Hands on Review of the New Sony Ericsson K800i
Click on Photograph to Enlarge
The Sony Ericsson K800i mobile phone will appeal to many people - both novice and power users. It is small, handy and well-built.
The navigation is intutive and easy to use, without the need of refering to the manual.
The cost of the phone is S$1000 without a plan. Starhub offers it at $560 with a 2-year plan. With the anniversary offer currently on, the price I got was only $480.
As a phone, all the expected features worked beautifully. It is a 3G device with speaker calls and voice activation. The SMS and MMS are easy fo use with all kinds of inserts eg music, photo, templates etc. Group contacts make mass SMS a breeze.
The phone is bluetooth enabled. Together with the infrared feature, storage card (M2) and USB sync cable - moving photos and files is child's play.
With 3G, getting on the internet is fast and simple. Multiple emails can be set up - including Gmail. Use the included RSS reader to get streaming videos and news updates on the go.
First shot with the K800i -Click on Photograph to Enlarge
The phone really shines with its Cybershot 3.2 megapixel camera. With a real flash, indoor shots are bright and sharp - even at A4 size (as you can see from the night shot above). Photos can be sent to a free blog provided by Sony. Take a look at my blog at http://henrymobile.blogspot.com by clicking here! The URL may be sms-ed to friends to share these shots. There is an excellent photoDJ included to touch up your photos on the phone itself before sending it out. Below is a close-up shot by the K800i.
Indoor Night Shot - Click on Photograph to Enlarge
Videos are pale in comparison to the 3mp photos, but works ok. What makes it fun is the included VideoDJ software allows the user easily on-the-go trim and join multiple files (photos and videos).
Unlike the UIQ phones, there are not many Java applications for the K800i. However, there are several free apps like a good Bible, expenses, converter, clocks etc. Also the commercial Worldmate is excellent for travelling.
Games are really fun as they run on the big 320X240 pixel screen like the S700 and W800. Smaller (older) Java games can be resized into playable size. I really liked the Platinum, Midnight and Absolute series of games.
For those looking for a PDA-Phone, we no longer need to bear with the bulk (Palm Treo), poor telephony technology (PPC) and frequent resets (eg O2). This phone has a calendar which you can input your appointments; a to-do list and a notepad to jot all your memos. With programs like Worldmate, MS Word, Excel, Bible, Expenses, you can take all you vital addresses and files with you on the road. Although the K800i do not have a qwerty keypad, the T9 works well.
Shot using K800i built-in utility - Click on Photograph to Enlarge
Bottomline: For a great price, the K800i is a fine phone, sporting the latest technology in a very nice package. I have it for a few weeks and is my first phone that I have found very little I don`t like.