The Sony Ericsson S500i is a stunningly beautiful slide phone. It features beautiful wallpaper artwork and specially-designed themes that change with the time of day and the season. Sensational lighting effects accompany incoming calls - it's a real treat! Combine this with a 2 megapixel camera and video camera, a music player, an optional memory card for storing up to 250 music tracks and you have an apparent winner.
But, and it's a big but, the build quality of the S500i has gone to pot completely and these phones are literally falling to pieces as people use them. First thing to say is that we really liked the S500i (before the problems became apparent), despite our sarcastic introduction. You look at the phone and the first thing that strikes you is its glossy black finish and smooth, slim form.
The S500i does have a good quality music player, with support for Bluetooth stereo headsets. The built-in memory is small (12 Mbytes) and can store a handful of MP3 songs only, but you can buy a memory card to expand the storage to 1 Gbyte - enough for around 250 songs. Transferring music (and other data) between the phone and a PC is very easy using the USB connection, with drag and drop convenience.
You can plug in compatible headphones, or use a Bluetooth stereo headset if you prefer. The phone also has some useful extras such as a sound recorder, flight mode and personal organiser functions. It has fast internet access via EDGE, support for web browsing, email and RSS feeds. It's also a quadband phone, so you can use it worldwide.
