Sony Ericsson Z530i review

Sony Ericsson Z530i Review

Reviewed by: Andrew Lim

Reviewed on: 29 June 2006

The Sony Ericsson Z530i is the upgraded version of the Sony Ericsson Z520i. Both phones have the same form factor and loop aerial, along with similar specs, but this handset has a new keypad and expandable memory slot. We're not convinced by the fish-scale design of the keypad but we're over the moon about the increase in storage space.

The Sony Ericsson Z530i is available free on contract from Carphone Warehouse, O2 and Vodafone.

Design
The front section of the Sony Ericsson Z530i features an orange monochrome screen that displays signal, date and time, battery life, incoming calls or messages and the title and track time of a song. The screen is surrounded by a reflective silver border featuring the Sony Ericsson logo and the model name of the phone.

Above the screen is a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) camera and portrait mirror. The rest of the front section consists of a black rubber-like cover that can be removed and changed, allowing you to customise the phone. On the top left side of the phone there's a large volume button and on the top right side is an infrared port.

The back of the phone houses the loudspeaker and a black battery cover that can also be removed. On the top of the back section is a loop aerial that is very similar to the Z520i's, but rounder and smoother. The charging port is located on the bottom of the phone and doubles up as the headset and USB port.

Once you open up the phone, you'll see the 128x160-pixel screen that is surrounded by a silver border similar to the external screen and also displays the model number and Sony Ericsson name. The hinge that attaches the screen to the keypad is particularly chunky and looks out of place.

Just below the hinge is the four-way navigation button with a mirrored OK button in the middle. We found the navigation button easy to use but the OK button was too small and squashed to be used comfortably. Although we managed to select the right options with it, we couldn't help tapping the navigation button at the same time, which was annoying.

Either side of the navigation key are soft keys -- the top left key gives you access to call information and the top right takes you to the menu. The bottom left soft key is takes you back one page and the bottom right is the cancel key.