Sony Ericsson Z550i

Performance
Sony Ericsson has come up with some winning phones of late, and overall, the Z550i is no exception. It shares the same menu layout, navigation buttons and solid construction that garnered a positive response in earlier models.

We do have one significant performance issue to report, though. If the phone was whipped open as soon as a message was received, the top section of the keypad became unresponsive, and we had to reboot. If you enjoy having frenzied text sessions (we won't ask any questions), this is something to be wary of. You'll need to take a deep breath, calm down, and wait a moment before opening the clamshell to read the message waiting inside.

If you're after a sleek yet unassuming phone that will handle the basics well, the Z550i should make you happy. It's not a phone you'd want to use to organise your life--the M600i is more geared towards this--and it wouldn't be practical to make heavy use of its business and multimedia features, but if your main focus is being contactable, the Z550i's worth a look.

As a final note, our Quick Draw McGraw text message problem did cause much annoyance, and we've scored the phone accordingly, but we'd wager that this is a firmware issue and may not affect the whole batch. Just be aware that you might have to restrain yourself a bit when it comes to textual banter.

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