Sony Ericsson Z550
- ?
- Anonymous
- M7r
- 14 Aug 2006
If you can read Chinese,
http://mobile.sina.com.tw/mobile/n/2006-08-11/17421082703.shtml
- J
- Jokuvuan
- niC
- 13 Aug 2006
Where can you even find one single review -with or without camerapictures? Even Mobili-review.com does't have a review about the Z550.
- ?
- Anonymous
- Pxx
- 13 Aug 2006
@DarkRay
Thanks for your views on z550.
How is the camera? Can u upload a few pics and link them; as i cant find a single review having camera pics.
Thanks again
- D
- DarkRay
- F4p
- 12 Aug 2006
Looks are all a matter of personal opinion and taste. I personally love the look for Z550i and hated the loop antenna + extremely plasticky outlook of the Z530i and W300i.
- S
- SE Die Hard Fan
- F4p
- 12 Aug 2006
Horrible design... think Z530/W300 much better...
Why Se came out this backward design, confused...
- D
- DarkRay
- F4p
- 11 Aug 2006
To Jokuvuan:
Under Settings -> Display, you have an option called "Sleep Mode Clock". If you turn this on, the external display will not blank out after 10 seconds, but instead show a clock on the inverted LCD, which is easily readable under most lighting conditions. If there are any missed calls or messages, the relevant icons will also be displayed. :-)
- J
- Jokuvuan
- niC
- 11 Aug 2006
To DarkRay:
I was wondering does the outer display show essential information like missed calls or text messages all the time? Or does it fade after a period of inactivity and goes completely black so you need to press some button to activate it and see if you have missed any events.
I think that the ability to see your missed calls or messages without separately activating the phone is very important in a clamshell phone.
Thanks already for the response! :-)
- g
- ganesh
- 2SM
- 11 Aug 2006
the phone is pretty decent. Good on features and looks. But there is a single feature which i seem to be having problem with. Am not able to set different ringtones for different profiles. The phone takes into account the ring volume, silent mode, vibrator on etc into consideration when saving profiles, but ringtone never seems to be considered.
Could some one please tell me if my observation applies for ur mobiles too.. or is thr anyother manner thro which i need to save the profiles.
The Mp3 ringtones dont seem to play loud at all. i tried 64KBPS and 128KBPS ringtones. Have to experiment with 320KBPS and see if the I get a decent volume.
The memory cards are ridiculously expensive. Here in Chennai, India... I found the 256MB card to cost over 2500rupees(almost US$50) even in the black market. The original card which has come thro the normal customs seems to be costing Rs.4000(almost US$80). While the phone costs Rs.8800( almost US$176), the memory card is not reasonably priced at all.
Otherwise the phone is just quite good.
I was able to install a lots of free java applications from (www.getjar.com) and lots of free themes,wallpapers,screensavers etc from (www.zedge.net). U can even host your own wap site in zedge and this enables u to download the stuff thro gprs. Thats so Cool.
- D
- DarkRay
- F4p
- 11 Aug 2006
To fenrir_bob:
Oops. I meant "sturdy" and not "sturfy". It is not flimsy at all.
- D
- DarkRay
- F4p
- 11 Aug 2006
To fenrir_bob:
The hinge mechanism is totally unlike the bad quality one on the Z520i. The implementation is spring loaded and feels very sturfy. It feels very Samsung like.
- f
- fenrir_bob
- nu6
- 10 Aug 2006
To DarkRay,
Can you comment on the hinge mechanism, does it feel flimsy in any way?
Thanks
- a
- amras
- PFn
- 10 Aug 2006
i'd like to know if the display quality is similar with K750/W800 or W550?
it's important since W550 display is definitely worse than the ones in K750/W800/K608 etc.
i have owned all the phones.
and then the camera.... is the quality similar with W550 or K510??
also important since W550 cam is sooo bad compared with K510.
- ?
- Anonymous
- PSk
- 09 Aug 2006
To DarkRay:
Thank you very much!
Yes,that was a lot of help.
Thank you for taking time to answer my query.
- D
- DarkRay
- F4p
- 08 Aug 2006
To (no name):
As far as I know, flashing the K750i with W800i's firmware is possible and you will get all the functionality of W800i, including the upgraded media player and "flight mode". But I do not think it is an easy task.... plus, you probably void your warranty. There may be additional issues as well.
Try reading and searching esato.com/board as well as sonyericsson.howardforums.com. Lots of relevant information on this issue.
Hope this helps.... :-)
- ?
- Anonymous
- PSk
- 08 Aug 2006
To" DarkRay
This isn't about the Z660 but i'm just trying my luck if you know the answer to this since nobody's answering this question of mine in the W800 and K750 page.
If i flash my K750 to a W800 would everything realy be like W800? I mean the "flight mode" and walkman and all it's fucntions?
I hope somebody can help cause i'm applying for a phone and service and submission date is only two days away.
I like the flight mode and the walkman functions of the W800 but I love the K750's design.
So i'm thinking of getting a K750 then have it flashed into a W800. Which leads me to my question...
- d
- dorian
- S3f
- 08 Aug 2006
To DarkRay:
Aha ok, thanks for making it clear to me. Now I understand why it said 40 on one site and 16 on another. I mixed them both up. Well I've really decided now to go with this phone...I love it already =P And the better part is that it's now available in stores here =D So I will be ordering one tomorrow!!
Thanks again for all the help!
- D
- DarkRay
- F4p
- 08 Aug 2006
To dorian:
I think you may be confused about voices and channels (which should really be called polyphony formally). The number of voices determines the maximum number of unique instruments the music player can synthesize, while the number of channels determines the number of unique notes the music player can generate at any time.
Under the General MIDI specification, 16 voices is the standard and as far as I know, all phones currently only support 16 voices or less.
Your T630 has 32 channels and 16 voices, which means that it can playback up to 32 notes simultaneously, but with only a maximum of 16 instruments at any one time.
The Z550i is clearly superior to the T630i since it supports up to 40 channels. In this respect also, we can also say for sure that the Z710i is better for music synthesis since it supports up to 72 channels.
But personally, I do not think that this is important at all because:
1. Seriously, who uses MIDI ringtones when richer sounding MP3 ringtones are available?
2. The Yamaha FM-synthesis chips used on all these portable devices produce at best mediocre music that sounds nowhere like true full range FM-synthesizers.
3. Most MIDI ringtones utiliszes less than 10 channels and so the maximum number of channels is almost never reached. Most of the time, the number of channels is only a marketing gimmick.
The speaker on the Z550i is pretty much the same as the one what you get on K700i, K750i, etc... It has good clarity, but lack bass and can be a little soft.
Just my 2 cents.... :-)
- d
- dorian
- S3f
- 07 Aug 2006
By the way, it got me thinking. 16 voices on polyphonic signals? That's very few...then the melody-quality can't be good? My old T630 has more...it has 32. What's your opinion about that DarkRay. Also, the Mp3-songs...do they sound good through the speakers? I mean straight from the phone, not with a headset. Cause I've been thinking a little about Z710...and compared those two. Z710 is more advanced and has 72 voices of poly and better camera. But it's thicker and bigger and has these things pointing out. At first I thought it was nicer looking...but the Z550 is more slim and compact and stylish. Goes better down the pocket probably. Also it's cheaper. What do you think about the matter?
- d
- dorian
- S3f
- 06 Aug 2006
Cool! =)
Yeah the D-pad sounds much better! Haha it's true what you wrote about Samsungs...it irritated me as hell with connecting to internet when pressing the "ok" button.
Well the software part sucked =( With the Samsungs you get headset, CD and USB. I thought about buying the USB to that phone but it got me thinking what you said about the M2 cards. I think my computer is capable of reading that to. So maybe I'll buy the card first and test it out, otherwise I'll buy the USB too.
The display sounded nice, I was a bit worried about it because of the simplicity and size. But it sounds good.
- D
- DarkRay
- F4p
- 05 Aug 2006
To dorian:
No problem at all. I love sharing the virtues of such a nice phone :-)
The direction pad is definitely not a joystick which is really a good thing. Maybe I have big thumbs, clumsy fingers or something, but I can never get used to the joysticks on the K700i and K750i. I either end up going the wrong way or selecting the wrong thing. Plus all my friends who own these 2 phones are all having problems with the joystick now....
And you are quite correct in saying that it is quite like the implementation on Samsungs with buttons for up, down, left and right. The thing in the centre is a button, more specifically a "Select / Okay" button. Thank goodness unlike the Samsungs, it defaults to the main menu, and not the internet though. :-)
The phone is meant to be "no frills" and is shipped only with the battery, charger, stereo headset and user manual. There is no software, no USB cable, no desktop stand, no case, no hand straps (or lanyard), or any other accessory provided. You can download softwares from SE's website for synchronization of contacts with Outlook.
Software transfer wise, I am currently using bluetooth because I am only filling up its internal memory. No special software is needed beside's Windows XP's default bluetooth software. After I get the M2 card, I will use copy directly to the card using my computer's memory stick reader/writer. Because I do not have the cable, I do not know if UMS (USB Mass Storage) is supported.
The outer display is quite good and is actually standard monochrome inverted LCD display. Because of this and the accompany backlight, you can read it very well under any lighting condition and it does show a surprising amount on information for such a small screen. It does it by displaying messages for missed calls, and messages as well as using icons to depicts the activation of items such as reception strength, battery life, radio, connected headset, battery, etc... If an MP3 is being played, the display will scroll the artist's name as well as the title of the song.
The backlight timings for inactivity cannot be changed. It currently defaults to about 10 seconds for the external display and about 30 seconds for the internal one (the screen saver if selected will come on about the 18th second).
:-)