* Review: Sony-Ericsson Z520A

As my three-year-old Sony-Ericsson T-616 was getting long in the tooth, I began shopping for a suitable replacement. Many of my friends have Motorola RAZR phones, or other stylish things. They claimed to love them, but I was skeptical. In my travels I came across the Sony-Ericsson Z520A from Cingular, and became interested. I had not owned a flip phone since my old Motorola in the mid-90's, so was interested in persuing that option once again.

The main activity that I use my phone for is placing calls to and receiving calls from clients, friends, and family, making sound quality and reception the major goals of purchasing a new phone. Besides that I wanted unblocked Bluetooth connectivity not only for my Bluetooth headset, but also for syncing up my calendar, to-do list, and address book with my desktop and laptop computers. Besides that, my absolute needs were minimal. I thought it would be nice to have a build-in email client, and I had become used to having a camera on my phone with the old T-616, so though that would be a nice bonus.

The Sony-Ericsson Z520A delivered all of that and more, and all at a very reasonable price. Besides my basic requirements, the Z520A offered a video capture option, 16MB of built-in memory (much more than the 512k in my T-616), speakerphone, support for MP3 ringtones, and a built-in email client.

One of the things I really liked about my T-616 was the easy thumb navigation. I am happy to report that my new Z520A employs the same basic navigation layout, which made the transition quite easy to manage. Sony-Ericsson's software is very easy to customize, so even the things that were different were easy to customize to make it highly usable.

I am also happy to report that the camera and video camera are acceptable. The camera is a full 1.3 megapixels at VGA resolution, so the images it captures are not half bad. The video is also acceptable, considering that it comes from a device that fits on your pocket. It's definitely not for capturing the special moments that you want to cherish forever, but for catching a quick clip to share with your friends on the Internet it's perfect.

Audio quality is also much improved over that of my T-616. The volume gets loud enough to be uncomfortable while delivering with minimal distortion, making this phone ideal for chatting with the windows rolled down (not that I talk on the phone which I'm driving, mind you). My only gripe about the Z520A is that the speakerphone doesn't get loud enough to use in a car at freeway speeds, but I suppose that isn't an issue since I have been using my Bluetooth headset.

Overall I would highly recommend this phone. It delivers many of the features of the more expensive phones at a great price. Besides that it offers great sound quality and reception, and makes using your cell phone tolerable again.