Posted by Macco
Two days ago my wife got a
Z520i.
Here follows my opinions as far as I could play with it an all day long (most of the comparison will be with the K700 that I own, or the K750 my father has).
In Italy the phone comes just "TIM operator" branded. The personalization puts a couple of different icons on the menu, a customized turn-off screen, a set of WAP/MMS settings, a change in the yamigo MyFriends name and.. a TIM sticker instead of the Quickshare (inside the clamshell); that's all.
The phone looks very classy and well built: the keyboard looks very very well done: instead of the small/shaky K700 buttons, here you can find a real large spaced keyboard! And finally not a joystick but a pad (IMHO is the part less durable of recent
phones)
The screen (internal) has a bit smaller resolution than the K700 one; but icons, menus, etc. have been well redesigned: for example all horizontal tabs have been partially overlapped and that allows all enters the screen!
The external screen is small and really ugly: you can hardly see a battery and level signal in there! You can personalize it with a picture or a smaller version of the internal theme. CallerID available, of course. Becomes a viewfinder to photograph yourself!
The battery is Li-Pol 900 mAh, and it proved to be far better than the K700 one.
The white papers states the phone is Bluetooth 2.0. I had no cavils with it and a brand new Parrot drive system (CK3100): all went flawlessy and the Z520i proves to offer a robust BT implementation, as like as my R2AE003 K700. The Z520i fw should be something like R3A or R3B... can't remember.. keep you updated..
The moving lightning effects are very effective: there are a few that you can choose from and set to a specific contact (as like as for music/callerID pix).
The phone goes easily connected with MyPhoneExplorer (via Bluetooth dongle). Unfortuantely I couldn't sync my K700 contacts, neither via PC nor via cell-cell: The K700 -> Z520 "all contacts" sending was way too slow (both via IrDA and BT).
The phone comes with no frills: no headsets (it doesn't integrate a radio, so from a
standpoint they are not needed), no USB cable; just a battery, two colour covers and a recharger fast-port type.
The software reminds me the K750 generation: there is an activity menu (that can be opened w/ UP keypad just in the standby screen -> far less useful), there is PhotoDJ/VideoDJ, Bluetooth 2.0, Java MIDP 2.0 with BT/FSystem addon, birthday in contacts, MID/MP3 as SMS tone, etc.), you can find a file in a folder with first letter search (as with contacts).
Then the sw appears to be as a castrated K750 w/o 2Mpixel camera (just the K700 one), w/o radio, w/o photo led, w/o M.stick, with a smaller screen (apparently not very much), and 16 Mb total RAM.
I believe that for 164€ it's a bargain (and it's the real first price in Italy, not locked, just branded a bit).
The loop antenna reception seemed to me a bit inferior than the excellent K700 one. Maybe you can get some reception gain by leaving the phone on a table put on a side, with the antenna set vertical...
Below you can find some pictures just after some hours of use..
Bye,
Macco
[ This Message was edited by: Macco on 2005-10-18 08:56 ]
[ This Message was edited by: laffen on 2005-11-29 02:00 ]
Posted by Mrb 18
Thanks for your review, nice reading!
My Girlfriend likes it maybe i'll buy her one
so i can get my K750 back from her, she didn't
like the Z800i i bought her so we swaped
phones, so know i'am sitting with a phone
that is worse than my previous one..
But the Z520 looks nice
Posted by haynesycop
fab look forward to pictures
Posted by PeterKay
me too.
Posted by haynesycop
Your wife will be pleased then peter kay you bought her one yet?
Posted by PeterKay
not yet, soooooooooooooooooooooooon.
Posted by Macco
Here are some photos (taken with a Canon camera):
Note that photos to the internal screen were made with the temporary screen protector still put.
Open (excellent keyboard / pad):
Closed (note the sandy texture the cover has; the other one - pale metallic orange - has not):
Idle screen (animated theme):
Light effect (there are some preset):
Menu (sorry for the blurry pic):
Activity Menu-Shortcuts (available with UP on the pad in Idle mode):
In the future I'll check the fw and maybe post some photos taken with the cell (I believe they are as like as the K700).
Bye,
Macco
[ This Message was edited by: Macco on 2005-10-18 15:47 ]
Posted by gelfen
thanks for that. my wife wants one of these
Posted by PeterKay
Quality pics mate, thanks.
Posted by masseur
mobileburn review "Sony Ericsson's Z520 is Rock Solid"
Posted by xj9
i just got my z520i last week and i must say i am very pleased. i really like clameshell phones and se just did it. the only thing that bothers me is the camera, it says it has the same resolution as that of my old k508i, but it seems the k508i is crispier or is it because k508i comes with a 65536 number of colors and my new z520i only have 65k? any ideas?
all in all... i just love it!
Posted by tele_xpert
http://www.exoticphone.com/
offer this set cheapest rate..
its true noboby beats their price !!!
Product Description
If a cool clamshell with every possible customizing option is what you want, Z520 is your phone. You can change the front and back covers, have any combination of ringtones, images, and light effects play when a call comes in. And you can have a combination for favorite friends in your phone book. Z520 is all about sharing. It has an easy-to-use VGA camera with video recording to capture fun moments and Bluetooth™ and MMS to share them. A speakerphone loudspeaker gives your original artist Music tones the sound they deserve. Z520 is all about expressing yourself. Do it.
for details Specifications :
u can visit :
http://www.exoticphone.com/website/displayprod.php?itemid=10384
Posted by cammerv8
i missed mine, i had one and after 4-5 years the FLEX just died!!!!!
i was the firt and las owner of the phone, but think 4years is long time for a cell phone !!!!!