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- Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 45 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Great Design, Nice Features, Great Camera, But Flawed"
Pros: Simple, easy to use UI; Great camera; Awesome display; Loaded with features if you know how to use them; Decent support for web stuff (IM, YouTube, Email, Browsing, etc); Great battery life; Small and compact
Cons: Slow, buggy UI; Cheap-feeling flip mechanism; Strange signal indicator behavior; Too many pop-up notification boxes that can't be turned off; Power on/off button doesn't always want to respond
Summary: Overall I really like this phone. I've received numerous comments about it's design and the quality of the pictures it takes ("Wow... those are sharp"; "You took that picture with your phone?"). The built-in features are hard to match at this price point (GPS, 3G, streaming video support, full-fledged media, expandable software via third-party applications, etc). I did hear a nasty rumor that this phone has an FM receiver inside of it that's been disabled by T-Mobile and that bothers me. But as a whole package this phone is pretty great. In fact, I go as far as to say that it's my favorite T-Mobile phone so far (which realistically isn't saying much since T-Mobile doesn't offer the greatest phones).
That being said, there are a few issues with this phone that either T-Mobile or Sony Ericsson need to address. Most of them have to do with the user interface and the way the phone's software behaves.
Right out of the box I noticed that this phone was slow with just about everything it does. Your typical cell phone user - who has been using a cell phone for years now - can type much, much faster than this phone can handle. Text message input is delayed very noticeably while the phone tries to catch up with your fingers. But the slow response time doesn't end with text input. Menus seem to drag while you navigate them. Pressing the call button after entering a phone number or selecting someone from your phone book produces a long delay before the phone actually dials (which leaves you wondering if you hit the call button correctly or if the phone is just lagging).
Part of the phone's slow response time has to do with the numerous, unnecessary notification pop-ups that phone uses. If you type a word that the phone doesn't recognize a huge square notification comes up to alert you to this fact... and then stays on the screen for several seconds before fading off. It really, REALLY slows down your typing because the menu can't be dismissed and the phone will not continue accepting input until the message goes away. These pop-up windows are used for everything - from displaying incoming and outgoing phone call info, to application notifications. And as far as I've been able to figure out, there's no way to turn them off. It would have been much simpler for Sony Ericsson to have used sound as an error notice, especially given how slow the overall UI is (or at least let us turn it off).
In addition, the signal indicator is slow to update and often shows conflicting information. While in the elevator at work I have little to no signal (because I can't usually make a call). But I can reach my destination in the elevator before the phone updates to show the loss of signal. Once I get out - and get my signal back - I can make it to my office before the phone updates again to show the stronger single. In addition, it sometimes shows a completely full signal at the same time that the display shows "Emergency Calls Only" (and you cannot, in fact, make calls). So you often have no idea what kind of signal you're really getting unless you stare at the phone for several moments.
The software on the phone seems to be degrading over time, as well. When I first got the TM506 it was slow, but reliable. Now that I've had it a few months I'm starting to see glitches popping up here and there that didn't exist before. For one, the screen will sometimes hang for several moments and then seem to catch up. And just today I felt the phone vibrating in my pocket every few seconds. When I opened it up I saw nothing but a twitching screen. I had to remove the battery to restart the phone.
My two other gripes are fairly minor. The flip mechanism between the screen and the keypad seems to feel cheap. I'm always afraid I'm going to squeeze too hard or press it against my cheek too hard and snap the thing in half. And as time has gone on, the hinge is starting to lose its smooth feel - it almost feels gritty (and maybe it is... but I've never had a phone do that before). I've also noticed that the power on/off button doesn't seem to want to respond all of the time. I can turn the phone off with no problems. But once it's off I often have to press and hold the power button several times to get it to turn back on.
Unlike some people reporting here, I've never had any problems with battery life. In fact, this phone holds the best charge of any phone I've ever had. I use it all day every day and I plug it in twice a week to maintain a charge. And that's with heavy text usage, web browsing, email, and java applications running (Gmail, most notably).
Despite my focus on what I don't like about the TM506, I really do enjoy this phone. But it's because I like so much else about it that these nagging issues bother me so much. If the UI were snappier I'd be in love. I know that software updates are possible. But as of yet I've heard nothing about a fix for this.
Which is sad - because this phone could really be so much better than it already is.
- 3 replies to this review
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I actually liked this review. I read a review on Amazon that is more long winded that this. Even though it is in depth and longer than most, I felt the reviewer stayed with the point and still gave us their personal preference(s) as well. I'm big on texting and I saw this phone at the store and I think I'm going to get it anyways. Like the look, like the feel. Thanks redherring79. ~D
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Unlike the other commenter, I found this review incredibly helpful and thank you for going into detail about how, specifically, the UI was slow/dragging. It's a huge pet peeve of mine (bad experience with an early Motorola RAZR) and my one and only "must have" for the new phone was that it would have absolutely no drag/lag at all. Thanks for saving me from that!
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Sometimes less is better. I found this review useless on my search on this phone. I thought it was a little long winded. Can't really decide if this person liked this phone or not. Honestly I wasn't able to get past the 5th paragraph and the same for my husband who is an avid reader, saying he couldn't finish cause he got bored. Simplify! All input is good, not trying to be harsh here.
Sony Ericsson TM506 - amber (T-Mobile):
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