bought my S500i last saturday (4 oct).
original spec, thorus.
keypad still ok.
battery still ok.
hopefully it will lasts long...

i know how u feel.
my S500i will be 1 week old tomoro (i bought it last saturday).
i also worry bout the keypad crack problem but i just hope it turns out ok as some users from oversea forums said SE has already encountered this prob.
just hv to wait & see then.

i suggest u wait for other comments or start looking at other models that might interests u besides S500i.
on the other hand, i also start looking at other models too heheh.

p/s: i bought S500i without knowing the specs. i "accidentally" bought it during hp stock clearance at lowyat last saturday. after that, i just found out bout the specs and the keypad prob. silly me.

mysterious green aka black

the keypad is quite sturdy and it's far from flimsy, just like normal plastic keypad.
no worries, u can try at phone shops.

on the other hand, here's my simple review for my phones.
a comparison between SE S500i vs Nokia XM 5310:
please note that SE 500i is my FIRST SE phone so any SE pros & cons in this review is totally new for me.


SONY ERICSSON S500i


Pros:
- appealing slider phone design, 1st phone in the world to combine black & green colour (according to gsmarena.com)
- animated default themes, everchanging theme (4 seasons) is the bomb! during the day, the theme on display shows a flower with butterflies flying around and the light is green. at night, the theme shows a flower with fireflies flying around and the light is blue. the theme will change from day-night, based on the clock.
- bright display, can control the brightness as well
- user-friendly (still getting used to it, 1st time using SE!)
- speaker is in the centre of the navigation button, a unique feature
- 2.0mp camera delivers decent quality photos
- light effects during receive call
- good sound quality even it's not a walkman series, only lack mega bass preset from walkman series
- great entertainment applications such as videodj, photodj, musicdj & sound recorder
- volume rocker act as phone status feature which shows profile (normal,silent,flight etc), model (S500i), phone memory (13mb free), memory stick (i.e 500mb free) & battery life (i.e 95%). when the phone is locked, press volume rocker and it will show the clock.
- C button (clear button) really helps to delete faster

Cons:
- only 12mb internal memory
- cannot lock the phone using control buttons (back, clear, 2 soft keys, internet & shorcut keys), have to wait for autolock. able to unlock the phone using 2 soft keys in slider closed condition.
- cannot assign the same ringtone to a specific contacts group, have to assign one by one
- doesn't have 2.5mm audio jack, limited to SE ear/headphones only
- not operatable without sim card
- no FM radio, not a big deal as i'm not a radio listener
- no flash & autofocus, not a big deal actually
- doesn't show the total amount of messages unlike nokia models, same goes to applications etc (other SE models are like this also rite?)

NOKIA XPRESSMUSIC 5310


Pros:
- nice slim design for candybar form factor
- shortcut features on display
- 2.5mm audio jack, any ear/headphone can connect
- keypad is easy to navigate, nokia always bout user-friendly!
- dedicated music buttons really helps
- can assign the same ringtone to a specific contacts group
- operatable without sim card
- decent sound quality
- FM radio & sound recorder application
- scientific calculator application

Cons:
- mmc slot is inside the cover
- no animated default themes
- photo quality is blurry & camera has slow response (someone from lowyat said that it's not 2.0mp but 1.3mp instead! oversea website tested it. in fact, in 5310 tv advertisement on youtube also shows it's 1.3mp....bloopers maybe? so if it's 1.3mp, no wonder it's blurry)
- no flash & autofocus, not a big deal actually
- lagging during network finding, loading contacts & pressing buttons


so which one i'm using rite now?
of coz it's SE S500i!
sad to say that i'm selling my nokia 5310 to my officemate by end of this month bcoz she likes it.
however, since the S500i keypad crack problem (which i hope my keypad won't crack any time soon! now it's already one week!), now i'm beginning to look at other SE and nokia models heheh.

credits to gsmarena.com for the photos

just wanna add 1 more comparison between SE S500i and Nokia XM 5310 regarding the sound quality using respective earphones given:

SE S500i - using Bass (without changing anything) as the preset (i'm always bout the bass as i'm also the bassist in my band heheh), the sound is full, clean, clear and of coz, more bass to it. S500i only has 1 speaker in the centre of the navigation button which is very unique feature i would say.

Nokia XM 5310 - using Bass as the preset (i set this one myself), the sound is clean & clear but not too bassy and it sounds "dry" too. 5310 hv 2 speakers at the back of the phone which i think it will boost more for the sound if not using earphone.

conclusion: for using earphone, S500i is better than 5310 as 5310 sounds "dry" in my opinion. without using earphone, S500i is still better than 5310 in my opinion as the S500i speaker is facing up (when you put it on the surface) and at the same time, we are able to look at the display if someone calls/msg whilst 5310 is at the back of the phone & hv to put the phone's backside facing up so that we could hear the sound clearly. so if someone calls/msg, we hv to pick it up instead of just looking at the display.

i have no idea but after 1 month using it, my S500i is OK.

i believe u bought this phone on the same day as my S500i (sold it already) bcoz i also bought it in october, specifically 4th october, saturday.
luckily for me, i only used it like 1 month and sold it off bcoz i was "accidentally" bought it...bcoz of the clearance stock!
also, i didn't found any cracks on the keypad but due to the fact that i'm afraid if it will crack any time soon, so i sold it off.

nevertheless, it's a good phone actually.
it's just the keypad crack problem.