Sony Ericsson Z520i and S600i: strangely loopy

By Mary Lojkine on 16 June 2005, 9:24am

Sony Ericsson announced four new phones this week: the entry-level J210i, the slim-but dull K608 3G phone, the Z520i clamshell and the swivelling S600i (pictured right). Of these, only the Z520i and the S600i had been sprinkled with enough new-and-grooviness to attract the grasping fingers of Crave.

The Z520i is a small clamshell with a white or silver frame and interchangeable coloured covers that can be co-ordinated with your oh-so-fashionable outfit, handbag or shoes. It also has blue lights around the perimeter that flash in UFO-style patterns to let you know who's calling. There are eight different patterns, paired with ring tones, which can be assigned to your contacts. If you're still not getting it, you can also look at the external screen, which displays the caller's picture (assuming you have associated it with their details). Apart from that, it's a quad-band phone with Bluetooth, a VGA camera and a 46mm (1.8-inch), 65K colour display.

The S600i uses the swivel design from the S700i (read our review). It aims to be all multimedia things to all multimedia-loving people, with a 1.3 megapixel camera, MP3 and AAC music playback and widescreen gaming -- you can hold the phone horizontally and use the buttons on the left and right of the screen for two-handed gameplay. It's available in universe blue, orchid white and radiant yellow, or you can purchase additional covers in other colours. One drawback is that you don't appear to be able to expand the memory, so once you've filled the 64MB that's built in, you'll have to delete some of your photos, movies, music and games.

Both phones have a strange horseshoe-shaped loop on the top that adds heft without serving any apparent function. Maybe you could use it to attach a lanyard, but why would you? There's already enough tech around your neck.

The Z520i and S600i will be available at the beginning of Q4. -ML