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(More customer reviews)I've been looking for a Bluetooth phone for over two years now. I've never bought one before because they were always high-end phones with more features than I would ever care about using. I'd been following the Sony-Ericsson phones, but they were always expensive when new and followed the same pattern of featuritis.
I just found this phone last week, and I bought it on the spot. It is exactly what I have been looking for -- a good phone with some very useful features, plus a few gimmicks for the young and hip (or young at heart and hipless). Among the more important features for me, mainly from a practicality / safety standpoint:
- Voice-activated dialing (super-easy to set up, and it even recognizes partial commands -- I'd set up my home number as "Call home", but it worked just fine when I only said "Home")
- Speakerphone function (a little fuzzy, but serviceable as long as you're not in a moving car)
- (Brightly!) Backlit, reasonably large keys
- Lightweight
- Small, but not too small to hold comfortably (I'm 6' 3" with large hands, and I have no problems holding or dialing)
- Caller-specific ring tones to spare me from reading the display (my wedding song's playing? Must be my wife calling)
- Very good signal reception (I generally get 4 or 5 bars in my home, where I used to get 1 or 2 with my old Nokia [both on Cingular])
- Good sound quality, almost as good as a land line
But for me, the most important feature in a cell phone has long been Bluetooth. I really think this is the best technology to come to mobile phones, and Cingular (unlike some other cell service providers ::cough::VERIZON::cough::) doesn't cripple or limit what it can do. Without reading the manual, I quickly navigated to the phone's Connectivity menu, turned on Bluetooth, and told it to find local devices. My Apple PowerBook was right there and turned on, and the phone found it almost instantly. It paired up without any hassle (the PowerBook notified me right away when I needed to enter the passcode for a permanent pairing), and a few seconds later I was using iSync to send over my contacts, saving me a good hour of time vs having to manually key them all in. iSync recognized the phone with no issues and configuration of sync options was a breeze.
I was also able to send an MP3 file from iTunes via Bluetooth (after first pulling out the bit I wanted to use as the ring tone through QuickTime). The phone took the file without any additional software -- I just used the Bluetooth File Transfer utility that came bundled with the PowerBook. The phone automatically recognized it as a sound file, put in the right place, and made it immediately available as a ring tone.
I plan on purchasing the S-E Bluetooth car kit (HCB-700) and possibly the advanced music mute to route the sound through my car's speakers instead of using the kit's speaker. Then I'll have a perfect wireless hands-free setup!
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Sony Ericsson Z520a - Cellular phone - GSM - folder (flip)If a cool clamshell with every possible customizing option is what you want, Z520a is your phone. You can change the front and back covers, have any combination of ringtones, images, and light effects play when a call comes in. And you can have a unique combination for your favorite friends in your phone book. Z520a is all about sharing. It has an easy-to-use VGA camera for still images and video recording to capture fun moments and Bluetooth™ and MMS to share them. A speakerphone gives your original artist music tones the sound they deserve. Z520a is all about expressing yourself. Do it. The Z520a combines crisp and clear color menus, animated wallpapers and content with unique and sophisticated light patterns which light up the phone when a call comes in and when you receive a message. Impressive color and cool light.
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