Screen
The W580i's two-inch screen dominates the front of the phone and produces
sharp, easy-to-read characters, even in direct sunlight.
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With a resolution of 240 x 320 px, the screen lights up in 262K-colors
using advanced TFT (Thin Film Transistor) technology. Using TFT, transistors
are placed on the screen to allow faster refresh rates over other types
of LCD screens, offering more colorful images. Their downside is that they
also burn up more battery.
At a glance, the screen displays the transmitter's signal strength, the
phone's available battery life and the time and date. Up to 240 characters
display on the text and there's a 60-second time-out limit for the user
to clear the text. The screen includes brightness control to adapt the backlighting
to different lighting conditions and a screensaver that users can select
using an image of their choice.
Audio
The Walkman function is the W580i's sweet spot, combining easy navigation
and interface with stellar stereo sound. The Walkman doesn't discriminate
among sound files, playing AAC, AAC+, Enhanced AAC+, MP3, MP4, M4A, 3GP,
AMR, WAV, G-MIDI and SP-MIDI file formats.
Pressing the "W" on the front of the phone brings the Walkman to life,
taking the user to the song that was playing when the player was last paused
or stopped. Once the music is on, users can multitask by pressing the back
button and use the phone to send messages, make appointments or browse the
internet. When a call comes in, the Walkman automatically pauses songs,
giving users the options of un-pausing or taking the call.
The Walkman is controlled using the Play / Stop, Forward and Reverse
buttons on the circular keypad. The Walkman can also be controlled by a
flick of the wrist. Just press the Walkman button and shake the phone to
forward the player to the next song.
 The
Walkman player features an Equalizer with Bass and Mega Bass, Stereo Widening
for extra round sound and Visual Settings that create psychedelic twirls
on the screen as the music plays. New skins can be added to freshen the
look of the player.
The "My Music" menu categorizes music by Artist, Album, Tracks or Playlist.
The Walkman will automatically loop songs in a folder. There are two ways
to create playlists. On the phone itself, users can scroll through the songs
and mark individual tracks to be added, a cumbersome process.
An easier way to manage music is to connect the phone to a computer and
use the included Disc2phone software that rips tracks straight from a music
CD to the phone. Or bypass the software and simply drag and drop files from
the computer to a music folder that shows up on the memory stick drive on
the desktop.
Sony Ericsson includes rubber-tipped, in-ear buds that intensify the
listening experience by kicking out crunching bass lines and crystal-high
treble notes.
The phone comes with FM radio, accessible through the "AT&T Music" menu.
The radio streams using RDS (Radio Data System) technology and includes
music stations, talk radio and news. Heavy sleepers who like waking up to
music will be happy to know that the radio doubles as an alarm signal. One
note to users: the in-line microphone adapter and ear buds must be plugged
in first to access the radio.
The phone also includes some high-tech perks such as TrackID, a cool
function that lets listeners record a portion of a song and submit it for
identification. This function is unbeatable when a burning desire to know
a song's title or artist overtakes all other priorities. Users should be
aware that AT&T charges a monthly fee for the TrackID service, which first
must be downloaded from AT&T's MEdia Net.
Other audio functions include creating ring tones using the Music DJ,
a sampler tool with MIDI drum, guitar, keyboard, bass and brass loops in
different music styles. These can be combined to put together individualized,
polyphonic ring tones.
The phone can also be used as a metronome and records audio into files
that can be used as a ringtone or attached to multimedia messages.
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