Sony Ericsson Z550i

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Sony Ericsson Z550i

Frazier Barretto, Sep 15, 2006 1500 hrs IST

The Sony Ericsson Z550i is a GSM Tri-band clamshell. Let's have a look at it.

Feature-rich phone, Elegant and sturdy design, Good build and finish, 1.3 MP Camera, 20 MB internal memory, Expandable memory, Well-priced.

Average bundle, M2 memory is very expensive.

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Earlier we had the Nokia 6131 for review; this model from Sony Ericsson has a potential to be a neck-to-neck rival to it. The Sony Ericsson Z550i has a lot going its way but then the competition is from Nokia and Sony Ericsson has left no stone unturned to match the rivals. Let's see what competition Sony Ericsson can put up against it; so we will directly compare it to the Nokia 6131.

Introduction

The Sony Ericsson Z550i is also a clamshell like its competitor the 6131. It is a GSM Tri-band phone while Nokia's 6131 is a GSM Quad-band phone. The Z550i is smaller and thus lighter weighing just 93 grams with dimensions 87.5 x 45.4 x 20 mm. The Z550i has a 256K TFT color screen on the inside and a mono-display on the outside. The external mono-display does well displaying the time, name of the contact or number of the incoming call, FM Radio Station, and alerts (message, missed call, reminders, etc.) The contrast of the inner screen is good and looks very pleasant to the eyes. The screen is smaller compared to the 6131, that's because of the comparatively small dimensions of the clamshell.

The phone has a speaker at the back and the default sound on opening the flip is kinda cute. The phone has a good finish; the dual color metallic finish is very appealing. On opening the phone you will notice the 5-way D-Pad and the clean keypad. The phone has a well spaced-out keypad, but not as friendly as that of the 6131. The keys are smaller because of the overall dimensions of the phone but it doesn't pose a problem typing out messages. The phone only has a volume controller on the outside and you have to open the flip even to cancel a call. But you can turn off the ringer or the vibratory alert by just hitting the volume key. Double-clicking the volume key, cancels the call.