Before transferring over to the smartphone world with blackberries I had long been a Sony Ericsson fan and customer. Over the years I have had a string of Ericsson walkman phones, this was due to them being reliable with good battery life and having good sound quality for all my music tracks which was extremely important to me. I didn't really want to have to carry a phone and an mp3 player so I needed a good quality mobile that could keep my music safe as well. The W580i is a slide up compact phone which comes in a variety of colours.


*+*+* THE LOOK *+*+*

I have the pink version of the w580i I think it is known as metro pink. It is a predominantly a pale dusty pink in colour with white sides and hot pink on the back when the phone slides open to reveal the keypad. It measures roughly 4" x 2" when closed and gains an extra inch in length when open.
The top of the phone is home to the memory card slot and main on/off button with the volume keys on the left hand side. All other main buttons are situated on the front of the phone below the screen and can be accessed without needing to slide up the phone. As well as the play/pause and direction keys there is the short cuts key allowing you to reach your favourite apps, walkman button which takes you straight to the music player, and your selection keys which double as unlock when the phone is shut (however sliding the phone open unlocks too.)

*+*+* FUNCTIONS *+*+*

The Sony Ericsson w580i has all the functions you would expect off of a non smartphone with calling, SMS, MMS and games. Being a walkman phone it has the ability to store all your favourite tracks on the micro m2 memory card and play them back making this as good as an Mp3 player as it is a phone and has the added bonus of being able to hake the phone to change the track. Another point of amusement on the w580i is the fitness application, this allows you to turn your phone into a step counter and keep track of your running and walking. This combined with the walk around the world app and pocket trainer adds a little bit fun .


*+*+* EASE OF USE *+*+*

This phone is one of the easiest phones I have owned to operate. It is easy to slide to reveal the keypad which has fair sized buttons. I have heard of people having trouble with the buttons cracking but I haven't seen this. The navigation around the functions could not be simpler everything is reachable from the main menu which is opened via the large play/pause button on the centre of the phone.
The music player is easy to work with your basic mp3 controls visible below the screen allowing you to work the mp3 player with the phone closed


*+*+* MY OPINION *+*+*

I really love this phone the only real reason for my upgrading was needing to be able to get to my emails and social networks easy and for free. I still have his phone and due to its extremely long battery life take it with me if I am camping as I know I will always have a phone on me with battery life. I am yet to find a fault with this phone everything it claims to do it does and it does it well. When I first purchased this phone I was a little dubious of the slide up action. I think in the back of my head all I could think was that it was just one more thing to break but I am not afraid to admit I was proved wrong. The size of this phone makes it handy and useful and easy to carry around be it in a bag or pocket. There are other colour schemes I have seen grey/black and white but I like the pink it makes it a little different. The sides of the phone are able to light up and you can change the sequence and colours to your preference which again allows this phone to stand out. The camera is 2 megapixel pretty standard for this age and size phone it takes a good picture but I always have my camera on me so this isn't so much a deciding factor.
When it comes down to this it is a walkman phone so the music player is a massive part of its appeal and to me it doesn't disappoint the music is clear and has a good volume range. I do however wish it had a normal earphone socket instead of the Sony Ericsson one as I would like to use my own headphone sometimes instead of having to rely on the provided ones which never seem to stay in my ears (maybe I have funny ears)

All in all this phone does all it can sure it is not a smart phone and my email, Facebook and twitter are not at the end of my finger but sometimes I wish they weren't. Just imagine the extra time we would all have if we were not emailing and checking social networks on our phones.