Customer Rating: 
Summary: Sony Ericsson W580i vs LG Shine CU720
Comment: Background: Over the past two months, I have spent a great deal of time debating between whether to get the Sony Ericsson W580i or the LG Shine CU720. After making numerous threads at various forums regarding this question, reading countless reviews, watching many videos, looking at hundreds of pictures, and mapping out the pros and cons of each one multiple times, I have settled on the Sony Ericsson W580i. Since my family just got a family plan with ATT (3 lines/550 minutes shared) and one of my sisters got the Shine, I was able to do a comparison between the phones.
Battery Life: The claim that Sony Ericsson has poor battery life, in short, is complete bull ****. Those that say they had short battery life... you just got a lemon (or are trying to reason yourself out of the fact that buying a shine was actually a poor decision). My OTHER sister, who also got a Sony Ericsson, also gets great battery life with hers. Rather than the claimed "3-4 day charge" that many people on this forum and others are claiming, I have found that the phone will last over a week (11-13 days). The LG Shine, which is said to have poor battery life, disappoints: its battery life is indeed very short. The papers that the LG Shine comes with claims that battery life is around 3 hours of talk time, up to 240 hours (10 days) of standby time, is standard marketing bull ****: through a test of 10 different charges with three different batteries, the phone has lasted no more than 3 days before it required a charging.
SE: 10/10 Shine: 3/10
Durability: People say the LG Shine has a stronger build than the Sony Ericsson, but if you actually compare the two, you find that you cannot actually compare the two... Why? The SE is a plastic phone; the LG shine is a plastic phone with metallic components. One thing that is not usually noted is that the Shine actually has VERY little metal in its body; it's only the battery cover and some of the front. The LG shine doesn't really feel that much more durable than the SE. If you drop the shine, you will certainly damage the screen, and/or scratch the body, and/or break the phone. With something plastic, eg. Sony Ericsson, a drop will do no more than give a few scratches. Regarding the slider mechanism, the LG Shine's "snaps" when you open and close it, whereas the SE's slider is not as snappy. Due to the difference in the way that the phones slide, it isn't really accurate to say that one feels more durable than the other. Since the durability was one of my biggest concern in getting the phone, I did a test of each phone upon cracking open the box: I opened and closed each phone 300 times. Results: The LG Shine's slider remained the same; the SE's slider got smoother after the test.
SE: 9/10 Shine: 6/10
Fingerprints/Scratchability: The claims that the Shine is a fingerprint magnet could not be more true. The Shine cannot stand to be touched at all. Walking around with the Shine put in my side jeans pocket for a day, the Shine went in looking stellar and came back looking pretty poor. The back plate had obviously been rubbed on, the front plate exhibited small, but noticeable scratches. I'm sure you could prevent the Shine from getting scratched by getting a screen protector and/or case, but the hassle of one is not something that I'd want to deal with (not to mention such protection would take away the "beauty" of the Shine). The Sony Ericsson, as one may predict, does not scratch easily. Same jeans, same walk, and the SE still looked great after. There was something that looked like a small scratch on the front screen on the SE, but nothing a wipe could clean off. Speaking of which, with the LG Shine, you cannot wipe the phone with any shirt; it will scratch if the fabric of the cloth/shirt is rough. A BIG reason people get the Shine is because it looks good. Well, if you don't take care of it like a newborn baby, it's going to look like **** and ipso facto, it was a poor decision to buy the phone for its looks.
SE: 9/10 Shine: 1/10
Keypad: People always complain about the keypads of the Sony Ericsson and the LG Shine and say how small they are and how difficult it is to text with them... Most of these complainers are complaining from hearsay (they repeat what they read/hear from others, not from their own experience). The problem of cracking keypads is also a huge concern for potential buyers of the SE. First, to address the keypad. The size of the keypad is very usable for texting and other usage. I have 6'2" and have large hands and I can still manage to comfortable use the phones' keypads. Texting with both is very easy (albeit not as easy as texting on a RAZR). The SE's keypad is not as responsive as the Shine's, meaning the click down are not as solid, and that the row of numbers are connected so that one press on a number slightly depresses the row, but nonetheless, it is very solid. The LG Shine's keypad is like a smaller version of the RAZR. Regarding the cracking keys on the SE, I performed a test to see if this rumor was true. Over a period of 2 days, I had the phone off and during my spare time (which is a lot since it's summer), I've been clicking away at the keys (with a good amount of pressure I might add), and the keys exhibit no sign of cracking. Clearly the cracking keys is an issue with older phones (which you could potentially still buy if the reseller of your phone has old stock).
SE: 9/10 Shine: 9/10
Navigation: Those that say navigation on the Shine is difficult are clearly retarded: physically or mentally. The joystick on the Shine takes no practice to nail. It is very easy to use, and is not too small. The SE, with no joystick, as imagined, is also very easy to use. My only caveat with the SE is that there's no dedicated end call button like my old Nokia. The numbered menus in the Shine are very easy to use.
SE: 9/10 Shine: 9/10
Reception/Sound Quality: I live in Northern California in a well populated city, and everywhere I go, I get 5 bars with the SE and from 3 to 4 bars with the Shine. I have found the number of signal bars that you get has a big impact on the call quality (as it should)... The Shine frequently echoes what the other person says, and a background static seems to be present in all calls. To ensure that I didn't receive a lemon shine, I tested a friend's shine and sure enough, it was the same. My friend told me they didn't notice the static (he probably got use to the poor call quality)... The SE's reception and sound quality it top notch. No complaints whatsoever here. Even with 3 bars (in a tunnel), the call was still strong.
SE:10/10 Shine: 5/10
Features: SE wins hands down. Read the features at each phone's respective website; I won't waste your time here. The LG Shine is the most basic of phones. The only thing its got over the SE is 3G. The Shine is all looks.
SE: 10/10 Shine: 2/10 (absolutely pitiful for a phone be so lackluster in features)
Other concerns and notes:
- The speaker on the SE kills that one which is on the Shine
- Both phones have ringtones are loud enough to be heard
- Both phones can [be modified to] receive games and , but with the SE, you have more options.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great phone! Sleek,Stylish,Cool, and useful
Comment: Many phones have many features that are completely pointless, not this one. From an MP3 player to password saver this phone has it all. It is very durable in fact I have dropped it on concrete many of times yet it doesn't have any dents or scratches. Calling is crystal clear and creating MMS is simple and fun. The way the phone slides is easy, I especially like that there is a kind of arch so you can move it upward with your finger easier. and I couldn't have asked for a better phone.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not the most durable phone ever made.
Comment: I've had this phone for about 6 months. I don't consider myself to be particularly hard on my cell phones - yes, it gets thrown in my pocket, and dropped every once in a while - but despite the (relatively) light usage, this phone is showing some serious wear.
The slide function is getting decidedly... sticky. It still works, but it's not nearly as smooth as it was to begin with.
Also, 4 of the 12 keys are cracked in half. Again, they do still work... but I've never seen keys crack in half before. Am I really texting that fast and furiously?
Aside from the wear-and-tear issues, this is an okay little phone. Getting used to the ins-and-outs of the slide functionality takes a bit of learning (I was perpetually pocket-dialing for the first two months or so), but it works well after you get past the learning curve. I agree with other reviews that I have read elsewhere about the headphone set-up. It is totally silly, awkward, and very hard to use. Which, I suppose, is really a negative for a "Walkman" phone.
I bought this phone to tide me over 'til the 2nd gen iPhones came out, and it has served its purpose well. But make sure you get a good deal on it - it's not worth nearly the $400 retail price assigned to it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Love it!
Comment: I love this phone! I have not had any problems with this phone as of yet (knock on wood). The only thing I could say I don't like about it, is that the battery dies too fast, Other than that it is great. I recommend it to everyone!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great But I Wish I Had Better Service
Comment: I've had this phone for about a month. It seems sturdy. Getting the battery cover on/off was a HUGE pain but at least I feel confident that it's not going to pop off in my pocket. The screen is bright and shiny and it'll hold a charge for days if you aren't listening to music or surfing the internet excessively. The size is perfect for carrying around in your pocket. The call quality is great, if you have more than two bars, and the speaker phone is nice and loud. It's easy to customize with themes and ringtones and best of all, it plays well with Mac.
Mobile Email: There's no audio indicator to let you know you have received mail. The screen flashes to let you know an email has come thru but there's no sound or icon displayed on the main screen to let you know a message is waiting. Also, the Mobile Email app does not allow attachments so you must use MMS to send photos.
Media Net: It's usually very fast to load but does not allow you to set your own homepage. You HAVE to load the Media Net page first before going to your bookmarks.
Camera: For a mobile phone, the photos are pretty good. There is an option to change the size (VGA, 1MP and 2MP) and the white balance. There's also a very cool panorama setting. There is no flash but the night mode is decent.
Messaging: I LOVE being able to send voice text messages. It's incredibly useful when you're on the go and don't have time to click-click-click just to type one letter. (I've only ever used QWERTY keypads so the click-click-clicking is annoying to me.)
Address Book: To avoid all the typing, I just dragged and dropped my contacts from my desktop address book to the phone's address book via Bluetooth (on Mac OS X).
Organizer: A lot of great features (alarms, fitness stuff, tasks, notes, calendar, timer, stopwatch, etc.) but I do wish there was an easy way to sync it with iCal. It would save me a ton of time.
Music: The radio is great. The MP3 player is great. I love being able to shuffle songs with a flick of my wrist... and being able to listen without having my headphones plugged in.
Games: I haven't explored this yet.
Memory Card: It uses an M2 card which I found easily at Best Buy for $20 (2GB).
My only big complaint has to do with AT&T. I can't even begin to count the number of dropped calls I've had. I was on T-Mobile before this and never experienced a dropped call. Also, the signal strength is sporadic. I've literally seen the bars go from red (no signal) to three blue bars and back again in a matter of seconds with the phone in a stationary position. It's bizarre. Also, I have to go outside to talk because the signal is terrible in my house. According to AT&T's coverage map, I'm considered to be in one of the "best" coverage areas... and yet the best I can get is three bars OUTSIDE.
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