SAVE $159.98 - Sony Ericsson TM506 Phone, Red (T-Mobile) $0.01

Piece of GARBAGE After my faithful reliable Razr gave up the ghost, I ordered this one. Immediately I hated it. Perhaps the most maddening is the graphics. They are so "good" that when navigating through the phone, or texting, the phone will be five or six button pushes behind and finally catch up. The text messaging will not finish words for you, and when someone calls and you flip the phone open, often it will take two or three rings for the display to load and allow you to answer it. You cannot upload your own text message sound, but can with ringtones at least. If the phone memory is full, [which doesn't take long] it requires you to delete sometimes multiple files before it will send a text message. After the Razr, the buttons are very inconvenient to press as they are barely raised and require one to look at the keypad the whole time which is not convenient for multitasking. I hate this phone and I want my Razr back. Rating: 1 (Moonpie, 2010-01-11) Product reviewed: Sony Ericsson TM506 Phone, Red (T-Mobile)

Arugh the bugs will drive you nuts. I wanted to write a review for this phone because there are some misleadingly stelar reviews out there. I purchased this phone in April 2009 based on the Editor's Choice rating at [...]. Since then, I've had a phone with nothing but problems. Which I'll list. First, when this phone is working as it is suppose to, its quite good. But I have had many problems, bugs, crashes, such as: Failing to connect to incoming calls when you answer. Solution battery pull. Failing to complete outgoing calls. Solution battery pull. Locking up when you open the flip. Solution battery pull. I was doing a battery pull many times per day Not connecting to my car through the Ford Sync system unless the phone is off when I start the car then turn the phone on. Then the worse problem ever. On 5 occasions, I thought this phone had died forever. I lost power and the phone would not even turn on, even after multiple battery pulls. It would just vibrate for half a sec then die when I press the power button. I have found other blog/forum entries from people with this phone and the same problem. The guess is that the T-mobile is software overlay is crap. Fortunately I had an incite on how to fix this problem. I used the USB cable I purchased seperately and the [...] supplied update serivce to "reflash" the phone. Of couse this wipes the phone contacts, applications, etc., but at least I have a phone again. It was so bad that I called T-mobile and told them I would leave if they didn't help me out. They said I could get an early upgrade. So I doubt I'm the only one to have this problem The last time I did this "reflash", I got something different. I got a phone that now works the way it is suppose to. Going on 2 weeks now my problems seem to have gone away. Sony claims I installed the same firmware as before but I don't believe it. So now I will keep it for awhile. Rating: 3 (M. A. Schmaling, 2009-11-13) Product reviewed: Sony Ericsson TM506 Phone, Red (T-Mobile)

Great as a 'free' phone. Only issues are low-volume speaker, proprietary charger T-Mobile offered us a free TM506 when, several months after our contract expired, I expressed a strong desire to cancel the T-Mobile service. It was actually really 'free' - no contract obligations whatsoever, only an incentive for us to keep staying as T-Mobile customers. That wasn't good enough for me so T-Mobile then made me an offer I couldn't refuse - the TM506 AND unlimited calls for half the monthly fee of their normal plan. Again, no contract commitment. Since my wife is a big talker, I took the offer. In fact, I even took a 2 year contract to prevent them from raising their fees for the next 2 years. The plan is called 'loyalty reward' or something like that. After a couple of months on it, we are very, very happy. Now, the phone: Surprisingly, this is a VERY good flip phone. And you can see the specs at the Amazon page. I see no reason to type a full or a partial list here. Since it is replacing a Razr, I would say that it takes the traditional classic Razr design one step farther to make a sleek, sexy and functional but not ostentatious 'day-to-day' phone. Something that's a pleasure to use but you are not likely to mourn its loss if lost - our old Razr Stylus was literally eaten by our dogs and my wife was so attached to it, she couldn't use another phone for several days. Still, subjectively speaking, I like the very bright screen, the easy to navigate menus... well... after you take some time to learn them, the many options. Unlike some of the more sophisticated 'phones', this one is really a phone, in the sense that the things it does best are truly 'phone ' functions. Yes, it has a camera and yes, you can play music or games on it but when you think of it you think of a phone with many enhancements rather than a computer or an email device you can speak into - did I mention that it takes voice notes? For a phone, there are two things I don't appreciate: - the speaker volume is way too low - the charger/earphones interface is proprietary Making myself the devil's advocate, I would say that the speaker's low volume preserve the impressive battery time - and any bluetooth headset will work with it and that the proprietary interface reduces the need for two interfaces on the phone, one for the charger (USB?) and one for the earbuds but, still, I see how not everyone would appreciate this. As for my rating, this is pretty much as good as it gets when it comes to free phones being offered without a contract to loyal customers. Those who wish more bells and whistles and are willing to pay for them, the TM506 won't offer a lot but if all one wants is a phone with some added distractions, this is it. It's 4 stars mainly because a the low-volume speaker (a PHONE feature) and for the proprietary charger (a PHONE feature again). As far as the free phones go, it's highly recommended. Rating: 4 (A. Dent, 2009-07-06) Product reviewed: Sony Ericsson TM506 Phone, Red (T-Mobile)

Very decent 3G phone for T-Mobile As of this writing, this is the only basic 3G phone for T-Mobile that can use HSDPA and get the maximum speed available (the Google G1 also does). Because I wanted to tether my laptop to the internet via the phone, this was the main selling point for me of the phone. Unfortunately, T-Mobile has now disabled tethering in the TM506 by default. I guess for marketing reasons they don't want you to tether with a cheap phone that can do 3G. Fortunately, it's fairly easy to "unbrand" the phone with an alternate firmware that allows tethering, and that's the first thing I did. You can figure out how to do this with a quick Google. (Perhaps this voids your warranty - oops, guess I can always restore to factory firmware.) You also need a data cable. The unbranded firmware offers more features than just tethering (which is simple to setup and works great): it adds Google Maps, which I have found unexpectedly useful (GPS and real-time traffic have quickly become essential to me). It also adds an FM radio tuner and the "TrackID" feature (hold phone up to a radio playing an unknown song and it tells you the song - amazing but it works!). If you read some other reviews of the TM506, they mention that the phone seems a bit sluggish and that's true; the first time I started to setup the phone, I accidentally hit a button twice (while waiting for the first press) and wound up getting into Spanish language mode! Good luck getting out of that if you don't know Spanish! (too me ten minutes to get back to English). However, it's usually not a problem and just something you get used to. Battery life seems OK, not great but not awful. Still, after about three weeks of owning it, I really love this phone. Compared to my previous "free Motorola phone for T-Mobile, the TM506 is a quantum leap in features and usefulness, without splurging for a "smart" phone. I bought an 8GB Sony M2 memory stick for it and can save tons of pictures and videos (and MP3s and podcasts) on it. I also got a data cable for about $6 - both the memory stick and cable were purchased here on Amazon, because they had the best prices I could find. (Memory stick was about 1/3 the price of buying it retail at Best Buy.) Rating: 5 (A. Hall, 2009-05-23) Product reviewed: Sony Ericsson TM506 Phone, Red (T-Mobile)