Sony Ericsson TM506 Cell Phone
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- Installed Memory: 35 MB
- Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB
- Performance: Tri Band
- Design: Mobile
- Style: Clamshell
- Location: aGPS
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TM506 - What and Why?
Pros
3G, Media Capabilities, SE Software, Good 2.0 Camera, MP3 and External Speaker
Cons
T-Mobile Firmware, Earpiece, Size, Trial Software, Earpiece Speaker
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
Phone feels like a beta product and needs its firmware fixed. With so many others out there, it's hard to re-pick this phone.
The Sony Ericsson (SE) TM506 is a flip phone available from T-Mobile. As of this article, it comes in 3 colors (Emerald, Amber, and Scarlet). It's SE's first T-Mobile phone in (5) years. In an effort to give you a good review, I have plenty of experience with other SE phones (T610, W810, K790, K850) and plenty of other phones (Samsung, Nokia, LG). I will not go into reviewing T-Mobiles reception as that is different for everyone. However, in my instance, I saw no difference with any other phone.
[Physical Characteristics]
The TM506 is a tri-band flip phone (850, 1800, 1900) utilizing T-Mobiles 3G bands (W-CDMA Type IV, 1700). When closed, the phone measures 3.7" x 1.8" x 0.7" and uses a QVGA (320x240) 2.0" screen. It has a 2.0 megapixel camera, onboard GPS (and a-GPS), bluetooth 2.0 w/ a2dp (stereo bluetooth). It physically has an FM radio but that is disabled under T-Mobile's branding.
The half with the screen feels a little flimsy. It's definitely on there but feels wobbly.
Size-wise, it feels a little too big. Just a little too wide and a little too long. Thickness is fine. Also, the screen should have been larger. The camera takes very good pictures for a 2.0 megapixel camera but lacks autofocus or any type of light. Considering that SE makes fantastic cameras for phones, this was a dissapointment.
If you want to use headphones (maybe to use as an mp3 player) then you need to use the included headphones or purchase a plug where you can plug in standard 3.5 mm headphones.
[User Interface]
This phone uses SE's typical user interface. It hasn't changed much since the T610. There are a few other themes which really change the interface and it's pretty smooth as it uses a form of flash called flash lite. Once you get used to it, it's really easy to navigate around. The only differences on this phone between other SE non-branded phones are the inclusion of T-Mobile settings.
One big problem with the interface is the speed of it. It's slow. I figured out what the problem was. Don't use the default T-Mobile theme. It really sped up when I changed the theme. Also, the myfaves application on it seems to slow it down randomly some times. A little frusterating but an obvious software problem that should be fixed with a future firmware revision.
[Features]
Camera: The camera is pretty good for a non-autofocus 2.0 megapixel. But am dissapointed in the lack of autofocus and the lack of any type of light, led or xenon. Pictures under proper lighting come out fine.
Speakers: The external speaker is quite loud and quite clear. It sounds like the Walkman series speaker and that's a huge compliment. The earpiece speaker is a tad quiet and you can hear the GSM hiss from it. A firmware fix should be able to fix this. But for comparison, it's definitely louder than my SE w810. Not as big of an issue as it had been for SE.
Screen: It's a very bright screen. I wish it was a little larger and it should be a little larger, there's room for it. Regardless, it's very bright and very clear.
Keypad: The TM506 uses a flat keypad. It has a squishy feeling when pressing buttons. I think it's pretty neat for a flat keypad. It did take some practice to get used to. The buttons at the top left and top right took even more practice to get used to. The power button is a physically different button in the bottom right corner and it appears to be a good spot for it. You won't accidentally turn this on or off.
Bluetooth: The bluetooth works fantastic. It was able to connect to my PDA, other phones (SE, Nokia), and my computer. No issues whatsoever. However, the newest update removes the internet connecting feature of this phone. I luckily had the older firmware and was able to use T-Mobiles internet for this review. I'm hoping they decide to reverse that decision.
GPS: I was dissapointed with this GPS. It took forever to lock in a satellite. This should improve in the future. How do I know? A few people have modified the firmware and the modified firmware allows the phone's GPS to connect in as little as 20 seconds.
Speaking of modified firmwares. This phone has a lot to offer and one can only hope that T-Mobile allows SE to improve the phone. So far, modified firmwares have sped up GPS connecting times, enabled the FM radio function, and sped up the interface. These just happen to be this phone's 3 biggest problems.
Memory: Unfortunately, this uses Sony's M2 memory and not the more popular mini-sd cards. Memory is pretty cheap so it's not much of an issue but an annoyance. If you have a Sony PSP, that memory will work on here. It can handle up to 16 gigs of memory.
[Software]
This phone comes preinstalled with a lot of trial software unfortunately. The TeleNav application is kind of useless, it's a 14 day trial and you need a data plan. The games are all trial software: Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?, Tetris Mania, and Midnight Pool.
The regular internet browser is excellent! I still used Opera Mini but the default browser can still pull it's weight. It was a nice surprise.
The entertainment section is very, very slick. If you've used a sony PSP then you know how this works. The Mp3 player is also very slick. This phone definitely knows how to handle media!
Handling contacts and the like are also very excellent. It's nice that you can start typing in a name or number and it will scroll through the list and narrow down what you're looking for.
And hey, it has copy-paste. Something that's been missing from the iPhone ;)
A big issue with the software is the inability to install Google's software. I was not able to install Google Maps nor gMail on the phone easily. When I did, it didn't work as it was supposed to. This is a T-Mobile branding problem as people have modified the firmware and that software works as it's supposed to. Opera did install easily, nice surprise. However, this phone does support push email (or check in intervals) so if you have GMail, you can set it up natively on the phone. I do this and it's extremely nice. SE's native E-Mail client is great.
[Overall]
I really want to like this phone. But T-Mobile killed it. It seems so much of it works better when it's been modified away from T-Mobile. The hardware is great. I don't see the software making the phone any worse but it really depends on T-Mobile and SE. I hope they can come together and release a proper firmware that really allows this phone to shine.
[Physical Characteristics]
The TM506 is a tri-band flip phone (850, 1800, 1900) utilizing T-Mobiles 3G bands (W-CDMA Type IV, 1700). When closed, the phone measures 3.7" x 1.8" x 0.7" and uses a QVGA (320x240) 2.0" screen. It has a 2.0 megapixel camera, onboard GPS (and a-GPS), bluetooth 2.0 w/ a2dp (stereo bluetooth). It physically has an FM radio but that is disabled under T-Mobile's branding.
The half with the screen feels a little flimsy. It's definitely on there but feels wobbly.
Size-wise, it feels a little too big. Just a little too wide and a little too long. Thickness is fine. Also, the screen should have been larger. The camera takes very good pictures for a 2.0 megapixel camera but lacks autofocus or any type of light. Considering that SE makes fantastic cameras for phones, this was a dissapointment.
If you want to use headphones (maybe to use as an mp3 player) then you need to use the included headphones or purchase a plug where you can plug in standard 3.5 mm headphones.
[User Interface]
This phone uses SE's typical user interface. It hasn't changed much since the T610. There are a few other themes which really change the interface and it's pretty smooth as it uses a form of flash called flash lite. Once you get used to it, it's really easy to navigate around. The only differences on this phone between other SE non-branded phones are the inclusion of T-Mobile settings.
One big problem with the interface is the speed of it. It's slow. I figured out what the problem was. Don't use the default T-Mobile theme. It really sped up when I changed the theme. Also, the myfaves application on it seems to slow it down randomly some times. A little frusterating but an obvious software problem that should be fixed with a future firmware revision.
[Features]
Camera: The camera is pretty good for a non-autofocus 2.0 megapixel. But am dissapointed in the lack of autofocus and the lack of any type of light, led or xenon. Pictures under proper lighting come out fine.
Speakers: The external speaker is quite loud and quite clear. It sounds like the Walkman series speaker and that's a huge compliment. The earpiece speaker is a tad quiet and you can hear the GSM hiss from it. A firmware fix should be able to fix this. But for comparison, it's definitely louder than my SE w810. Not as big of an issue as it had been for SE.
Screen: It's a very bright screen. I wish it was a little larger and it should be a little larger, there's room for it. Regardless, it's very bright and very clear.
Keypad: The TM506 uses a flat keypad. It has a squishy feeling when pressing buttons. I think it's pretty neat for a flat keypad. It did take some practice to get used to. The buttons at the top left and top right took even more practice to get used to. The power button is a physically different button in the bottom right corner and it appears to be a good spot for it. You won't accidentally turn this on or off.
Bluetooth: The bluetooth works fantastic. It was able to connect to my PDA, other phones (SE, Nokia), and my computer. No issues whatsoever. However, the newest update removes the internet connecting feature of this phone. I luckily had the older firmware and was able to use T-Mobiles internet for this review. I'm hoping they decide to reverse that decision.
GPS: I was dissapointed with this GPS. It took forever to lock in a satellite. This should improve in the future. How do I know? A few people have modified the firmware and the modified firmware allows the phone's GPS to connect in as little as 20 seconds.
Speaking of modified firmwares. This phone has a lot to offer and one can only hope that T-Mobile allows SE to improve the phone. So far, modified firmwares have sped up GPS connecting times, enabled the FM radio function, and sped up the interface. These just happen to be this phone's 3 biggest problems.
Memory: Unfortunately, this uses Sony's M2 memory and not the more popular mini-sd cards. Memory is pretty cheap so it's not much of an issue but an annoyance. If you have a Sony PSP, that memory will work on here. It can handle up to 16 gigs of memory.
[Software]
This phone comes preinstalled with a lot of trial software unfortunately. The TeleNav application is kind of useless, it's a 14 day trial and you need a data plan. The games are all trial software: Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?, Tetris Mania, and Midnight Pool.
The regular internet browser is excellent! I still used Opera Mini but the default browser can still pull it's weight. It was a nice surprise.
The entertainment section is very, very slick. If you've used a sony PSP then you know how this works. The Mp3 player is also very slick. This phone definitely knows how to handle media!
Handling contacts and the like are also very excellent. It's nice that you can start typing in a name or number and it will scroll through the list and narrow down what you're looking for.
And hey, it has copy-paste. Something that's been missing from the iPhone ;)
A big issue with the software is the inability to install Google's software. I was not able to install Google Maps nor gMail on the phone easily. When I did, it didn't work as it was supposed to. This is a T-Mobile branding problem as people have modified the firmware and that software works as it's supposed to. Opera did install easily, nice surprise. However, this phone does support push email (or check in intervals) so if you have GMail, you can set it up natively on the phone. I do this and it's extremely nice. SE's native E-Mail client is great.
[Overall]
I really want to like this phone. But T-Mobile killed it. It seems so much of it works better when it's been modified away from T-Mobile. The hardware is great. I don't see the software making the phone any worse but it really depends on T-Mobile and SE. I hope they can come together and release a proper firmware that really allows this phone to shine.
