This phone is sold as the cheapest smartphone with 1ghz CPU. The problem is that it ain't smart and it also ain't fast.
The CPU is and old ARM11 with poor integrated graphics chip. The Symbian OS on Nokia 500 is stripped of many features and animations. It also doesn't support most of the games and advanced applications from Nokia Store, because it doesn't have GPU acceleration. The plus is that system is stable and reliable.
The display is a standard for Nokia - 640x360, but this time, as opposed to Symbian v5 phones, it supports capacitive touch technology. The colors look a little bit washed, and it also isn't very bright, so it's not very reliable outside, under the sunlight.
The whole system and its responses to touch input feel very slow. Keyboard is usable only in landscape mode, becaue the screen is just 3,2'' and whole qwerty in vertical mode seems too small to type comfortably.