Typical phone that GSM operator like to buy in big quantities and then
transport them into users' hands thru various actions. He differs with
good quality of make out, solid communication abilities and minimum
extra functions. Just what big number of users, with a small price,
expects.
You are going on business meeting and want to show your
self? Easy. Put decent grey clothes onto your Sony-Ericsson Z520i with
a little rough lower part of the shell. After the meeting you can
modify it to your usual happy colors. Whole work can be done in just
few moves, and you have to watch only on the front part of the shell
that is over the display. Plastic holders that keep real tight consider
their job too literal so little bit nervous users can be left without
them. In package you get two colors with the phone (grey and red), and
if that's not enough manufacturer will offer you some more colors.
Totally unnecessary for the communication, but nice for those people
who like to accommodate their phone to their moods or needs. Many
authors would say that Z520i is made only for women by some it's
characteristics, but we would say that it is equally made for usage of
both sex. We just don't know what are those characteristics that make
this phone a women’s phone (maybe because of some color of the plastic
cover).
Open, close…Sony
Z520i belongs to a group of clam shell phones, so just like all phones
like that doesn't take much space. It's a little bit thicker than we
expected, but decent and functionality curved all edges makes hi a good
traveler which cam be situated in any pocket or purse. It can be opened
with only one hand, and usage of it can be also made with only one
hand. Hinge that puts upper and lower part together is massive and it
seems that it could put together two locomotives, and not just two
plastic parts under which are some electronic parts. In any case, you
will be able to open and close the phone as long as you want without
any fear that the hinge (or any other part) will break. When the phone
is closed, it is possible to see the way that the antenna is hidden.
She is not situated inside the phone, but on top of it, and masked with
very good design so the users will never think that the antenna is
outside. Very realistic result of this game hide and seek is very good
communication possibility, one of the best we ever saw. Once
established call can not be broken (unless the signal really
disappears), and the quality is great, so we recommend this phone to
all those people that have communication needs and than the rest of the
functionality. The only thing you have to watch for is that you don't
attach any kind of metal holders to the antenna, because that would
ruin the quality of signal. If you have to make some holders we advise
you to make it out of some textile or plastic. Just like every clam
shell phone of the higher category, Z520i can compliment himself for
having two displays. Their lay out is already standard, on the outer
side is some smaller (101x80 pixels) display, and inside is a big
(120x160 pixels) main display. By the lower right corner of the outer
display we find VGA objective of the digital camera. His resolution is,
as the same name says 640x480 pixels and is a disappointment because we
expect that the modern phone of this quality has some better digital
camera with bigger resolution. Manufacturer doesn't say the same, and
thinks that the VGA resolution is quite enough for most of the users,
especially for those that come from business world or for those that
didn't have a phone with built in digital camera. Quality of the
objective is not different from the concurrency phones, from the same
manufacturer or others, and is quite enough for accomplishing the goal.
Captures are solid, and you can use it in many purposes, but don't
expect to replace your digital camera at home with this phone, finally,
it's not a purpose of this phone.
No tricks…Little
display shows most of the data that we can find on the outer display
too, so while receiving a call, user will have all the information
written on the outer display and the dilemma of take a call or reject
of call will be solved. A picture of the small display is very
sensitive on the outer light, so you will need to cover a display with
a hand often to see what is written. Display will be turned off
eventually, but the control of the correct time or device status can
turned on by pressing the side key on the phone. Practical option that
most of the manufacturers forgot to make, and by that they force
users
to open the cover and use more energy of the phone. Special interesting
thing is that you can see the picture taken by the camera on the small
outer display which is useful if you want to take a picture of
autoportret, but concerning the size of the picture, we assume that in
every other case you will open the phone and use every advantage that
offers big display. Those advantages are numerous, and like first one
we will mention the great brightness and good contrast which every
element of the picture (even the most tiny once) shows very readable
which results of a good work with it, specially if you're communicating
with SMS messages a lot and you need to read long messages that are
sent by your friends or business associates. Eventually problems will
have just ex - users of some earlier types of Sony – Ericsson because
they had even bigger font of letters, but we wouldn't get along with
the authors that say that Z520i has much worse display than the once
before because that is just not true. If the two displays are not
enough to you, there's a third solution – a that is a LED indicator
that goes thru lower part of the phone and which blinks in the moment
of receiving the call. It is obvious that you will not be able to know
when you are receiving a call if you won't hear any type of sound.
A
phone has total of 16 MB of memory which is dynamically placed
depending on the needs of the module, and it's easy to expect to be
used most for the internal telephone book and for JAVA games. Internal
phone book is bordered to 500 inputs which can be placed in a caller
groups, and it is practical that you are not obliged to a number of
predefined groups. Every group can be made or edited without any
restrictions and you can add a sound to any group. Just like it's
expected with a phone of little higher category so there is no really
big surprise. Every name can be added more data which can be made of
telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and other textual data. Sorting is
possible by different parameters so the search of the wanted number is
easy and quick procedure. It is interesting that to some numbers under
one name can be added a voice command, which can be useful in some
situations. It is possible to add a forty voice commands. As usual,
when it's word about new Sony-Ericsson phones, data from SIM card can
not be mixed with a phone. Both telephone books are kept separated, and
work with a SIM card contacts can be accessed only by a special submenu.
Message after message…Usage
of the SMS messages if easier by the predefined templates, and the
function of the creating MMS messages is one of the best we ever saw.
It is even possible to create the video clips, and the number of
settings that you can choose is similar to the one of program for
picture or video editor, not the one for creating MMS messages. A
little unusual, but very practical for those who want to raise their
SMS communication on higher MMS level. Good possibilities of work with
messages closes the work with e-mail client which enables sending and
receiving the messages, while the user doesn't need to bother about
coding and decoding the messages that are used.
Good abilities
are great finalized with numerous extra possibilities of communicating
like Bluetooth, GPRS, WAP and synchronization. Whatever type of the
communication we used in test we didn't have any problems with it. It
is obvious that the authors of this phone have used their rich
knowledge to solve that problem in first type of internal software. So
they don't leave anything else for the user but to sit back and relax
and watch how the Z520i does solve any problem that can be set. Put him
certainly on the list to buy.
Have funNone
of the modern phone would be complete if it wouldn't have a quality
support for fun, and Z520i doesn't stay behind the concurrency in that
case. There are two preinstalled JAVA games, and game «NY Nights» will
be responsible for a lot of spent time. Although it is a word about a
very simple game that comes from a very popular game SIMS, all
parameters are perfectly made so the running thru Now York and trying
to become a hot shot keeps you playing it for «just a little bit more».
We don't even have to say that the sleeping is the last thing you are
going to do while playing this game late in the night, but you will be
more probably forced to stop playing by the sound of the low battery.
In fun group we can put the MusicDJ and VideoDJ applications which can
be used by easy creating of the music and (not so) obsolete video
arrangement. We especially liked VideoDJ application in which you can
pack the results into 3GP format and send over MMS message to some of
your friend that has a compatible device. At the end, graphic editor is
the application in which you can «kill» some time, but if you are not
artist inspired, keep your self on DJ functions.
