The Sony Ericsson TM506 stands out as a basic cell phone with traits that many others lack: it feels solidly constructed, and the design is sleek and aesthetically pleasing. The TM506 also works on T-Mobile's 3G network, so users get faster download speeds for media and other online content.
Sony Ericsson TM506 | Your Price: Free! with service |
Beneath the basic design of the TM506, Sony Ericsson and T-Mobile have still found room for plenty of features, including a camera with a wealth of editing options and a functional music player. Photos from the 2.0-megapixel camera, which puts it in the middle ranks of Sony Ericsson camera phones, were clear, detailed and usually reproduced colors well, but it was somewhat unreliable. Sometimes photos and video taken indoors came out normal, and sometimes they were too dark.
Design
This clamshell phone is small and lightweight, at 3.4 ounces. It is 3.7 inches tall, 1.9 inches wide and 0.7 inches thick. The TM506 comes in two color schemes, amber and emerald, and the amber model is the one reviewed here. The emerald design has green details on the keypad, hinge and other areas, whereas the amber version has a mix of silver and orange details.
This is a basic handset and the design reflects its functionality, with a simple, glossy face and matte black back. Nonetheless, the phone feels solidly built and the aesthetics are appealing for a wide range of uses and different consumer needs. This handset looks professional, but it's also sleek enough to take out a night, especially the amber version reviewed here with the backlit, overlapping, orange circles on the keypad. Fingerprints do not seem to show up on the shiny black face of this handset, so it retains a clean appearance.
Few features adorn the outside of the closed clamshell phone, with the 2.0-megapixel camera out front above a small external display. On the upper right side of the phone, there is a strap holder and below it, a thin silver rocker key to adjust the volume. When the external, monochrome display has gone dark, one touch of this button turns it on.
On the bottom of the phone is the charger and USB cable port, where a hands free headset can also be connected. On the upper left side of the phone, there is a small slot covered with a tab for the Memory Stick Micro, which is a superior design to many other phones that require the back of the phone to be opened and the battery removed to reach the card slot.
The hinge on the TM506 feels sturdier than many other phones and with the clamshell flipped open, the inside is also sleek and functional. At the top of the internal screen is an ear speaker, and all the rest of the keys are on the bottom half of the phone. There are two slim, rounded silver selection keys on the left and right sides of the circular navigation key, and these small selection keys proved difficult to use. They are so thin that it was not intuitive to press them and when attempting to navigate by touch, it sometimes felt like the smooth area above the keys was where they should actually be located.
Most of the keys are flat, which felt more intuitive than the raised buttons, and the green call key to the left to the central navigation and the red end key to the right were easy to use. In general, the keypad was sensitive enough that dialing was very easy.
Below the call key on the left is a key that brings up Shortcuts, which allows users to select the Camera, Bluetooth, Alarms, Main menu, or create a new shortcut. From Shortcuts, users can also flip through Internet, New Events and Running Apps with the left and right directions of the central navigation key. On the right side of the handset, there is a "clear" key below the end key.
The unique overlapping circle design of the keypad stands out on the TM506, since the rest of the phone is so simple. The circles really stand out in the amber version, where they are orange to match a circle of the same color on the back of the phone, surrounding the Sony Ericsson logo.
Unlike many phones in which the end key doubles as an on and off key, with the TM506 there is a separate on and off key, below the rest of the keypad on the lower right side.
Out of the box, the Sony Ericsson TM506 comes with a standard 900 mAh-Li-Ion battery, charger, handsfree headset, user guide in English and Spanish, a guide on "getting started" and "having fun" from T-Mobile and a T-Mobile services guide.