headphones). I have no complaints. I could see someone complaining about the buttons but unless you are using a knife or caveman toe nails to mash the buttons down, they shouldn't crack.

Very good Walkman Phone 2008-04-05
I had a Sony Ericsson t610 with T-Mobile for the past 4 years, and was very happy with it. I changed to AT&T because T-Mobile no longer has SE phones, and I wanted to stay with Sony Ericsson. I am very happy with the quality of this phone, and think Sony Ericsson designs a very good OS. For me the Walkman was just an added bonus. This is an excellent phone.