Cingular withdrawing the Sony/Ericsson z520a ???

I'm curious if anyone else has beard new of this:
[Long story.]

Just one week ago I purchased a new Cingular family plan in
Northern CA including two z520a phones (and one unrelated
model). The phones have mostly worked, but twice mine has
locked up in a weird way. The first time I didn't investigate
carefully (since I had been experimenting with bluetooth with my PC)
but today it happened again and I took the time to make a techno-
dweebhead analysis. (I was at the time coping with two emergencies,
both of which needed phone communications, and I was hiking in the
hills with no landlines close by.)

The symptom is that although the phone is set to vibrate _and_ ring,
the phone only vibrates for incoming calls. (This caused me to miss
a couple calls during the emergencies.) After establishing that the
phone was still set to ring, I tried to play the file currently set as
the ring tone, a midi file. The phone responded that the file could
not be played, with no further explanation, and similarly for several
other files, including the annoying, undeletable tasteless technopop
music files files the programmers of this phone thought reasonable to
force a classical musician to carry around in his pocket.

I decided the phone's OS had wedged itself, so powered off to reboot
it. The phone absolutely refused to power back on. Urgently needing
the phone, I was finally able to reset it by removing the battery for
30 seconds and then restarting.

So, later today (a Sunday of a holiday weekend) I returned to the
Cingular company store and sales agent that sold me the phone. He
said that just that morning Cingular had withdrawn the z520a because
the phone was defective. Indeed, the phone had been removed from the
wall display. Unfortunately, since the change was so recent, he did
not know what Cingular would do to replace the phone it its lineup.
Another employee thought they would reissue it (presumably the problem
is programming, so existing units could be reflashed) but the only
thing he could do immediately was to offer me an exchange to a
different model of phone. I declined, wanting to review the
possibilities before acting.

Later I tried Cingular customer service at 611. The support person
(who genuinely seemed to be sited in the USA_ denied that there was
any news on the z520a. I suggested that he might not have received the
news yet, since it was very recent, but he denied this with a rather
surly tone, and recited about three times all my options to exchange
the phone for the same model, or another model. He refused my request
to have Cingular contact me in a few days after the matter could be
researched, so I told him to log the problem and that _I_ would contact
them again in a few days.

Later in the day I checked the Cingular web site, specifically, the
selection of offered phones. The z520a is no longer listed.

So I'm eager to learn any breaking news on the z520a at Cingular.
Meanwhile, the possibility grows that I will return to my previous
carrier.

---

› See More: Cingular withdrawing the Sony/Ericsson z520a ???

Steven M. Haflich wrote:
> I'm curious if anyone else has beard new of this:
> [Long story.]
>
> Just one week ago I purchased a new Cingular family plan in
> Northern CA including two z520a phones (and one unrelated
> model). The phones have mostly worked, but twice mine has
> locked up in a weird way. The first time I didn't investigate
> carefully (since I had been experimenting with bluetooth with my PC)
> but today it happened again and I took the time to make a techno-
> dweebhead analysis. (I was at the time coping with two emergencies,
> both of which needed phone communications, and I was hiking in the
> hills with no landlines close by.)
>
> The symptom is that although the phone is set to vibrate _and_ ring,
> the phone only vibrates for incoming calls. (This caused me to miss
> a couple calls during the emergencies.) After establishing that the
> phone was still set to ring, I tried to play the file currently set as
> the ring tone, a midi file. The phone responded that the file could
> not be played, with no further explanation, and similarly for several
> other files, including the annoying, undeletable tasteless technopop
> music files files the programmers of this phone thought reasonable to
> force a classical musician to carry around in his pocket.
>
> I decided the phone's OS had wedged itself, so powered off to reboot
> it. The phone absolutely refused to power back on. Urgently needing
> the phone, I was finally able to reset it by removing the battery for
> 30 seconds and then restarting.
>
> So, later today (a Sunday of a holiday weekend) I returned to the
> Cingular company store and sales agent that sold me the phone. He
> said that just that morning Cingular had withdrawn the z520a because
> the phone was defective. Indeed, the phone had been removed from the
> wall display. Unfortunately, since the change was so recent, he did
> not know what Cingular would do to replace the phone it its lineup.
> Another employee thought they would reissue it (presumably the problem
> is programming, so existing units could be reflashed) but the only
> thing he could do immediately was to offer me an exchange to a
> different model of phone. I declined, wanting to review the
> possibilities before acting.
>
> Later I tried Cingular customer service at 611. The support person
> (who genuinely seemed to be sited in the USA_ denied that there was
> any news on the z520a. I suggested that he might not have received the
> news yet, since it was very recent, but he denied this with a rather
> surly tone, and recited about three times all my options to exchange
> the phone for the same model, or another model. He refused my request
> to have Cingular contact me in a few days after the matter could be
> researched, so I told him to log the problem and that _I_ would contact
> them again in a few days.
>
> Later in the day I checked the Cingular web site, specifically, the
> selection of offered phones. The z520a is no longer listed.
>
> So I'm eager to learn any breaking news on the z520a at Cingular.
> Meanwhile, the possibility grows that I will return to my previous
> carrier.


Two people have offered you an exchange for a different model. What are
you waiting for?

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Jer wrote:

> Two people have offered you an exchange for a different model. What are
> you waiting for?

First, thanks for the confirmation. I'm a little curious from where you
got your information, and when.

I certainly shall exchange the phone (unless I dump Cingular completely)
but I was in no rush to pick a different phone before studying the options
and the independent reviews. Cingular doesn't have a plethora of clamshell
phones that include camera and bluetooth, but I've got a couple weeks to
decide. (Suggestions welcome.) Meanwhile, what I suspect will happen is
that Cingular will correct the way they've botched the z520a programming,
or ese Sony/Ericsson will correct the way _they_ botched it, and the phone
will be reissued. But it would have to be soon to help me.

"Steven M. Haflich" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:%[email protected]...
> Jer wrote:
>
> > Two people have offered you an exchange for a different model. What are
> > you waiting for?
>
> First, thanks for the confirmation. I'm a little curious from where you
> got your information, and when.
>
> I certainly shall exchange the phone (unless I dump Cingular completely)
> but I was in no rush to pick a different phone before studying the options
> and the independent reviews. Cingular doesn't have a plethora of
clamshell
> phones that include camera and bluetooth, but I've got a couple weeks to
> decide. (Suggestions welcome.) Meanwhile, what I suspect will happen is
> that Cingular will correct the way they've botched the z520a programming,
> or ese Sony/Ericsson will correct the way _they_ botched it, and the phone
> will be reissued. But it would have to be soon to help me.

Unless I am mistaken here - Cingular only resells the phones and does not
program the phone - so it sounds like there is a "Botch" on the part of S.E.

Cliff wrote:

>> Meanwhile, what I suspect will happen is
>>that Cingular will correct the way they've botched the z520a programming,
>>or ese Sony/Ericsson will correct the way _they_ botched it, and the phone
>>will be reissued. But it would have to be soon to help me.
>
> Unless I am mistaken here - Cingular only resells the phones and does not
> program the phone - so it sounds like there is a "Botch" on the part of S.E.

This is unclear to me. Certainly the bulk of the programming is done by the
manufacturer, but at least a little customization is done by the network
provider. For example, the phone has apparently-hardwired startup and
shutdown Cingular graphics, hardwired Cingular menu items, and a few
ringtones and backgrounds are Cingular specific in addition to one or two
S.E. specific logos. I presume these are prvided by Cingular's custom
flash (just as Verizon hamstrings bluetooth in their custom flash for other
phones) but I don't know for sure that this is the mechanism by which these
evil deeds are accomplished.

So I am still assuming that the programming fault, assuming it is a
programming fault and not a hardware fault, could be blamed on either side.
But I'm willing to be educated.

Steven M. Haflich wrote:
> Cliff wrote:
>
>>> Meanwhile, what I suspect will happen is
>>> that Cingular will correct the way they've botched the z520a
>>> programming,
>>> or ese Sony/Ericsson will correct the way _they_ botched it, and the
>>> phone
>>> will be reissued. But it would have to be soon to help me.
>>
>>
>> Unless I am mistaken here - Cingular only resells the phones and does not
>> program the phone - so it sounds like there is a "Botch" on the part
>> of S.E.
>
>
> This is unclear to me. Certainly the bulk of the programming is done by
> the
> manufacturer, but at least a little customization is done by the network
> provider. For example, the phone has apparently-hardwired startup and
> shutdown Cingular graphics, hardwired Cingular menu items, and a few
> ringtones and backgrounds are Cingular specific in addition to one or two
> S.E. specific logos. I presume these are prvided by Cingular's custom
> flash (just as Verizon hamstrings bluetooth in their custom flash for other
> phones) but I don't know for sure that this is the mechanism by which these
> evil deeds are accomplished.
>
> So I am still assuming that the programming fault, assuming it is a
> programming fault and not a hardware fault, could be blamed on either side.
> But I'm willing to be educated.


Here's what I've heard on the street... Cingular will obtain a few
(~50-75)units for testing, some in the lab, some in the field. These
lab rats will have their programming changed by Cingular engineers many
times before any opinion of their performance is settled. Whatever
opinion Cingular ends up with, if the model is accepted, will be sent
back to the manufacturing line, where the customized firmware and seem
files are included in future retail units before being shipped to
Cingular. So, although Cingular doesn't actually program every unit on
their shelves themselves, specialized programming is dictated by
Cingular and applied by the manufacturer in mass quantities for retail
sale. Once these customized units arrive at Cingular's warehouse, the
only thing remaining is to shove a SIM in and out the door it goes.
This all sounds plausible to me.

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Took them over a year to pull the Moto V600, and than replace them
with a V551, for customers that complained enough

"Steven M. Haflich" <[email protected]> writes:

> Cingular doesn't have a plethora of clamshell phones that include
> camera and bluetooth, but I've got a couple weeks to decide.
> (Suggestions welcome.)

It took me a few months to finally settle on the SE z520a. In fact, I
just ordered it last Friday (13 January) and haven't even received it
yet. Now I'm not sure how to proceed.

--
Steven E. Harris

Steven M. Haflich wrote:
> I'm curious if anyone else has beard new of this:
> [Long story.]
>
> Just one week ago I purchased a new Cingular family plan in
> Northern CA including two z520a phones (and one unrelated
> model). The phones have mostly worked, but twice mine has
> locked up in a weird way. The first time I didn't investigate
> carefully (since I had been experimenting with bluetooth with my PC)
> but today it happened again and I took the time to make a techno-
> dweebhead analysis. (I was at the time coping with two emergencies,
> both of which needed phone communications, and I was hiking in the
> hills with no landlines close by.)

First of all, avoid SE phones like the plague.

Second, I go hiking a lot in Northern California (Marin, Santa Cruz
Mountains, East Bay, Peninsula, all the way down to the Pinnacles) and
Cingular is a poor choice if you expect to get decent coverage. I've
tried GSM phones while hiking (still have one that uses Cingular's
network), but a Verizon CDMA/AMPS phone (tri-mode) has far, far, better
coverage. In many areas where you're likely to be hiking there is _only_
AMPS coverage.

If it's not too late, drop Cingular and move to Verizon or Sprint, and
be certain to choose tri-mode phones. Yes, Verizon is more expensive,
but for the best coverage, you have no choice. One thing to be careful
about is that when tri-mode phones switch to AMPS, the battery life is
very short, just a few hours of standby. I switch my phone off while
hiking, unless I'm expecting a call, and just turn it on to make calls.

Another alternative is to get a prepaid TDMA/AMPS phone for use while
hiking, and keep the Cingular phone for regular use. These TDMA/AMPS
phones will work for another two years or so, then the TDMA network will
be gone.

I've had the same problem with ringtones you describe. According to
the Cingular customer forums, some customers are hearing that a
shipment of fixed phones is coming out between 1/23 and 1/28. This
date will not be confirmed online by the Cingular rep, but he
acknowledges that something is in the works. I've already exchanged
the phone once and the replacement phone has the same issue with
non-playing ringtones. I am waiting until the end of this month, then
I'm going to push them to exchange it for a "fixed" Z520a phone. (My
wife's too - as she has the same model with the same issues, though
she hasn't replaced hers yet.) If that does not fix it, I'll push for
a different brand of cell phone from the warranty department. I'm 30
days out, so I need to go the warranty route. If I was within 30 days,
I'd switch for a different model now.

[email protected] wrote:
> I've had the same problem with ringtones you describe. According to
> the Cingular customer forums, some customers are hearing that a
> shipment of fixed phones is coming out between 1/23 and 1/28. This
> date will not be confirmed online by the Cingular rep, but he
> acknowledges that something is in the works. I've already exchanged
> the phone once and the replacement phone has the same issue with
> non-playing ringtones. I am waiting until the end of this month, then
> I'm going to push them to exchange it for a "fixed" Z520a phone. (My
> wife's too - as she has the same model with the same issues, though
> she hasn't replaced hers yet.) If that does not fix it, I'll push for
> a different brand of cell phone from the warranty department. I'm 30
> days out, so I need to go the warranty route. If I was within 30 days,
> I'd switch for a different model now.

This is good news! I think I will plan to do the same as you, and it's
somewhat easier for me because I have several weeks remaining before
my 30 day trial expires. I'll ping Cingular support every few days.
If anyone hears any news, please post.

"Steven M. Haflich" <[email protected]> writes:

> If anyone hears any news, please post.

I did talk with a Cingular CSR this morning who confirmed that the
"fixed" stock should start arriving on January 23. She advised that I
hold off on my exchange request until then. (I too am well within the
30-day horizon for now.)

--
Steven E. Harris

The phones are being reflashed and will be available again in Feb 06.
Yes there is a software bug in them where like previous versions of
windows they eat up all the memory until you power cycle them. If you
really want to keep the phone the best way to get arround the problem is
to "reboot" power cycle the phone every day.

Steven M. Haflich wrote:
> Jer wrote:
>
>> Two people have offered you an exchange for a different model. What
>> are you waiting for?
>
>
> First, thanks for the confirmation. I'm a little curious from where you
> got your information, and when.
>
> I certainly shall exchange the phone (unless I dump Cingular completely)
> but I was in no rush to pick a different phone before studying the options
> and the independent reviews. Cingular doesn't have a plethora of clamshell
> phones that include camera and bluetooth, but I've got a couple weeks to
> decide. (Suggestions welcome.) Meanwhile, what I suspect will happen is
> that Cingular will correct the way they've botched the z520a programming,
> or ese Sony/Ericsson will correct the way _they_ botched it, and the phone
> will be reissued. But it would have to be soon to help me.

I have the z520a and as a matter of fact have never had problems with it
yet...knock on wood. However it is confirmed there is a problem with
memory leakage in the software. If you ordered it on Friday chances are
your order will be delayed for an updated model as the recall was placed
on Monday. New z520a's are expected early Feb in the field.

Steven E. Harris wrote:
> "Steven M. Haflich" <[email protected]> writes:
>
>
>>Cingular doesn't have a plethora of clamshell phones that include
>>camera and bluetooth, but I've got a couple weeks to decide.
>>(Suggestions welcome.)
>
>
> It took me a few months to finally settle on the SE z520a. In fact, I
> just ordered it last Friday (13 January) and haven't even received it
> yet. Now I'm not sure how to proceed.
>

Other known/ recognized software issues with the SE z520a:

Blank Displays/Screens
Frozen Animations
Menu icons looking strange
Ringtones not playing on incoming calls

A power cycle is a temporary fix until the corrected handsets are available for warranty exchange. ETA still stands as 1/23/2006.