Sony Ericsson TM506 Phone, Black/Chrome/Amber (T-Mobile)

Great phone features, irritating menu lag February 24, 2009

Reviewer:  lexico  (Southern US) -

I have only had my phone for a little over a week (new T-mobile service). I have found the phone to be easy to navigate and customize. Call clarity is excellent. Display is beautiful (bright, vivid colors). I am waiting on my data cable to arrive, so haven't tried the music player yet. However I have bluetoothed files back and forth with my kids (a new experience for me) - which is my temp way around not having the data cable. Battery life is so-so. My Katana (Sprint service) seemed to go a little longer between charges. However, I have been using the phone heavily as I test it out; under normal circumstances my phone has fair to moderate use (primarily texting).

To give you an idea of the types of phones I have been accustomed to, my previous phones are an old Nokia bar phone (I don't even remember the model #), followed by a Motorola clamshell phone (think it was a V190), followed by the Sprint Katana (I really liked this phone).

I would agree with others that there is often an irritating delay when accessing menus (and even on opening the phone up). Sometimes it is very fast - other times takes several seconds (long enough for you to wonder if you really pushed the button or in the case of opening up the phone - whether the phone is even powered on). I almost exchanged this phone for another one simply because of this irritation. However, I didn't have another phone I liked from T-mobile in the $50 and under range - and couldn't justify spending $149 or more for the phones I would have considered. For my intended uses of this phone - it has all the features I want and the sometimes lag doesn't affect what I do. No phone is perfect - and I decided this would be the one feature that I don't like on this phone.

Pros:
1. Phone feels nice in hand, not to big or small
2. Call clarity is great
3. Brilliant looking display (bright and vivid colors)
4. Easy to customize, easy to navigate
5. Love the fact that I can type as long of a text message as I want - and the phone simply breaks them apart for me when it sends (as opposed to me having to create/send multiple messages).
6. Loud ringers, easy to hear.
7. Like the option to see my email through t-mail - without incurring a data charge (counts as text messaging). That said, it can be slow to look at the emails - and since I would rather answer on my computer - I probably won't use this.

Cons:
1. Menu lag time (on my phone, not always present, and when it is present - it is in varying degrees)
2. No backlight for cover or screen (the light is either on or it is off - and it is not possible to alter this). The light does start dimming before it goes off - so if you are looking at something - you can then just hit the toggle key to keep in on another 15 or 20 seconds.
3. Would have preferred a window on the front of the phone, but instead there is a small retangular window that displays the time (or a message - such as letting you know you have a new text message).
4. Wish there were some type of notification on the phone for missed messages/calls (my Katana had a small light that would occasionally flash).

For me the pros outweight the cons. As I said, there is no perfect phone - so it is a matter of deciding what things you can live with (and without). If it weren't for the menu lag, this phone would be perfect for me.

Elegant & excellent performer March 3, 2009

Reviewer:  Ric Corless "Ric C"  (Asheville, NC USA) -

I've had this phone for a month, so enough time to offer an adequate assessment. From experience with Sony-Ericsson and Motorola phones, this is the most elegant and most capable phone I've owned so far. It is solidly built, looks and feels good in the hand, and the sound quality leaves competition in the dust. There are some low reviews of this phone, some claiming cheap construction. I'd guess those were written by the competition because this phone is more solid than my Moto RAZR and the sound quality kicks the RAZR to the scrap heap.

The display is a great size, is bright, crisp, easy to read.

Battery life is competitive with my other phones, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find it uses the same battery as my previous W300 "walkman" phone! With no need to seek out and buy that all important spare battery for emergencies, I had to conclude this company actually cares about its customers and is not out to nickel/dime you to death like most others.

Picking up a 4-Gig micro memory chip from Amazon was trivial, and the phone accepts that size auxiliary memory without a flinch. I use my phone for laptop interface to the internet, so this amount of extra memory is great for backing up key files from the computer.

The phone's bluetooth feature connects easily and quickly to my Moto earpiece as well as to my Cirago USB bluetooth adapter, and provides the same quality connection (audio and internet) as the hardwire USB connection.

Another detail I've noticed: my previous phone would barely maintain a given charge level when connected via USB to the laptop in modem mode. This phone has a more efficient charging ability, and always tops off the battery while the phone is being used as a wireless modem.

My only complaint is with t-Mobile: the lack of 3G service in my area, and the frequent lag in connection to the internet. But that will (hopefully) change, and their "in-network" rate for internet service is BY FAR the best bargain on the planet.

Another winner from SE January 2, 2009

Reviewer:  Real Name Not Here  (CA, USA) -

With all the varying reviews on this phone, I was quite skeptical. I got the phone today and I like it a lot. I've owned SE T610, w810, w600 and now this. I like this phone as much as I liked the w810 when it came out.

PROS: large, clear screen
spacey keys
separate keys for c and ending calls (people not used to the SE GUI tend to get confused when they don't see these as separate keys as in most SEs)
external display for time, and caller id
will play music through bluetooth headsets
doesn't require the expensive dataplan.

CONS: battery cover hard to open
doesn't come with the USB cable, or stereo headphones or extra memory.
M2 memory chips...means another memory chip format to buy. It is fairly cheap though.
doesn't have FM radio

Another particularly appealing feature of this phone is that if you are willing to risk modding the phone you can
a. tether
b. possibly get FM radio
c. get the trackID application
d. get free GPS navigation (though not as good as a standalone GPS device)

Not worth it - even if it's free April 9, 2009

Reviewer:  clamarama  (Shoreline, WA United States) -

This phone has been disappointing. It replaced a Nokia 5300 (hated that phone) and prior to that phone, I had a Motorola PEBL (good phone). I don't text or use the camera, so I don't have anything to say about those features.

The call quality seems pretty good. Volume is adequate and the sound is clear. I've never used the speaker phone. The display is large and easy to read. The UI is fairly intuitive, but not the best. Sometimes tasks seem a bit more complicated than they should be, but it doesn't take too much effort to figure them out.

I don't need my phone to do very much for me other than make phone calls, but the few needs I do have are not met by this phone.

I don't wear a watch, and just look to my phone to find out the time. On this phone, I have to push the volume button in order to light up the display and read the time. (On the PEBL, the time was always visible.) The worst thing about that is that if there was a missed call or a calendar reminder on the screen, it goes away when I push the button, so I don't see it. (If there is a "new voicemail" notification, then it remains on the screen and I have to open the phone to see the time.) The "new voicemail" message is visible on the external screen even when the light is not on - I don't know why the time can't work this way, too.

The phone only gives one audible alert for an event reminder or a voicemail notification, so if you are not near the phone when the bell sounds, then you're out of luck. That issue alone is enough to make me want to get rid of this phone.

The GPS is a nice feature, but I find that it doesn't work in urban areas, so it can't be relied upon, which is really not much better than not having it at all. The voice on the speaker for the GPS is difficult to hear. You can use a wired headset, but not bluetooth, to listen to the GPS. The GPS is supposed to cost $10 a month, but I have been able to use it for free for the seven months I've owned the phone.

The email program is extremely annoying - I can't get it to turn off unless I actually delete my account. It buzzes every time I get an email, and every couple of hours it buzzes to tell me it's going to exit the program. I click "end application" and "exit," but it still keeps buzzing. It's dreadful.

I sometimes have problems hitting the call or end call keys when I mean to hit the soft menu keys. Or I hit the left soft menu key for my contacts and somehow also end up hitting the call key, too, so I have made at least a dozen accidental calls to the first contact on my list.

The ring volume control is a little annoying - sometimes I want it to be silent and vibrate, other times I want it to be silent and not vibrate. It is possible to have either option on this phone, but it takes too many steps to do it. The PEBL was much easier.

The phone doesn't really come with any ringtones - just the tmobile jingle and a stupid sony jingle. I just want it to ring like a normal phone without having to pay for the privilege.

The call log lists are not long enough. I don't know exactly how long they are - maybe 20 calls. After about 6 months, the call log stopped capturing calls most of the time. It now lists about 20% of the calls - no difference whether it's a missed, incoming, or outgoing call - most of the time, the calls are not on the list.

The phone seems physically sturdy and is easy on the eye. I suppose it would be adequate for someone who was looking to use it for absolutely nothing other than phone calls.

Solid looking and feeling phone destroyed by UI lag February 14, 2009

Reviewer:  N. Chiang "Risingson"  (California) -

I got this phone as a temporary replacement for my old Nokia flip phone for T-Mobile. The Nokia served me well for 2 years until i accidentally smashed the outside display. Anyway, i was looking for a new phone and decided to get this one for free as a placeholder until i settle on a new phone for the long haul. Let's just say i can't wait to find my replacement.



Let's start with the good qualities of this one.

1) Build quality is good. Materials feel nice, from the rubbery backside of the phone, to the nice tactile keypad. The front part of the flip jiggles around when closed though which is a little disconcerting. The back panel is very secure, so you don't have to worry about sliding off when taking it out and putting it in your pocket.

2) Fantastic looking display. It's bright and the resolution is top notch. It's also a nice size at 2.2 inches.

3) Call quality is great. My friends have already told me that i sound much clearer on this phone compared to my Nokia. I also feel that the voices of the people i'm talking to are much clearer. It cancels out the background noises very well.

4) Reception from what i've experienced has been pretty good.

5) Photo quality from the camera is pretty decent for a 2.0 megapixel shooter.


Ok so those are the positives of this phone. Unfortunately the praise ends there. Let's get into the negatives, which are real deal breakers for me.


1) Horrible user interface lag. This phone takes a second to load a lot menus. Making a call takes about 2 seconds to fire up. Ending calls takes a second for it to actually close out. Navigating the sub menu tabs takes a second each so it can load what it needs to display. Deleting pictures you have taken with the camera can sometimes take minutes as it wants to update. I'm not exactly sure what it's updating but that's what it says.

Here's a detailed example of the lag that happens. If you press down on the d-pad it'll bring up your contacts list. If you press the d-pad down 3 times really fast, your presses won't register until a second after the menu pops up. So three quick presses, wait, and then the three presses will take place. It's annoying to put it mildly.

2) The user interface is not only slow, but it's also unintuitive. Here's an example. I want to set an alarm to go off at a certain time. It's really quite an easy task that i don't want to spend more than a few seconds setting. So i open the alarm app, which can be mapped to the left or right direction on the d-pad if you wish. I choose to edit the time which brings up the time for me to set. I set the time. Press ok. Then finally have to press save to actually activate it. So not counting the press to open the application, that's 3 more steps i have to take just to set one alarm. That's just ridiculous and unnecessary. I admit, it is nice to be able to set alarms to go off one by one down a list though.

3) The phone does not notify you that you've missed a call or message. Most phones will periodically glow or beep if you've missed something. Not this phone. There's just no way to tell if you missed anything by looking at the phone. You have to either open the phone up to see what you've missed, or press one of the volume keys on the side so that the outside display turns on. Only then will you know. Just to make it clear, the outside display does not have a backlight. So it's either on or off. There's also a bug with this phone where if you keep pressing the volume keys to light up the display, eventually the display will go out and the volume rocker won't bring it back up. Flip open and close the phone and things will go back to normal.

4) Poor speakerphone volume. If you forgot your headset and you're in the car, don't even bother using the speakerphone unless the person you're talking to talks loud.

5) Unable to zoom using the camera in 1 and 2 megapixel mode. You can only zoom in VGA mode. Honestly though, i don't see much of a difference in the quality of the pictures either way.

6) Power button is under the # key which i have pressed accidentally, especially when texting, cause # acts as the spacebar. Putting it under the * button would have been better.

7) Front part of the phone is a fingerprint magnet.

So in conclusion i would not recommend this phone unless you're not tech savy and just need a basic phone. If you fall into that category, this phone would seem capable. If you want a phone that doesn't feel like it works against you, get something else. I assume the majority of you fall into this category.

Worst phone I have ever had. Slow! July 20, 2009

Reviewer:  F. Tang  (Orlando, Florida) -

Slow to turn on, slow to make a connection, and slow on everything. Sometimes a menu pops up when you chose a number and are about to dial that number, making it even slower.

Difficult to find the most recent numbers, or most frequently used numbers.

Battery life is short.

Will never use Sony Ericsson brand again. End up going back to my 4 year old Samsung phone.

Worst Phone I ever owned! May 28, 2010

Reviewer:  E. Lam 

I've owned this phone for over a year and have been having nothing but problems. The phone is very sluggish at times and does not hold a signal. I have to reboot my phone at least 3 times a day because it won't pick up any signal and the only way I've found to fix the problem is to turn the phone off and back on again, then I'll miraculously get full bars. The phone will also randomly decide to power down on its own! I was expecting an important call today and the phone decides to shut off mid ring before I could answer! Are you kidding me Sony?? This is a known problem by the way. I googled it. It turns out there is a software update for this very problem on the Sony Ericsson website, but of course I can't get the damn update to work so here I am at 10:45pm posting this to warn everyone. This phone is TRASH! I got it as a free upgrade and it's still not worth it.

Sony Ericsson TM506...All You Could Ask For December 11, 2009

Reviewer:  J. Gibbons 

If you are like me, you want a cell phone that is easy to use and reliable but still does everything you want it to. The Sony Ericsson TM506 can provide relief for your connectivity cravings, just as it has for me. Notwithstanding its shortcomings, the TM506 is dependable, easy to use (but powerful), and is inexpensive.

The Sony Ericsson is reliable (with regard to hardware as well as software), which is a huge factor in how I feel about it. In the last few years, I have had to replace no less than five phones because they are buggy and stop working, or just because of physical damage from being dropped onto sidewalks and kitchen floors. The Sony Ericsson is a phone with a basic flip-phone design, both inside and out, but the phone just works. It gets great signal (in places where my other phones never got reception) and I have never had to call T-Mobile customer support about the phone.

The TM506 is easy to use but has many great features and applications. I am a college student, so I text message more than I talk. One of my favorite things about the phone is how easy it is to text; there are so many little things that give the phone an edge over others, such as just being able to add words to the phone's predictive text dictionary and not having an inbox message limit. The multimedia features on the phone are great; it has a 2.0 megapixel digital camera which can be used for still photos or for videos, which can both be edited right on the phone. The TM506 also has a memory card slot, so there is virtually no limit to how many pictures you can take.

Probably one of the best selling points for the phone (especially for college students, but even for most people in this economy) is how cheap it is. When my last phone died, I was able to get this phone as a free replacement. Amazon.com sells the TM506 for $0.01 with a new service plan. I think it would be quite a feat to find such a high-quality cell phone for any cheaper than that.

Of course, the phone has a few quirks and shortcomings. The phone doesn't have threaded text messages, which would be a convenient addition to this already great phone. The battery cover is extremely hard to get off, and the exterior of the phone is glossy plastic that smudges easily with fingerprints. The outside display of the phone is very small (displays only one line of information at a time), and the TM506 is a bit bigger than some phones out there. As for the software, it can be buggy every now and then; the phone occasionally likes to turn off in my pocket or even while I am using it. The operating system does run a little bit on the slow side, with small delays.

These problems are so few and far between, however, that they should not scare potential buyers away. This phone is great. It is inexpensive but very solid and reliable. The phone packs a lot of excellent features and an easy-to-use operating system into a conservative, sturdy flip-phone design. The messaging features are great. The phone just has so many little tweaks and options that put it over the top in convenience and ease of use. If you are considering getting a phone from T-Mobile, I highly recommend this one.

Too much lag time between screens December 1, 2009

Reviewer:  Lisa Ruskanen 

I've had this phone for a couple months and the lag time in screens prevents me from using the phone for my job, which is frustrating when I'm trying to call clients. If you call a 1-800 # and then have to work through an options menu, you are not always able to dial the options because the screen hasn't caught up with the call. At times, the screen will go to screen saver/black, and I'm still listening to a menu repeat itself over and over because I can't dial any options. If I call a number and happen to get a busy/out of service signal, I can't hang up to make another call for a few seconds. If a call comes in and the screens are slow, I can't answer it. I'm going to call T-Mobile to see if they will help me. I wouldn't recommend this phone because of this problem.

It's no iPhone, but it does the job November 7, 2009

Reviewer:  Sean Bryan "Sean Bryan"  (Cleveland, OH) -

This is a solid phone that has many (but by no means all) of the niceties of a smartphone, but it's inexpensive up front and lets you keep your monthly phone bill significantly under $100. Every few weeks, the interface gets slow which requires a reboot to get back to normal, and the sound is a little quiet. Still, I think this phone is a very good choice in the "free phone" category.

EDIT: If you have this phone with t-mobile, and you're willing to mess around a little, the tutorial at the following link worked very well to upgrade/debrand the firmware. Now the FM Radio, GPS, Google Maps, sync contacts and calendar with Google, etc... all work, plus the phone interface feels a little snappier. As sketchy as this sounds, you have to disable virus protection during the procedure. It worked for me...

[...]



(The following review was written before I upgraded the firmware, so this reflects my experience with the phone in the state the phone was in when t-mobile sold it to me.)
Pros:
-Good construction. Not as nice as the Motorola W490 I had before, but still feels very solid after spending a few months in my jeans pocket. I like the glossy black finish, looks nice.
-Great battery life. I talk for hours on my unlimited numbers; I'd really believe the ~10-hour talk time it's rated at.
-Beautiful screen. I don't think I've seen a nicer one in a flip phone before. Viewing the pictures and videos taken with the camera is great, and websites look really nice too.
-Nice camera. 2 megapixels is enough to take acceptable photos for screen display, but I don't think they'd print well. Awesome for sending picture messages.
-Takes good short videos. They look nice on the screen or computer, and the recorded sound quality is actually very nice (no hiss).
-Web browsing on this phone is as good as I've seen with a flip phone. It only adds $10 a month for a data+text plan, or $25 for unlimited. (I use the $10 plan...)
-Gmail. This phone works with the gmail java application, and it's just wonderful to have real e-mail in my pocket. I don't type very many messages since I'm not too good at the txt typing on the numeric keypad, but it's awesome for reading messages.
-Google maps. This phone works with the google maps application, which is awesome for searching for businesses or getting a quick idea of directions somewhere.
-Media player. The built-in Sony media player is awesome. It organizes your songs by album just as accurately as my iPod does, and it has very good audio quality over the headphones. You need an adapter, but the in-ear earbud+micrphone set that I ordered for $5 or so is amazing. When you get a call, the music stops, you start talking through the microphone, and then when you hang up the music picks up right where you left off. Just as slick as an iPhone...
-Nice calendar, contacts, and alarm clock. It syncs via bluetooth to the Apple address book and iCal.
-I tether my Macbook for internet access through the phone. (I'm actually doing that right now...) I haven't gotten it working with a Windows or linux laptop though...but it should be possible if the Mac can do it out of the box with no fancy configuration.

Cons:
-Sound quality is so-so. The phone is quiet, and the speaker phone is so quiet you have to be home alone in near silence to use it.
-Acts strangely sometimes with my Motorola bluetooth headset. (Maybe if I bought a Sony one..?)
-Non-standard charger. They aren't very expensive to order online in this day and age, but it's annoying to have to buy new data cables, chargers, and headphones for every phone again.
-The user interface randomly hangs sometimes. If I'm using an application or the music player, about once every couple weeks the phone gets really slow, and I have to restart it. Not a big deal, but it happens...
-Doesn't sync with iTunes on my Mac, but it would if I bought Salling Media Sync. (I haven't...but the unregistered version of it works alright.)
-No "apps." You can run a lot of the .jar old-school mobile phone programs that are out there, but I feel a little left out every time I hear about a cool iPhone or Google Android application that comes out. But, this is true of all of the other "free phones" out there, so I can't really complain.