Screen

As mentioned above, the small, 128 x 36 px black and white external display is disappointing since it only displays basic information and does not show photo caller identification.

The 2.25-inch main screen inside boasts vibrant colors and high resolution at 320 x 240 px. The screen displayed photos and video clips well, and did a great job showcasing the colorful interface menu on the TM506 from T-Mobile.

Sharper, more brilliant images on the main screen come from its TFT or Thin Film Transistor LCD technology.

Compared to other phones on the market, the TM506's internal screen is significantly clearer than standard 176 x 220 px displays. And at 262K colors much more vivid.

Audio

The TM506 is not a Sony Ericsson Walkman phone, but its audio features are still worth noting. The handset has RDS radio and plays AAC and MP3 digital audio formats, as well as MP3 ringtones.

Thanks to a speaker on the back of the phone, it can produce a respectably loud volume at the highest setting, although this end of the spectrum also gets some static noise.

Additional Audio features include playlists, shuffle and repeat modes and an equalizer with Sony's Mega Bass. Users can access these and other functions by selecting the Music icon from the main menu, which pulls up the following possible selections: artists, albums, tracks, playlists, audio books, podcasts and resume, which restarts the audio player from wherever it was stopped. Another way to pull up Music applications is through the Media icon on the main menu.

Flight mode allows users to listen to their music with the network and radio transceivers turned off, and it can be activated through the Menu, under Settings.

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