Review: Sony Ericsson W580i
A quick jiggle allows W580i Sony Ericsson users to shuffle their playlist.
Nov. 26, 2007— -- Regretting your latest holiday food indulgence? As the memory of unlimited feasting begins to fade and New Year's resolutions lurk around the corner, AT&T users will delight in a new phone from Sony Ericsson that counts calories and automatically measures every step.
The Sony Ericsson W580i not only measures how far you've walked, or ran, but also says how fast you've moved. Saving your workout results for future reference is easy with the "pocket trainer" function. There's no need to remember to turn on the pedometer, either — it resets every day at midnight and begins calculating all over again.
It's especially good news now that using a pedometer may have more health benefits than previously thought. Researchers at Stanford University in California recently found that people who use pedometers lose more weight, exercise more and have lower blood pressure than those who do not.
As part of Sony's "walkman" line, one of the most notable features on the Ericsson is a music player that delivers excellent sound and FM radio. This model also includes a unique way to select new songs from your playlist. Simply press the walkman button, give the phone a little shake, and the phone will shuffle your songs and begin playing a new one at random. Some may wonder, why turn your phone into a maraca when you can build a playlist in any order, or when you can press one specific button to begin playing the next available song? Well, it may not be terribly practical, but it's certainly fun.
The phone's 12 MB memory is supplemented with a Memory Stick that comes with the phone, and holds about 125 MP3 files. Higher capacity memory cards can be bought separately, and other music formats are supported.
Music lovers with a creative streak will appreciate the ability to compose their own tunes. The "Music DJ" allows you to choose different sounds that can be combined into a melody and used as ringtones. Users can also edit video clips by using the trim function.
This Ericsson isn't a 3G phone, but Internet browsing was quick and easy when jumping from link to link. The phone also includes a decent 2 megapixel camera.
One of the slimmer slider phones, the face of this model glides upward to reveal brightly lit number keys. It's convenient in the sense that you'll never accidentally dial someone's number. But the sliding action is difficult to negotiate with one hand, and awkward even when using two hands. Fortunately, the navigation key is placed in the front, making it easy to navigate the menus without ever having to open the phone. When it's closed the Ericsson is compact, thin and can easily slide into a pocket.
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