Posted by gelfen
Eldar has reviewed the k500/f500i at mobile-review
an extract of the article is below (complete original via above link)
Impressions
There are no problems at all with the quality of the connection; the phone works just great (a total analogue of K700). Subjectively, the ring volume (40-tone polyphony) was somewhat increased, probably the key to this are the apertures on the back of the speaker. It is very nice to be able to use the mp3 files as the ring melodies. Actually, when comparing this polyphony with the one of the Korean manufactures, I conclude that the ring described is more than decent both sound and melodically wise. The phone totally overrides the Nokia, Siemens and Motorola phones in the ring quality.
The speakerphone is another advantage of the phone of its class; it is already a standardized function. Another point to this phone is the number of different settings for the camera and a decent quality of the videos. The display installed into the phone is one of the best on the market.
The phone differentiates from the older model in the smaller memory capacity (12 as compared to 40 Mb) and in the lack of the flash and of the big scale shooting. In the younger model, the Bluetooth and the radio lack as well, although there is a full functioning IrDA. The themes offered add to the various phone options, which is certainly its another plus.
The F500i will enter the market at the end of July in the Vodafone network, pricing approximately 230 Euro. The first rival to this model will be Siemens CX65. K500 will come out in September with the market sales price about 185-190 Euro, which will make the phone appealing in its category. There are not many alternative models in this class now. During the 3Q the F500/K500 will greatly slip in pricing which will lead to the top ranking (in its class) of this model at the end of the year.Although surprising, but Sony Ericsson T610/T630 is to become the main rival for Sony Ericsson K500, these two phones can be compared in their sales’ prices. All of the above lets us presume the quick price decline for K500.
Posted by Guy89
I dont know if i should buy it, the lack of BT is killing me but on da oder hand I cant afford k700 and its really nice fone.
Posted by JAGUY85
I love this phone. Can't wait. Did you extract that from the ENGLISH version of the review? Or did you translate it cause he hasn't translated yet? I think this is a nice phone for anyone who can't before K700. GO SONY ERICSSON! :se: IS BOSS ONCE AGAIN!
Posted by fannypad
He's a bit of an idiot, saying the K500 has an identical resolution screen to the K700 when from the live phone screen shots (the ones with the orange theme and the video) it's clear that the phone he's using has a 128x160 screen.
The other 176x220 screenshots are from the K700 review, as can be seen from the file locations (K700 folder).
How can someone who obviously has a lot of experience with phones not be able to tell the difference between a 128x160 and a 176x220 screen?
Posted by gelfen
@JAGUY: it's from the english version (follow the link
)
Posted by Guy89
it only has 12 mb dunno if its enough but on the other hand....
Posted by Lembo
What an ugly phone.
It feels like Sony have gone back to the days before
with the yellow lit keypad.
The whole phone looks cheap & plasticy!
Not my cup of tea
Posted by mmsman
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yeah that was funny but hey even se didn't know that
lol
anyway it's good review if don't look at that...
Posted by swipe108
@Lembo
It meant to be a low-end phone. you can't very well use expensive materials for a low-end product because you'll end up not making money.
Posted by Lembo
I know, but I must just be a snob
Posted by swipe108
we're not acquainted so I'll take your word for it.
Posted by neonw
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Thats nonsense....Having a better cover is a lot cheaper than what we pay for the phones than one might think.
Look at the Motorola c350....a low end phone with a cover much much better than the k500..
Funny how people end up buying the companys' arguments about how they'd lose money by replacing cheap plastic with better materials , when in fact , they are just maximising already ridiculously high profit margins for products which are guaranteed to depreciate in value anyway .
The only reason the k500 feels so plasticky is because the company goofed up with so many bugs in the k700i that they came up with a newer model without most of the bugs , but had to make it look cheap just so to avoid pissing off loyal customers who had already bought the k700i .
Posted by neonw
BTW, I'd like to say that if SE have fixed reception problems in it as well as they did from the k700i onwards, the only thing stopping me from going for this phone would be the ugly orange keypad backlighting.
Dont the SE designers have no taste at all ? White backlighting easily rules over orange any time of the day. Orange seems cheap.
Posted by govigov
Neonw, you can put a thin plastic film under the phone to get rid of the orange keypad light.
Posted by neonw
Govigov, does that reduce the intensity of lighting too? And does it make it white ? If so, thats a very good solution.
Posted by govigov
I dont think light intensity is a problem. It is very bright. In fact, i want to reduce it. I dont think white is possible.
Posted by gerardsalvador
But with other phones the light color can be changed (at those shifty mobile phone modding places hehe). Is this possible on the k500?
Posted by k4m!k4ze
I did manage to change my k700's keypad color to blue by placing a small piece of thin plastic between the keys and the PCB
It was cool, but i got bored and changed back to white, now i'm looking for a small piece of red plastic
Posted by iNFeCt
Actually the numpad is originally blue, and when you have an orange backlight, it seems like orange-purple-blue fade..
This phone has a really perfect monitor.. Cheap and the only 2 disadvantages are no BT and no MMC card socket...
(Theese comments are about F500i)
[ This Message was edited by: iNFeCt on 2005-02-01 13:21 ]
Posted by gerardsalvador
All in all it's a good phone. I've never used bluetooth before so I can't comment whether the phone really should have it. I don't intend to try it anytime soon either because from what I've read, BT is addictive stuff!!
Posted by neonw
BT is addictive ??
I have enough trouble trying to control my GPRS addiction to develop another one !! I'm keeping away from BT phones in that case !!
Posted by Acrolyu
I have this phone and I very happy, is easy to use, light, and have almost all of K700, ecept Bluetooth, Radio, and memory, but for the price is the best choice!!!