Miles
18-05-2006, 08:14 AM
Sony Ericsson K800i 3G Phone Review
Note : This review is written by an editorial member of 3G staff for the readers of www.3G.co.uk and for the members of the 3G Forum. A full list of 3G Phone Reviews by phone manufacturer and date order can be found here http://www.3g.co.uk/3GPhoneReviews.htm.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/May2006/K800Angle.jpg
Best features
3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus
Built-in Xenon flash
BestPic and image stabilisation technology
Auto red-eye reduction
High quality finish
Specification Details
Size 106x47x18mm
Weight 115g
Display 262,144 colours
Resolution 240x320 pixels
Camera 3.2 megapixels
Video calling / streaming Yes/Yes
Video recording / playback Yes/Yes
Audio playback MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAc+
Connectivity Bluetooth, infrared, USB
Internal memory 64 MB
Memory card slot M2 MemoryStick Micro
Java Yes
Games FotoQuest Fishing, Mini Golf Castles
Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS
Email client POP3, SMTP, IMAP4
Ringtones Polyphonic
Internet browser WAP, xHTML, HTML
Frequency Tri-band + 3G
Talktime 420 mins
Standby 350 hours
http://www.3g.co.uk//PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/3g-sony-ericsson-k800i.html)
Sony Ericsson must surely be hoping its new Cyber-shot camera phone range follows in the footsteps of its mega-successful Walkman music phones series. But has the K800i got the pixel-power to clean up?
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/May2006/K800Front.jpg
Sony Ericsson’s cachet in mobile photography circles is already assured after the phenomenal success of the K750i and W800i. Both handsets were at the top of the two-megapixel camera game, displaying remarkable focus, true colour depiction and exposure. Sony Ericsson has continued this success rate with the W810i and W900i but now the Japanese-Swedish axis is aiming to take its camera phones to new levels of authenticity.
The K800i is the first Sony Ericsson handset to sport the Cyber-shot brand name from Sony’s famous standalone digital camera series. Sony Ericsson has enlisted the science dudes at Sony imaging to help develop the Cyber-shot phone series and make it the closet yet to your dedicated digital shutterbug in terms of features and functionality.
The K800i accommodates a 3.2-megapixel lens with autofocus, built-in Xenon flash, image stabilising technology and a splendid new shooting mode called BestPic (see ‘Take your best shot’ box out for an in-depth look). Not to mention that it hurtles around at 3G speeds.
Compact feel
Carrying such a powerful camera and 3G technology means build and size will be compromised. However, while the K800i is longer than, say, the K750i and its ilk, the handset doesn’t feel over bulky despite weighing 115g. It does carry a slight hump on the back to house the camera and lens cover but considering its feature potency, you’ll be surprised how compact it appears.
The design still has the air of a classic Sony Ericsson candybar. It adopts the joy-nub found in the K750i and W800i while the keypad has a rubberised textured feel to it. It all makes for lucid operation, and Sony Ericsson fans or newcomers will have no trouble navigating around its straightforward-to-use interface. Its two-inch QVGA display is also stunning and proves to be the perfect platform to look at your photos or use as a camera viewfinder.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/May2006/K800Back.jpg
After being dazzled by its photographic prowess it’s easy to forget that the K800i also delivers the 3G experience. A front VGA camera is on hand for video calling, and we made a call to an LG U880 with pleasing results. You’re never going to escape the curse of image pixelation and noise but mugshots were passable while the sound from the K800i’s speakers was surprisingly audible. Similarly, video streaming was fluent and handled the pell-mell of Premiership football highlights and film trailers like a pro.
The K800i supports Sony Ericsson’s recently introduced MemoryStick Micro M2, which is essentially its own proprietary version of the diddy TransFlash/microSD cards. A 64MB card is supplied, letting you store about 124 photos at the highest picture setting. While his will suit many people, if you want to hoard other multimedia content like digital music and video footage, we advise you to invest in a larger capacity card; the M2 format currently has a maximum size of 1GB.
Another way of freeing up the phone’s memory is to post your mobile snaps onto your online blog. Sony Ericsson has hooked up with internet searcher Google to let you send your pictures straight from your mobile. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have an existing eBlogger account (www.blogger.com) because it will automatically set up a blog for you the first time you send in a picture. The K800i will also automatically resize your photo and let you add text before sending. You will be charged normal data rates for posting your pictures at 3G speeds.
Video recording
The handset’s video recording capabilities don’t really reach the heights of its still photography counterpart. Sadly it only reaches a QCIF resolution of 176x144; considering that the Nokia 6280 hits VGA quality (640x320), this is a major letdown.
The K800i uses the mobile standard 3GPP (suitably compressed for sending via MMS) and MPEG-4 formats and you will experience serious posterisation and digital drag, despite benefiting from video stabilisation technology.
Elsewhere, the K800i delivers full HTML internet through NetFront’s browser, including RSS news feeds, while an FM radio with RDS and 3D-gaming support complement the entertainment suite.
Sony Ericsson has managed to fashion a superb phone, bursting not only with top mobile features, but true digital camera traits. For now, the Sony Ericsson K800i ranks as the best camera phone on the market and has usurped the Sharp 903 as the top-dog snapper. It’s an example of successful convergence and might even force you to reassess the role your dedicated digital camera plays.
Sophisticated snapper
Only the Sharp 903 and, to a certain extent, the Nokia N80 have so far put up a fair case for dumping your standalone digital snapper and carrying one device in your trouser pouch. The Sharp 903 with its 2x optical zoom flaunts a few characteristics of a dedicated digital snapper but just falls short of full camera functionality. Despite the lack of optical zoom, the Sony Ericsson K800i looks like the strongest challenger to digital camera supremacy we’ve seen – but will you really be ditching the Canon Sureshot for Sony Ericsson’s first Cyber-shot phone? Let’s take a look at the camera itself.
Its 3.2-megapixel lens shoots in a 2048x1536-pixel resolution, rolling out print-quality photos. The camera is easily fired up by sliding down and clicking the active lens cover, and as with all Sony Ericsson candybar camera phones, you adopt the dual-front landscape position with the shutter button sitting on top. The camera user interface is identical to the W800i, W810i and K750i so anyone familiar with this layout won’t encounter any problems altering the settings or switching to video.
Start-up time is a little slow. It takes a couple of seconds to warm up but shutter speed is far more responsive with the autofocus making it quick to get its eye in (a particular advantage on macro close-up focus setting). Likewise, saving the image to your M2 card is quite brisk.
As expected, the K800i lets you tweak exposure and light settings and choose from an array of effects, while shooting modes include BestPic and Panoramic and you can opt for auto, off or red-eye reduction for the flash. Talking of which, the built-in Xenon flash is particularly impressive, especially after all the poor pseudo-flash LED lights we’ve encountered on our camera phone travels. It works just like a flash on a dedicated digital camera and performed superbly. Elsewhere, the image stabiliser works behind the scenes and in a moment of cold-turkey juddering from this reviewer, it resurrected the situation very nicely.
As you can see from our photo examples, the K800i carries on from where the K750i left off – and then some. Colour, focus and exposure appear very reliable with highlights controlled. The K800i does struggle sometimes on contrasting environments but you’ll find this isn’t a unique problem even for your standalone digital camera. Of course, the K800i won’t be perfect but its foibles don’t dampen its performance or your appreciation.
Take your best shot
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/May2006/SE.jpg
The K800i harbours an exclusive and unique imaging trick called BestPic. Once activated, this technology basically serves as a picture buffering mechanism that will make you look skilful with the lens. Press down on the shutter button and the K800i will take four frames before and after capture, giving you the opportunity to pick the best-looking snap out of nine alternatives. You can also save as many of the nine-picture sequence as you desire by nominating each frame from the on-screen top left icons. BestPic comes into its own with subjects that continually move – babies, animals and sporting action for example. If you’re kicking yourself for missing that Kodak moment because you weren’t fast enough on the trigger, chances are that BestPic will have captured it.
Pros
The K800i’s photographic performance is striking and slick.
Cons
We were expecting an optical zoom for such a high-standing camera phone. The introduction of yet another MemoryStick format means you’ll need to splash out more cash to upgrade.
Verdict
The K800i is the closest a camera phone has come to matching the quality and functionality of a proper digital camera. Sony Ericsson has raised the mobile photography benchmark with the K800i.
3G Total Score 91%
http://www.3g.co.uk//PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/3g-sony-ericsson-k800i.html)
This review covers the above mobile phone only and does not address the performance of any 3G Network. The score is based on a 3G mobile phone checklist.
Copyright : You are advised that this material is the copyright of www.3G.co.uk and is our own personal view only. (C) All rights reserved 2005. Whist every care has been taken in the preparation of this review, the author nor 3G.co.uk cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or authenticity of the information it contains, or consequence arising from it.
Note : This review is written by an editorial member of 3G staff for the readers of www.3G.co.uk and for the members of the 3G Forum. A full list of 3G Phone Reviews by phone manufacturer and date order can be found here http://www.3g.co.uk/3GPhoneReviews.htm.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/May2006/K800Angle.jpg
Best features
3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus
Built-in Xenon flash
BestPic and image stabilisation technology
Auto red-eye reduction
High quality finish
Specification Details
Size 106x47x18mm
Weight 115g
Display 262,144 colours
Resolution 240x320 pixels
Camera 3.2 megapixels
Video calling / streaming Yes/Yes
Video recording / playback Yes/Yes
Audio playback MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAc+
Connectivity Bluetooth, infrared, USB
Internal memory 64 MB
Memory card slot M2 MemoryStick Micro
Java Yes
Games FotoQuest Fishing, Mini Golf Castles
Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS
Email client POP3, SMTP, IMAP4
Ringtones Polyphonic
Internet browser WAP, xHTML, HTML
Frequency Tri-band + 3G
Talktime 420 mins
Standby 350 hours
http://www.3g.co.uk//PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/3g-sony-ericsson-k800i.html)
Sony Ericsson must surely be hoping its new Cyber-shot camera phone range follows in the footsteps of its mega-successful Walkman music phones series. But has the K800i got the pixel-power to clean up?
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/May2006/K800Front.jpg
Sony Ericsson’s cachet in mobile photography circles is already assured after the phenomenal success of the K750i and W800i. Both handsets were at the top of the two-megapixel camera game, displaying remarkable focus, true colour depiction and exposure. Sony Ericsson has continued this success rate with the W810i and W900i but now the Japanese-Swedish axis is aiming to take its camera phones to new levels of authenticity.
The K800i is the first Sony Ericsson handset to sport the Cyber-shot brand name from Sony’s famous standalone digital camera series. Sony Ericsson has enlisted the science dudes at Sony imaging to help develop the Cyber-shot phone series and make it the closet yet to your dedicated digital shutterbug in terms of features and functionality.
The K800i accommodates a 3.2-megapixel lens with autofocus, built-in Xenon flash, image stabilising technology and a splendid new shooting mode called BestPic (see ‘Take your best shot’ box out for an in-depth look). Not to mention that it hurtles around at 3G speeds.
Compact feel
Carrying such a powerful camera and 3G technology means build and size will be compromised. However, while the K800i is longer than, say, the K750i and its ilk, the handset doesn’t feel over bulky despite weighing 115g. It does carry a slight hump on the back to house the camera and lens cover but considering its feature potency, you’ll be surprised how compact it appears.
The design still has the air of a classic Sony Ericsson candybar. It adopts the joy-nub found in the K750i and W800i while the keypad has a rubberised textured feel to it. It all makes for lucid operation, and Sony Ericsson fans or newcomers will have no trouble navigating around its straightforward-to-use interface. Its two-inch QVGA display is also stunning and proves to be the perfect platform to look at your photos or use as a camera viewfinder.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/May2006/K800Back.jpg
After being dazzled by its photographic prowess it’s easy to forget that the K800i also delivers the 3G experience. A front VGA camera is on hand for video calling, and we made a call to an LG U880 with pleasing results. You’re never going to escape the curse of image pixelation and noise but mugshots were passable while the sound from the K800i’s speakers was surprisingly audible. Similarly, video streaming was fluent and handled the pell-mell of Premiership football highlights and film trailers like a pro.
The K800i supports Sony Ericsson’s recently introduced MemoryStick Micro M2, which is essentially its own proprietary version of the diddy TransFlash/microSD cards. A 64MB card is supplied, letting you store about 124 photos at the highest picture setting. While his will suit many people, if you want to hoard other multimedia content like digital music and video footage, we advise you to invest in a larger capacity card; the M2 format currently has a maximum size of 1GB.
Another way of freeing up the phone’s memory is to post your mobile snaps onto your online blog. Sony Ericsson has hooked up with internet searcher Google to let you send your pictures straight from your mobile. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have an existing eBlogger account (www.blogger.com) because it will automatically set up a blog for you the first time you send in a picture. The K800i will also automatically resize your photo and let you add text before sending. You will be charged normal data rates for posting your pictures at 3G speeds.
Video recording
The handset’s video recording capabilities don’t really reach the heights of its still photography counterpart. Sadly it only reaches a QCIF resolution of 176x144; considering that the Nokia 6280 hits VGA quality (640x320), this is a major letdown.
The K800i uses the mobile standard 3GPP (suitably compressed for sending via MMS) and MPEG-4 formats and you will experience serious posterisation and digital drag, despite benefiting from video stabilisation technology.
Elsewhere, the K800i delivers full HTML internet through NetFront’s browser, including RSS news feeds, while an FM radio with RDS and 3D-gaming support complement the entertainment suite.
Sony Ericsson has managed to fashion a superb phone, bursting not only with top mobile features, but true digital camera traits. For now, the Sony Ericsson K800i ranks as the best camera phone on the market and has usurped the Sharp 903 as the top-dog snapper. It’s an example of successful convergence and might even force you to reassess the role your dedicated digital camera plays.
Sophisticated snapper
Only the Sharp 903 and, to a certain extent, the Nokia N80 have so far put up a fair case for dumping your standalone digital snapper and carrying one device in your trouser pouch. The Sharp 903 with its 2x optical zoom flaunts a few characteristics of a dedicated digital snapper but just falls short of full camera functionality. Despite the lack of optical zoom, the Sony Ericsson K800i looks like the strongest challenger to digital camera supremacy we’ve seen – but will you really be ditching the Canon Sureshot for Sony Ericsson’s first Cyber-shot phone? Let’s take a look at the camera itself.
Its 3.2-megapixel lens shoots in a 2048x1536-pixel resolution, rolling out print-quality photos. The camera is easily fired up by sliding down and clicking the active lens cover, and as with all Sony Ericsson candybar camera phones, you adopt the dual-front landscape position with the shutter button sitting on top. The camera user interface is identical to the W800i, W810i and K750i so anyone familiar with this layout won’t encounter any problems altering the settings or switching to video.
Start-up time is a little slow. It takes a couple of seconds to warm up but shutter speed is far more responsive with the autofocus making it quick to get its eye in (a particular advantage on macro close-up focus setting). Likewise, saving the image to your M2 card is quite brisk.
As expected, the K800i lets you tweak exposure and light settings and choose from an array of effects, while shooting modes include BestPic and Panoramic and you can opt for auto, off or red-eye reduction for the flash. Talking of which, the built-in Xenon flash is particularly impressive, especially after all the poor pseudo-flash LED lights we’ve encountered on our camera phone travels. It works just like a flash on a dedicated digital camera and performed superbly. Elsewhere, the image stabiliser works behind the scenes and in a moment of cold-turkey juddering from this reviewer, it resurrected the situation very nicely.
As you can see from our photo examples, the K800i carries on from where the K750i left off – and then some. Colour, focus and exposure appear very reliable with highlights controlled. The K800i does struggle sometimes on contrasting environments but you’ll find this isn’t a unique problem even for your standalone digital camera. Of course, the K800i won’t be perfect but its foibles don’t dampen its performance or your appreciation.
Take your best shot
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/May2006/SE.jpg
The K800i harbours an exclusive and unique imaging trick called BestPic. Once activated, this technology basically serves as a picture buffering mechanism that will make you look skilful with the lens. Press down on the shutter button and the K800i will take four frames before and after capture, giving you the opportunity to pick the best-looking snap out of nine alternatives. You can also save as many of the nine-picture sequence as you desire by nominating each frame from the on-screen top left icons. BestPic comes into its own with subjects that continually move – babies, animals and sporting action for example. If you’re kicking yourself for missing that Kodak moment because you weren’t fast enough on the trigger, chances are that BestPic will have captured it.
Pros
The K800i’s photographic performance is striking and slick.
Cons
We were expecting an optical zoom for such a high-standing camera phone. The introduction of yet another MemoryStick format means you’ll need to splash out more cash to upgrade.
Verdict
The K800i is the closest a camera phone has come to matching the quality and functionality of a proper digital camera. Sony Ericsson has raised the mobile photography benchmark with the K800i.
3G Total Score 91%
http://www.3g.co.uk//PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/3g-sony-ericsson-k800i.html)
This review covers the above mobile phone only and does not address the performance of any 3G Network. The score is based on a 3G mobile phone checklist.
Copyright : You are advised that this material is the copyright of www.3G.co.uk and is our own personal view only. (C) All rights reserved 2005. Whist every care has been taken in the preparation of this review, the author nor 3G.co.uk cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or authenticity of the information it contains, or consequence arising from it.