Sony Ericsson Z500a

It's been well over a year since the North American debut of EDGE, which supports average data transfer rates of about 100 Kbps. Although the high-speed transfer technology was originally marketed toward business users, the new Sony Ericsson Z500a ($79) represents an affordable way to do everything faster than you normally would with a GPRS phone, like sending pictures or downloading games and ringtones. While it's a bit chunky and we wish the screen were crisper, the Z500a is a very good device for the price.

EDGE is a good complement for camera phones because the extra bandwidth drastically cuts the amount of time spent sending photos to other users or uploading them to printing/storage sites, such as Kodak Mobile Service. In a side-by-side test of sending photos to a PC, the Z500a blew away a phone that ran on Cingular Wireless' GPRS network. It took three seconds. More importantly, the Z500a is upgradeable to EDGE Release 4, a new version that works better with VPNs and interactive games because it has less of a latency problem.

The Z500a doubles as a modem, so it's a good fit if you carry a laptop but don't have a cellular PC Card modem. You can expect speeds twice as fast as dialup from virtually anywhere, as long as you're willing to spring for the $25 USB data cable from Cingular, and shell out $80 per month for an unlimited data plan.

The phone's VGA camera takes good pictures, although the images tend to blur around the periphery, as is the case with many camera phones. Viewed on a PC, the photos had vivid color, and the resolution was crisp enough to tell the model of a car that was about 200 feet away. Overall, the Z500a's camera is one of the better VGA units we've tested.

The Z500a also takes decent videos, although clips are limited to 15 seconds. Videos are formatted as 3GP, but to view them on a PC that already has Real Player, all you need is a small plug-in.

It's a surprise that Sony Ericsson didn't complement the Z500a's camera with a decent display. At 1.9 inches and 128 x 160 pixels, the Z500a's display is stingy in both size and resolution. As a result, it's difficult to tell whether you've snapped a good photo. That's a major drawback if you and your friends typically share photos between phones rather than sending them to PCs for viewing.

It's also a shame because the Z500a's QuickShare software makes it easy to send photos and videos. Unfortunately, that software is undercut by clumsy hardware. For example, the keypad and five-way navigation key are nearly flush, so fingernails are required for accuracy. The keys, which are silver, are backlit with yellow light, which makes them difficult to read unless you hold the phone at an awkward angle. In the settings, we couldn't find an option for changing backlight colors.

On the plus side, a side-mounted button provides one-touch access to the camera. The external display doubles as a viewfinder, so with the clamshell closed, you can hit the camera button to take a self-portrait. Although the external display is small and renders only 4,096 colors, we found this design handier than the tiny mirror that many camera phones use.

The Z500a's talk-time ratings vary: Sony Ericsson says it's ten hours, while Cingular Wireless says five. Our test results were closer to the latter.

The Z500a also supports synchronization with Outlook. However, the handset doesn't include Bluetooth or infrared, so you can use the same $25 USB cable to sync. Another way to justify that cost is by using the cable to transfer photos to your PC, rather than sending them over EDGE.

Cingular's rate plans are pretty reasonable. The carrier's $7.99 Media Basic option, for instance, includes 50 multimedia messages per month, along with 1MB worth of wireless Web surfing and 250 text messages.

Cingular Wireless sells the Z500a for $79, but we've seen rebates that bring the cost all the way down to $49. If you can swing that kind of deal, the Z500a offers a lot of value.