Wow, I actually got something from the Premium Fund this month! :-o! 634 ratings given but 750 rati...
Wow, I actually got something from the Premium Fund this month! :-o! 634 ratings given but 750 ratings received.. I must do better. :(
Member since:29.08.2008
Reviews:51
Members who trust:14
Sony Ericsson C510
Introduction I have had this phone for nearly 8 weeks and I think that's enough time in between purchasing and reviewing as in the last few weeks, new annoyances and niggles have recently surfaced when using the phone.
My previous Sony Ericsson phone broke after 7 months so I was a bit hesitant in buying another phone from this company but I was willingly to give them another chance on the basis I got a cheap contract! And I did. I used the 600 minutes (Which I won't use ever!) and unlimited texts and 2GB internet browsing for £25 a month.
I checked the phone out at Phones4u, I was not thoroughly that impressed at first sight. But after seeing a few more of the same calibre, I knew then that it was the phone for me. It is very sleek and expensive looking, it is also very thin so it is rather easy to carry around in your pocket or tiny handbag. It is black with some silver metal that goes around the phone on the side.
WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHONE LIKE?
The materials used for the phone have been well thought out in some parts of the phone. There is a nice smooth and soft material at the back of the phone where one grabs it with the phone to text and such, it's easy on the hands in the area. The sharp edges have been nicely rendered into curved corners so there isn't a single jagged edge. The only metal part in the phone is all around on the sides; where you connect your phone into the charger and pull out the memory card. keypad is plastic and there isn't very big gaps between the buttons so it is pretty easy to get the fat fingers syndrome with the phone where you end up pressing more than 1 button at a time! Only way I've found to remedy for this is long nails, not exactly suitable for men! Other than that, the numbers and symbols are clearly shown but it seems to be the kind that rubs
off after a few years. The screen is very easily scratched, I only had it for one day and I discovered a pretty big scratch! I couldn't fathom where it came from as I didn't drop it or put it near any sharp surfaces. Wisely, I put a screen protection on top of the phone to protect it.
The phone is rather solid and a bit heavy so I'm (apart from the screen) are assured by the quality of the phone. It means I can drop it without gasping like a maniac when I know it is going to survive the ordeal! It is pretty durable so far.
FEATURES/ ANNOYANCES?
One of the things that really niggles at me and makes me tempted to throw my phone at the wall is dictionary feature on the phone. When I'm texting, I text pretty fast and I do occassionally make mistakes. Most phones will just underline it saying it's an incorrect word or no matter how many buttons, you press it doesn't do anything. But on this phone, when an incorrect word happens, it freezes for 2 seconds while it slowly and slowly pops up saying ' ...WORD NOT IN DICTIONARY.' This is rather irritating when it pops up several times during one text and typing in the words correctly doesn't seem to stop it! This feature isn't ideal when you're in a massive hurry and it just slows you down tremendously. The words in the dictionary is extremely limited and I find that I have to add to it all the time. What kind of dictionary phone doesn't have the swear words installed already?! I jest but still, even the most basic words needs to be installed into the phone.
The camera inside is a cybershot camera, what that means is...I am not too sure. But so far, I am very impressed and hadn't realised the range of pictures it actually takes. There's a few features it has which makes my pictures come out well; Face Detection feature finds the face in the picture and automatically focuses on the face. It is a bit more difficult if there's more than just the one person, it has to find a middle ground in order to focus them all sharply. So with a few people, do expect blurry results. Smiley Detector is a nice feature but not that useful, it takes a picture automatically when the person is smiling; but I know that I take lot less time to take a picture than the automatic feature so it isn't that useful. However, if you're really that lazy that you can't be bothered to look at the photo you're composing, use this feature. There is a photo-light along with the camera but unless you're 5cms away from the camera, it isn't all that good. It claims to lighten up the dark, which it does do but it gives really grainy and blurry results. One of the best features of the Cybershot is the auto-focus, it is pretty good for what it is. I would do a better job of focusing but still. It gives sharp definition to the photos I take, making sure the lightning conditions are at its best. There's a wide range of editing abilities so you won't be limited by the phone!
When browsing through the phone in photographs; and there are some that are in the wrong orientation; just swing your phone slightly with your hand and it will automatically swop to the other orientation. I can browse internet using this feature. I prefer to read it in landscape as in portrait, it gets pretty squashed. This is pretty useful but it gets annoying if you're on the bus and every bump on the road is interpreted as a swing so its forever going to-and-fro between the two!
With my previous Tesco phone that costed £20 and loved it for 2 years, it had GPS ability but just never worked. So I never really 'missed' phone internet. Until this phone. I spent 5 hours on a bus from London to Devon and was browsing the internet on my phone, with its landscape orientation, it didn't take very long to load up the pages. I was very impressed with the speed. However, I have had to turn off the picture function, downloading texts only because when downloading from internet, the phone automatically resizes the images and ends up looking extremely lopsided. Or it decides to put the picture somewhere else on the page. As seeing I'm on a 2GB internet limit, there's no data counter to see how much data I'm transferring between the two. However, there is a data counter that is for texts and internet which isn't so accurate but it will have to do in the meantime.
The phone isn't a Walkman but it does include MP3 ability in which you have to use the earphones supplied by Sony Ericcson; which was very poor as it was very tinny sound with no bass; so the MP3 player isn't for me, I'll stick to my iPod. There's a memory card slot on the side of the phone and it is very tricky to get out. However, I must say I haven't even filled up a bit of the phone memory so there isn't a need for me to have additional memory. But if you like your phone MP3 player, then additional memory is needed!
Also, to add there is a wide range of themes so you can change the look of the phone in seconds. My only gripe is that you don't get to edit your own themes, just use what is provided. But you are able to change wallpapers and such.
HOW'S THE PERFORMANCE?
I am actually very impressed with this phone, it has a very long battery life, no doubt it will start to decline soon. I only need to charge it for 2-3 hours and it will last for days. But if I constantly use it, it will last for 5-6 hours, which is pretty impressive in comparison to my old phone. The reception on the phone is the best I've ever had to be honest, I was at a club which was underground. No-one had signal on their phones and I was the only one with a signal. Either it has a strong penetrating signal receiver or it was a fluke!
I am also pretty impressed with the reception I get with the internet! I incorrectly assumed that it had to be used in big cities so there'd be internet around. But I've had internet on the motorway, deep in the countryside of Devon with faint signal and I still found signal for the internet!
When I'm heavily texting my friend, perhaps 2-3 texts a minute (we're fast typers!), my phone does tend to clam up and have a really slow performance during the session. It has cut out a few times, whether I pushed it too hard in dealing with too many texts or it's a sign for more technical problems to come, I don't know yet. It hasn't happened when I'm using it moderately.
ANYTHING ELSE ?
Oh yes, there's a speaker phone ability which doesn't sound so bad actually. It is clear as a bell.
To be honest, I expect nothing more than phone and text ability, all the other features is just the icing on the cake! There are more good things than bad things in this phone and I am certain I have made the right choice in choosing this phone! Even my boyfriend has shamelessly copied my phone as it is a impressive phone.
Pictures of Sony Ericsson C510 Cybershot
You can see the black materials used the phone, not shown in the top image! The buttons are easily seen here.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: A great phone, good features. If you like Sony Ericsson phones then you'll like this Disadvantages: Not great picture quality. No Free Games. Not many extras on the phone
very helpful by (100%):
