Sony Ericsson K800i review

Average user rating

7.8

very good

Average user rating from 29 users

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Sony Ericsson K800i user reviews

February 7, 2007

Posted by: C K

"Does what it says on the box"

What I like:

Very good camera, nice screen.

What I don't like:

Camera cover, SE keypad layout, thicker than usual design.

Review:

I have been using this phone for about 2 months when I am writing this review. In fact, I did not intentionally upgrade my old Motorola E398 phone to this K800i initially, but I got a really cheap deal. My choices were between the Nokia N73 and the K800i, but the N73 was a £50 more expensive at that time.

OK, back to the phone itself. The one that I've got is the brown version, the design is simple, clear nice screen. The size is about right in my hand, the only down side is the thickness. I guess it is pretty hard to stuff a 3.2M sensor and a f2.8 lens on the back of a 3G phone!

Battery life is fine, I usually need to recharge it once every three days (I am not a heavy user). Reception and sound quality is very good for calls. But as SE phones are renowned to have ultra-strong reception, I was not surprised by this. Ringing volume is comparable to my old E398, which is good. I tried to pair up my Motorola HS-85- and H700 bluetooth headsets without any problem. The colour screen is pretty much standard for such a camera phone, colour is bright and the resolution is very good as well. As for the 3.2M camera, you can't really complain about the quality, as it should be the best among the 3M-pixel phones. One thing that I have to mention is that, the f2.8 lens, does not have an optical zoom function, so zooming when taking photos will lessen the picture quality a bit. But then with the f2.8 aperture, you can take photos even at low light conditions without the built-in flash.

OK, let's talk about the 'flaws' of the phone. basically, there are just a few complaints. The most annoying one is the camera lens cover, which can be 'accidentially' opened rather easily, although the camera will actually switch itself off after a minute or so. Then is the key pad layout, Sony Ericsson (or Sony) has always wanted to distant themselves from the other's design, thus, if you are used to the 'tranditional' Nokia/Samsung/Motorola etc etc call/dis-engage/cancel layout, then you may need some time to adjust to this phone (and other SE phones), as I have hung-up several in-coming calls several times already by pressing the wrong button.

Anyway, I give this phone a 7 (not 8), since I know Sony Ericsson is going to introduce an upgraded model, namely K810i, with a slimmer design. All in all, the K800i suits my needs quite nicely, but it is definitely not a world beater.