... Videos and pictures look much worse quality than on other Sony Ericsson phones, which is very disappointing.
Moving on from the screen, the camera is another good feature. However, this quickly reinforces the fact it is a budget phone - you can take pictures and videos, but they are both ... Read review
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To create your decorative sticker, we print your photo on an innovative and very high ... more
quality material. Custom made and perfectly adapted to the shape of your Sony Ericsson Z530i! Extremely resistant, the manufacturing process guarantees an extreme ease of application. Simple: You can apply it and remove it without leaving any trace. Your new skin is delivered ready to use. All you have to do is apply it by following the enclosed instructions. Shown visuals are only examples. It is up to you to personalize your device with the photo of your choice!
Advantages: Cheap, great looks, nice size, second screen, lots of features Disadvantages: Poor quality main screen, poor camera, short battery life
...worse quality than on other Sony Ericsson phones, which is very disappointing.
Moving on from the screen, the camera is another good feature. However, this quickly reinforces the fact it is a budget phone - you can take pictures and videos, but they are both extremely low quality, the colours look poor and, despite the fact there is a mirror on the front and buttons on the side, the phone cannot be shut and then the side buttons used ... ...- it is below what Sony Ericsson say you will get, even with a full charge over a long period of time, which is disappointing. I've found that, the amount I use it, I have to charge it every other night, all night, otherwise I start running out of battery - extremely annoying, but the battery is light (you can tell when you take it out) so sacrifices must be made. A car charger would have been nice to help keep the battery topped up.
The phone comes in a good looking, well packed box. You get the phone, a charger, a manual (user guide) and the usual advertising material. As with most budget phones, there is no USB data cable, and this must be bought seperately which is annoying and instantly increases the price if you want to connect the phone to your PC. Despite the phone having an MP3 player, there are no headphones either included, so you have to rely on the speaker unless you want to fork out more. The Z530i doesn't come with a memory stick either.
*Looks*
As soon as you take the phone out of the box, it looks great - the front, depending on the model you bought (Soft Black, Elegant Red or Chromatic Grey) has a rubbery texture which is easy to grip too and which makes the phone look very good. The front screen has a mirror effect surround, but be warned - the edges of this chip easily and mine is now scratched. Below the screen is either the model number (Z530i) or some branding - the Ripcurl special edition of the phone, according to web pictures (I've never seen it sold in the shop) has the Ripcurl branding on it, and some networks may choose to put their branding on the front.
The front screen itself is quite nice - it displays the time, network, battery, and can display the song being played. It has orange writing on a black background, and the orange writing stands out really well in dark conditions. After a small amount of inactivity the backlight switches off and the time appears in light blue writing - as the screen is no longer backlit it can be very hard to read this though.
Above the small, front screen is the camera - this has a little sunken silver surround and a neat little circle mirror for self portraits which seems to be a proper mirror and not a cheap film covering. A loop sticks out the top of the phone - I'm not sure what its for (an aerial maybe?) but it looks quite neat and stops the phone from looking too boxy.
The back of the phone is simple - the bottom half is covered by a piece which slides on to hide the battery, and has the same effect as the front piece of the phone. Above this cover is the speaker holes, the S.E. logo and the S.E. name, all on a silver background.
The sides of the phone and loop at the top are finished in the same matt silver as the top of the back of the phone, meaning the outside of the phone is a nice silver and black finish. When you open up the phone, the first thing you notice is the nice, large colour screen. Next, you see the really cool keys - their in a kind of necklace-bead setup, and with orange backlights they look very interesting.
*Features*
One of the main features of the phone is the big colour screen - for a flip phone its surprisingly big. However, as soon as you switch on the phone the fact that this is a budget phone hit you; I don't know if its just my phone, but the screen suffers from strips of different strengths of light, so viewing a solid colour such as white results in a very poor effect. Videos and pictures look much worse quality than on other Sony Ericsson phones, which is very disappointing.
Moving on from the screen, the camera is another good feature. However, this quickly reinforces the fact it is a budget phone - you can take pictures and videos, but they are both extremely low quality, the colours look poor and, despite the fact there is a mirror on the front and buttons on the side, the phone cannot be shut and then the side buttons used to take the picture.
Moving onto some more positive aspects - the phone has a wide range of communication features; bluetooth, infrared and GPRS. Bluetooth transfer is fast, as is the infrared, and once you have set the GPRS up by receiving a text from your network provider the internet is relatively fast, and the browser is good.
The phone comes with 3 games - a Neopets game and mobile store application come with the phone and, rather annoyingly, cannot be deleted. Games can be easily added - Java games are supported so the file can be downloaded off the Internet, transferred onto the phone (my PC has built in bluetooth) and the installer run. Applications are provided too, and I have added things like currency conversion which is very handy.
The MP3 player is a nice touch - songs can be selected by Title, Artist or Album, and the menus are bright and easy to navigate. When a song is playing the volume can be changed with the side buttons - you'll have to use the speaker if you don't buy headphones, and luckily its not too bad. The MP3 player can be minimized so the phone can be used, and the song is displayed on the small front screen which is excellent.
The menu system is good, with big, animated icons illustrating each sub-menu nicely.
The phone takes the new M2 (Memory Stick Micro) which, while keeping the size down, means it can expensive to buy a large size stick (Carphone Warehouse sell the 1GB stick for ~£50 when they have stock) - the M2 stick can be put into phones which support Memory Stick Duos using the supplied adapter, which is nice. The fact that it has a memory stick slot shows that at least S.E. have put some thought into upgradability, even if it is quite a cheap phone.
The battery life is distinctly average - it is below what Sony Ericsson say you will get, even with a full charge over a long period of time, which is disappointing. I've found that, the amount I use it, I have to charge it every other night, all night, otherwise I start running out of battery - extremely annoying, but the battery is light (you can tell when you take it out) so sacrifices must be made. A car charger would have been nice to help keep the battery topped up.
*Conclusion*
Well, sorry for the relatively long review - I bet a few of you will have skipped straight to this part! Basically, its a very well-featured phone - if you want lots of features, and a cheap, stylish phone to text and call people on its good. If you want a high quality camera/video recorder, a good quality screen or lots of extras then this phone is not for you - take a look at the S.E. W800i or something similar. So, a good budget phone but, and I stress, you get what you pay for.
Advantages: Small, Easy to use, Stylish, Clear Screen, Excellent Value. Disadvantages: Camera not the best at only 0.3 megapixels
...release. I bought my Sony ericsson z530i June 2006 and its still as good as ever. It cost me £79 with the free £10 credit, or as they put it, £69 when bought with £10 credit. When I was looking for a phone I wanted it to look great, and as soon as this phone caught my eye I loved it. It was on the internet that I saw this phone and when I went to the carphone warehouse to see buy it I loved it even more, the black case on the phone is so smooth and ... ...message is easy as with Sony Ericsson phones, there are only the letters and numbers on the keypad and the symbols are all in the sub-menu which I think is a much better way. Adding contacts is great, each person can get their own contact card where you can add up to 5 numbers, choose a individual ringtone if neccessary and add a picture.
The organizer contains some very useful tools including, Calender, Tasks, Notes, Calculator, Synchronisation, ...
nat85 12.07.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Sony Ericsson Z530i
Advantages: Stylish, Excellent Camera, Good Games, Fantastic Phone! Disadvantages: Battery Life Low, Has a History Of Breaking! :(
...experience this problem. The phone Sony Ericsson made before this, that this phone is based upon, did the exact same thing with almost every phone and they were not allowed to continue selling them because of this fault. Although this one was improved not to have this fault, a few do. Less that 1 in 10 are affected by it, but it still is a bit of a high number. I would imagine that most of the people who's phones were effected by it had insurance ... ...there are not a large sum of complaints that can be found just searching on the internet.
I am so very disappointed that this happened to my phone, as it really is a fantastic phone, and I would certainly not have changed my mind to buy one if I had the opportunity to go back in time. The only thing I would have changed is I would have demanded insurance on it, or bought from a different place that offered insurance, so that if this was to happen ...
ickleycat 19.11.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Sony Ericsson Z530i
Advantages: Long battery life, looks good, expandable memory Disadvantages: Screen freezes, resolution bad, camera not fantastic
I got this phone around august last year. Usually I do read up on a phone before I buy it but this time I didn't bother as I bought it on the spur of the moment. There are 3 colors available Soft Black, Chromic Grey and Elegant Red. I got it in Soft Black because I though it looked the smartest.
IN THE BOX
Clamshell style Handset
SIM card
Battery Charger User guide The actual phone weighs 93 gr, the equivalent of just over 3 oz
The size of the ... ...resolution is 128 x 160 pixels, 65,536 colors.
Talktime is around 9 hours Battery standby is around 400 hours
Interchangeable covers
Once I got it home and had a proper look at it, I was disappointed. The keypad is a nightmare, its ugly and I am forever pressing the wrong buttons, there is no radio, a less than average camera (with no protective covering) and poor screen resolution.
When making or receiving calls it doesn't actually sound that ...
phoenix221984 26.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Sony Ericsson Z530i
Advantages: Great music phone, Face wrapping is worth a few laughs Disadvantages: Camers, 'freezing' problems
Sony Ericsson Z530i
In August 2006 I decided that it was time to change and update my existing mobile phone contract. I saw this phone and immediately wanted it and based the decision on which contract to get around the phone.
I choose an O2 18 month contract which gave me a few hundred minutes and texts included in the bundle for £12.50 per month.
The phone is reasonably easy to use, the manual is straight forward to read although some information ... ...internet pages for more detail. Which I think is a little cheeky!
The looks of the phone are pretty cool and due to the chunky design the phone would suit both sexes. The phone covers can be changed but I have found the availability to be some what limited - even on the internet. The video camera is ok but not brilliant and the camera is some what disappointing especially compared to my boyfriends new phone (Samsung P300) Where this phone really ...
zoe_uk302 18.12.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Sony Ericsson Z530i
Advantages: Small, easy to use and lots of features. Disadvantages: None that I have come accross
...then I'd never used a Sony Ericsson phone, and my first impression of this phone was great. It's small, compact, looks sleek and is very easy to use. It has quite a few features although a lot of them I don't actually use they're useful to have anyway.
The built in camera takes fairly decent photos and videos, the larger keypad deffinatly make it easier to dial (especialy for those with large fingers). The repetitive alarm function is also really ... ...day. The built in media player comes in really handy as a backup MP3 player when the battery dies on my Philips GoGear, and with a 1GB card I can store more than MP3s on it to last me a while.
Overall, this a great little phone which looks very nice, has plenty of features and is easy to use. Anyone looking for a cheap little phone that's not overly complicated should deffinatly look into getting one of these. ...
HinesM8534 29.10.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Sony Ericsson Z530i
Look & Feel
Durability & Robustness
Battery standby time
Value for money
Range of features
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Advantages: Lots of style Disadvantages: Hardly any memory
Finally got rid of my SonyEricssonZ530i. It has now been replaced with the very fashionable LG KG800 (otherwise known as the LG Chocolate). There are four colors available, Black, Pink, White and wine-red. I chose Black for its sleek, shiny appearance. It is a slider style phone (you slide the front up to activate it). It is very similar to the LG TG800. I got it on PAYG (pay as you go) which set me back nearly £110. It was well worth it though. The handset has dimensions of 95 x 48 x 15.2 mm and weighs only 83g. A fully charged handset has a standby time of 200 hours and talk tim of 6 hours.
IN THE BOX
The box is fashionably designed and once you flip open the box and find the phone sat nicely in the middle you can't wait to get your hands on it. The box is packed full of all the usual essentials that you need:
Handset ...
The Z530i grows with your needs. With features ranging from simple phone calls and text messages to a built-in camera, PC connectivity and a music player, it's a phone for today and tomorrow. And when you want to change the look of your Z530i, change the cover. Do more with your images. The Face warp feature, for instance, lets you give a photo of a face a twisted humorous touch. The Z530i has Bluetooth built-in and supports USB connectivity. With a USB cable (optional accessory), synchronize the phone calendar and phonebook with your PC.
MP3 Player, FM Radio, VGA Camera, with video, 41MB of memory, organizer, 3D Java graphics engine, greatly organised phonebook, T9, Long-Text, E-Mail, wap and web, GPRS, Bluetooth, IrDa, Super high quality TFT screen, lightweight, File manager, and many, m
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