Sony Ericsson W580 Review

Design:

The W580 is available in four color versions: Style White, Urban Grey (our unit), Boulevard Black and Metro Pink. Under the Walkman branding, the W580 is mid-level music phone.

Based on the S500, the W580 has identical design and same dimensions – it is mid-sized slider with average weight and relatively slim profile measuring 0.6” (14mm). It fits nicely in the hand, and for the opening of the slider, spring mechanism assists you. We don’t like that its movement is not smooth and when you open it to the half, the mechanism pushes it sharply to the end. Also, the upper slider doesn’t cover the whole bottom part, and you cannot push from the bottom, but should push the front side instead.

Model	Dimension (Inches)	Dimension (mm)	Weight (oz)	Weight (Gramms)
Sony Ericsson W580	3.89" x 1.85" x 0.55"	99 x 47 x 14	3.3	94
Sony Ericsson W910	3.91" x 1.96" x 0.49"	99.5 x 50 x 12.5	3.0	86
Sony Ericsson W960	4.29" x 2.16" x 0.62"	109 x 55 x 16	4.19	119
Sony Ericsson W660	4.0" x 1.8" x 0.57"	102 x 46 x 14.5	3.28	93

The display and the navigation buttons are on the front side of the top slider. The screen is the same as on S500 and is QVGA with 262k colors and size of 2 inches. It is bright and contrasting unit but as it was with the W910, the colors could be more and the transition from one hue to another is not very smooth.


Below are the navigation keys, including two software buttons, back (arrow) and clear keys, Walkman button and shortcut. Typical for Sony Ericsson, they are small but are felt easily thanks to the relief. We don’t like that the soft keys and the back/clear are put in common volume, as a two-way key. They press hard and with almost no tactile feedback. In the middle is the circular 5-way d-pad which is illuminated in bright blue.


The numeric keypad is almost totally flat and they keys are small, grouped together in rows. We would have preferred them with bigger size, using the space otherwise left in areas around them. They are illuminated in dark blue, unlike the navigation keys which glow in white. Pressing them is easy and would hardly cause a problem; they also have a good tactile feedback. It is also a convenient feature that the basic operation keys are available at a closed telephone, thus making it even easier to use.

Unlike the S500, there is no speaker grill on the front of the W580, but it seems that the loudspeaker is in the same location – on the bottom front side of the upper slider. It is loud, but one of the tracks preloaded with the phone had noises when put to highest level.

On the right is the proprietary jack, and on the left is the volume control rocker, which is the only side key. Rather strange for the brand is that this key is on the top slider instead on the bottom one. The two sides also pack elongated LED lights, which blink in bluish (theme dependent) color. When a call comes, they blink in Red-Green-Blue, but don’t indicate a missed call with any color.


The top side houses the tiny power button and the slot for M2 memory cards.

The battery cover lid takes no less than the half of the phone’s back; more precisely – its lower part. It is well secured, without any instability or play and the ends are slightly curved. The pursuit of Sony Ericsson to secure it tightly has led to a fairly difficult opening – even more difficult than that of S500. The easiest way to remove it is pressing in the middle and then pushing it away with a jerk. One gets accustomed to this after a few tries, so irritation might fade away a little; and still, it is rather annoying not to be able to open your phone at the start, or open it in the end, but only after minutes of unsuccessful attempts to do so.

We noticed another, though small, inconvenience – when inserting or replacing the SIM-card one has to press it a lot to the inside until the mechanism clicks. In case you cannot rely on fingernails, you must have another object at hand in order to press it; for us the most frequently used one was the corner of the back-lid.