The W580i is one of Sony Ericsson's line of Walkman-branded handsets. These music focused phones are popular globally, but few of them have made it to the United States. The W580i is one of the few that has, carried by AT&T. And it's a good pick for the carrier; it provides a decent set of media features that is on par with many more expensive handsets. True to its Walkman billing, the W580i's music player does a very good job, but it didn't last that long playing back music; we measured the battery life at 5 hours and 32 minutes. That's enough for everyday use, but is significantly shorter than other phones. Video playback was also a disappointment; the screen is too small for comfortable viewing, and the controls are awkward to use. The 2-megapixel camera takes decent photos, but the audio quality in calls could have been better. We did find the interface to be surprisingly responsive, and we liked the capabilities of the Web browser, which is good enough for casual browsing.The phone is small and cute, but feels plasticky, leading to concerns about its durability. The plastic case and exposed screen could both be easily scratched. We liked the W580i's integration of MMS and SMS, but the lack of an e-mail client and a small keypad that can be difficult to type on probably doesn't make this a good pick for big texters. Despite these drawbacks, the W580i offers a lot of good features for the price; it is available for $79.99 from AT&T with a two-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate.
Tour & Design - The W580i is a small and cute handset that suffers from a plasticky feel and concerns about durability.
Audio Quality - The W580i didn't perform the best in our audio tests, with some aberrant results in the sound received.
Imaging - The W580i's 2-megapixel camera does a reasonable job, although it is a little lacking in the feature department.
Making/Receiving Calls - The W580i is easy to use and provides a solid feature set for calls.
Messaging - The W580i is not a good messaging phone, lacking an e-mail client and with a small keypad that's difficult to type on.
Organizer - The W580i's organizer is very basic. Don't expect it to replace a PDA or smartphone.
Multimedia - The W580i has an excellent music player, but does less well in the video playback department.
Software - We found the W580i's operating system to be very responsive, and the browser was surprisingly well featured.
Battery Life - The W580i could have done better in battery life, with music playback time our biggest area of concern.
Connectivity - No 3G is a problem, but Bluetooth capabilities are very good.
Hardware - We would have liked to see a bigger screen, and we had problems with the keypad, but otherwise the phone is solid.
Other Features - You can use the W580i as a dial-up modem for your computer, but there is no GPS or PTT functionality.
Value & Comparisons - At $79.99 with a two-year contract, the W580i is an excellent value.
