Camera Phone Reviews

Sony Ericsson S500

“It’s the details that set these phones apart,” explains Steve Walker, Head of Product Marketing at Sony Ericsson. “Our designers have taken inspiration from nature and the Nordic light to produce phones that are beautiful to look at and alive with energy. They appeal to those that want to celebrate their individuality and express themselves through their choice of phone.”

Sony Ericsson S500

* Ever-changing themes and illuminations that change as day turns to night hidden illumination
* Style with substance 2.0 megapixel camera revealed when the slider opens
* Individual colours Mysterious Green and Spring Yellow

Intelligent design Beyond the Mysterious Green and Spring Yellow exteriors, effort has been made to bring design alive with the Sony Ericsson S500. The visuals on the desktop or phone menu can change automatically as the seasons pass or as day turns to night. Hidden illumination appears to highlight a certain event and the keypad glows with energy when the slim slider is opened.

Vibrant images Have fun taking shots with the 2.0 megapixel camera and share moments of your life as they happen. Take a picture of where you are and blog it straight away. You can also send pictures or video to any mobile phone or email address.

Style with substance The S500 offers more than stunning aesthetics. Add colour to your free time with a media player and expandable Memory Stick slot. So you choose what size of music library is right for you. You can even add a music accessory such as the Music Bluetooth™ Receiver MBR-100 and play your phone music direct through your home stereo. Play 3D games or access the Web browser for easy surfing on the move.

Joined up thinking The S500 arrives with everything you need to connect your phone to your computer. Transfer your favourite music from PC to phone using Sony Ericsson Disc2Phone music management software. Or move images from your phone to your computer without the need for any software. When the S500 is connected, it appears as a drive on your computer. It also features Bluetooth™ 2.0, giving you same fast, robust connection to other Bluetooth™ devices as the T650.

The Sony Ericsson S500 is a 14mm slim 2.5G slider phone (GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900), available in either Mysterious Green or Spring Yellow. It will be in the shops in selected markets from Q2 2007.

Sony Ericsson S500 Reviews

Pocket-lint reviews the Sony Ericsson S500i and writes, "The light mood senses are of course a complete gimmick that has no bearing on whether this phone will make your life easier for using it, however, luckily for Sony Ericsson, it hasn't relied on this being the main function of the phone. The S500i is a very talented handset that offers plenty to those looking for just a phone rather than a PDA come entertainment device come laptop replacement."

MobileChoice reviews the Sony Ericsson S500i and writes, "You have to slide open the phone to reveal the camera lens which is placed on the rear of the front fascia. The five-way navigation joypad controls the camera. Unfortunately, the lens itself is pretty basic with no auto-focus, macro focus for close-ups or flash of any kind. It shoots in a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 pixels, but there are a few modes and features to tinker with if you’re feeling adventurous. You can take snaps in Panorama (this stitches together three pictures for a panoramic landscape), Frames (this uses, er, pretty frames to tart up the picture) and Burst that shoots four frames in quick succession, which is good for moving subjects."

3G reviews the Sony Ericsson S500i and writes, "The two-megapixel lens is perched on the rear of the front fascia and you have to slide open the phone to reveal it. Sony Ericsson has clearly marked and allocated the top of the five-way navigation joypad as the only way to fire up the shutterbug. Unfortunately, the lens itself is pretty basic with no auto-focus, macro focus for close-ups or flash of any kind. It shoots in a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 pixels, but there are a few modes and features to tinker with if you’re feeling adventurous. You can take snaps in Panorama (this stitches together three pictures for a panoramic landscape), Frames (this uses, er, pretty frames to tart up the picture) and Burst that shoots four frames in quick succession, which is good for moving subjects...Elsewhere, the Night Mode comes in handy especially with the absence of a flash; you can alter the white balance and also shoot in negative, sepia and black and white. For such a basic snapper, it’s done incredibly well. Colour representation is vivid, depth is correct and although most detail is refined for a two-megapixel snapper, it does lose focus in places, especially around the edges. White areas can also be prone to overexposure. But it’s worth noting we captured photos in strong outdoor lighting conditions, favourable for a good snap. Because the S500i’s lens is so basic, we wonder if it may struggle under harsher conditions but otherwise, under a point-and-shoot scenario, it takes decent photos."

Register Hardware reviews the Sony Ericsson S500i and writes, "The M2 card will also be required if you want to make regular use of the two-megapixel camera. You need you open the slider to reveal the camera, which is quite an average performer as Sony Ericsson cameraphones go, with no autofocus or macro close-up modes...When shooting pics, you can't compose shots using the full display - which is a bright and clear 240 x 320-resolution, 262,144-colour job. Instead, you're stuck with a horizontal strip to frame images, with camera control icons surrounding it. Settings can be adjusted for white balance, night mode and shooting quality, and various effects – including panorama shooting - can be implemented before and after shooting to sex-up the pics. For a 2Mp camera, the images are decent enough for mid-range shots in good light. However, close-up work and low light level shooting aren't going to improve your pictures."

CNET reviews the Sony Ericsson S500i and writes, "The S500i comes with a good 2-megapixel camera. Camera options include three sizes (2-megapixel, 1-megapixel, or standard VGA), two picture quality settings, white balance adjustments, color effects, four different shooting modes (Normal, Panorama, Frames, Burst), a night mode, a self-timer, plus the choice of four shutter sounds (no silent option). There's also a built-in camcorder, which records clips with sound and has about the same settings as the still camera. Video clips are capped at 30 seconds if they're meant for multimedia messages, or as long as the available memory allows. Photo quality was very good, with sharp edges and clear colors. We did wish we had a flash for a brighter image, though. Video quality did not fare as well, though it was much less pixilated than comparable camera phones. The phone also includes a built-in video player."

Trusted Reviews reviews the Sony Ericsson S500i and writes, "The 2-megapixel camera is flashless and lacks auto focus. You can't frame live images of yourself as the lens resides on the back of the handset. It's also only visible when the slider is up as it's mounted inside the back of the casing. You can blog photos direct from the mobile, and when shown on the handset screen photos look good...But I found the camera to be adequate and no more. The coloured dish shot indoors under normal household lighting with automatic settings has reasonable colour reproduction but is fairly dull."

CNET Australia reviews the Sony Ericsson S500i and writes, "As with most new Sony Ericsson handsets the S500i gives you access to the Sony Ericsson "Picture Blogging" service, and content downloads from the PlayNow net portal; although, when we logged on to the portal we struggled to find any content worth the time or money involved in downloading. Photos taken with the camera can be manipulated with a small set of image filters and then printed directly via the supplied USB cable."