Sony Ericsson W518a / Reviews

Even if Sony Ericsson W508 has a standard clamshell form, it can attract fans of the Walkman series through its slimness and price. The only thing I found annoying was the big size of the phone when you actually unfolded it and put it to your ear. Otherwise, I think W508 is a pretty decent clamshell, with nice multimedia features and a medium price.

The Good

Some of the best features of the phone are multimedia-related, but also regard the connectivity ones (such as HSDPA) and battery, which has a very high lifetime. The design of the phone is also nice, but the size should be much more reduced. The sound and keypad are also some of the good points of the device.

The Bad

Contrary to what I thought, the size of the phone does matter, but only when the phone is folded. That is one of the negative sides of the phone, the huge size of the device. Also, the low quality of the module camera, as well as the low speed of the phone are found among the not-so-good points of the clamshell.

Even if Sony Ericsson W508 has a standard clamshell form, it can attract fans of the Walkman series through its slimness and price. The only thing I found annoying was the big size of the phone when you actually unfolded it and put it to your ear. Otherwise, I think W508 is a pretty decent clamshell, with nice multimedia features and a medium price. 

Even if Sony Ericsson W508 has a standard clamshell form, it can attract fans of the Walkman series through its slimness and price. The only thing I found annoying was the big size of the phone when you actually unfolded it and put it to your ear. Otherwise, I think W508 is a pretty decent clamshell, with nice multimedia features and a medium price.

The Good

Some of the best features of the phone are multimedia-related, but also regard the connectivity ones (such as HSDPA) and battery, which has a very high lifetime. The design of the phone is also nice, but the size should be much more reduced. The sound and keypad are also some of the good points of the device.

The Bad

Contrary to what I thought, the size of the phone does matter, but only when the phone is folded. That is one of the negative sides of the phone, the huge size of the device. Also, the low quality of the module camera, as well as the low speed of the phone are found among the not-so-good points of the clamshell.

Read original review at Softpedia.

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The Sony Ericsson W518a has great music quality, a brilliant display, and a respectable feature set. It lives up to its Walkman name, but call quality and internal performance didn't quite measure up.

Read original review at CNET.

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Good things about the Sony Ericsson W518a:

-Supports YouTube videos.
-Supports Opera Mini.
-Great music quality.
-Bluetooth.
-M2 Memory Slot.
-Minimize/Hide your apps and leave them running.
-Hear your music while using an app.
-It has auto rotation sensor.
-Supports themes.
-It has FM radio.
-Quick download/send/receive
And other stuff.

Bad things about the Sony Ericsson W518a:

-Bad Call Quality.
-A little oversized.
-Takes some time to power-up.
-The memory slot is M2, so its not like others.

(My W518a has never froze, has never lagged, doesn't have bugs and it's really fast. So i don't believe in some reviews. (NO OFFENSE))

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I have had my phone for 2 years, thank God my contract is expired! It has given me nothing but trouble since two weeks after I bought it. The phone has been replaced, the SIM card replaced who knows how many times and I keep having the same problems. It freezes, it drops calls, it shuts down, loses service in random places, often it does not get messages (voice or text) for hours after they are left, in general it's COMPLETELY UNRELIABLE!!!!! I am a substitute teacher, so I have to have a reliable phone. This one is nothing but a headache. It nearly made me leave AT&T after 15 years. I have had no problems with my provider or any cell phone I've owned until this hunk of junk. TRULY AWFUL!!!!!! I would give it a negative number rating if possible.

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do not buy this phone.

The phone constantly freezes up on me and I have to remove the battery to reset the phone.

I have gotten no support from Sony Ericsson or AT&T.

I bought the phone for the Mp3 and FM radio, but I should have just gotten another phone.

Sony Ericsson has no customer service, and they cannot fix the problem.

Terrible phone.

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loved this phone at first. Keys were a little difficult to hit by touch (not much relief on the face), but loved the music and FM radio options. The camera takes GREAT photos. Although it has some quirks - some lack of customization with menus,etc - it was a good phone for about a year.

I've not had much of the freezing problems that other reviewers have mentioned. Response time is often slow, but I've only had to pop out the battery a few times.

Early problems - nothing big. the slide that locks the buttons on the face gets loose and all of a sudden your pocket is playing music. Sometimes I'd have random call termination. Still haven't figured out why - maybe a connection on the hinge??

Then the connection to the USB cable stopped working - I could get it to work with some wiggling of the wires and then the same thing with the headphones. Now, it's almost hopeless. Now, the same thing is happening with the charger cord. Car charger still seems to work, but I'm often left to swap batteries with an identical phone and charge that one and then swap back (not the most convenient for me or the other person). Same port for all devices.

Also hearing a very ominous loud CLICK when I open the phone.

So, I'm left with a phone I can't easily charge, can't connect to the computer (so can't easily download the GREAT photos), and can't listen to music or the radio (the primary reason for this phone). I also am not a heavy user of the accessories - maybe a few times a week. Certainly not daily use.

If you are someone who upgrades frequently (and doesn't wait for a 2 yr agreement to end), this phone may be for you. If you expect it to do well after a year, forget it.

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I bought this phone in March 2010 to replace an older LT unit that was falling apart. I liked the S-E's style, the camera, the size, and ease of handling. I am now awaiting my second replacement. Why? It locks up several times a week, requiring one to take the back off, remove and reinstall the battery, and power the phone up again before it will work again. It also won't send photos to email or to another cell phone, nor can I receive photos. It sometimes fails to ring when people call me. Volume is terrible. While trying to fix it, the AT&T rep reformatted the unit to its original configuration -- which erased all my ring tones and all my photos from a 2-week vacation on the Oregon Coast.

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I bought this phone in January. I really liked it till last week. It just kept frozen. Every time someone called me, just kept ringing, and can't answer and can't stop the ringing. I checked for software update and even re-installed the software (lost all my paid games) and still won't help. I did a google search and found that many many people have the same problem. I really regret that I didn't do a search before I bought it. I have to go back to my 5 years old Nokia phone which is still working fine. It's a decent phone if it doesn't freeze. Buy it if you are willing to take a risk.

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SONY used to mean quality at some point but apparently this is not the case anymore. This phone died after being near some condensation...not even next to it. I would recommend stronger phones like my tiny little Pantech that can survive an accidentally dunk in water... and my friend's i-Phone that spent the whole night outside in the rain. So clearly a small amount of moisture should not be a challenge for a well made phone. I used to be a SONY fan, but will not be any longer.

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This is my first review ever. I felt so utterly compelled by the grief this phone has caused me.

I purchased it because I was seduced by all the nice features this phone has, as I'm sure you're considering at this very moment. Even now I must admit that the camera is superb. But that's probably the only thing good about this phone. I believe the positive reviews were written once their cell phones were out of the box and with only a few minutes of tinkering. I've had this phone for maybe 4 months now, and I will never purchase a Sony cellphone again.

It freezes. All the time - as in, several times a day. You will miss all calls to you during that freeze time, which will probably have been a while unless you check your phone constantly. It doesn't unfreeze, so you're forced to take the battery out and put it back in. To add insult to injury, it's impossible to silence the phone's rather loud welcome tune, which can be a problem in classrooms and such. I've also experienced problems with the phone recognizing it's being charged, but that pales in comparison to the freezing issue.

In the name of Consumerism, save yourself the immense frustration and don't buy this phone.

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I rue the day I let the customer rep talk me into this phone. Keypad is small and hard to accurately manuver w/ out hitting the internet key (for which I am charged a fee), the speakerphone is barely audible and comes from the bottom part of the phone (where your mouth is), picture quality is poor, MP3 player sound is poor quality, and menue items are sometimes difficult to find. Do yourself a huge favor and BUY A DIFFERENT PHONE!!

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The first phone ATT sent me had to be returned because I could not answer a call. It would send a message saying."busy signal being sent". Now the second Sony Ericsson 518A's display often will not come on when the phone is opened. Sometimes the display will come on but the key board will be dead. I called ATT customer support and like the last time they say they will check back with to see if having taken the battery out and reinserted it worked! How frustrating, do they really thing I am going to put up with taking the battery out and reinserting it every time I need to use the phone. I give this phone a big fat ZERO.

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