Sony Ericsson K850i Review

Sony Ericsson K850i is the flagship of the company and this device comes into the market at least for one year; only in the second quarter of the year 2008 will appear more designs equipped with 5-megapixel camera. Taking in consideration popularity of the previous models, it's quite possible to state that Sony Ericsson is trying to take advantage of those solutions that were earlier so highly claimed at the market.

Apart from the camera, there is a significant change in the ergonomics of the device; it's worth mentioning the appearance of soft keys, which in its turn definitely requires some changes in the customary way of handling. As well transferring of the directional key inside digital makes these changes affect the ergonomic design.

Initially it was assumed that Sofia, and that is the code name of Sony Ericsson K850i, will enter the market at the beginning of summer. Later the updating of the platform A2/A200 was moved away for a later finish, moreover their principal competitor Nokia postponed a bit introduction of the 5 edition of S40.

For the first time Sony Ericsson's flagship faces some difficulties in the future and the telephone initially gets into the severe competitive environment. It may be so that namely this fact will make the Company to hasten with the renewal of this model.

The telephone's design is executed in an unusual style for the Company, the device doesn't have any rounded corners, that makes its exterior rather square-cut, edged and creates the impression of a large-size.

Telephone's size is – 102x48x17 mm, weigh – 118 gr. For reference: Sony Ericsson K800i is 106x47x18 mm, weigh – 115 gr.

This device is available in two color designs – Luminous Green and Velvet Blue, it should be mentioned that in both cases the plastic of the faceplate is black and differs by the border of the directional key, as well as the color of the side insertion. Telephone's sides are silver only in the blue case, but the backplane is as if enclosed in a transparent plastic, the base is not customary for telephones, but is similar to some Sony cameras.

The plastic is of a high-quality, it's especially well seen on a black case, it looks more advantageous, although the blue color also has its charm. In both cases, on the glossy faceplate the fingertips are clearly seen.

The telephone's marking-off is the subject for a separate discussion, the telephone has too many glossy surfaces, and only sides are not like this. Within several hours the phone is splodgy with your fingertips; it may cause some additional vexation for some people. The back surface is made of plastic and it reflexes light. Here was used “sandwich” design.

Actually, the plastic surface has the base made of a thin layer of metal that protects the inner part of the device, and makes the case firmer. If to press the back surface it will move loosely, there is freedom in motion. It would be great if not some creaks at strong pressing, thus this characteristic is more inferior to some previous models.

Back plane is unremovable, there is a standard Fast Port at the bottom end, and also here there is a – fold-out cover, such design is not standard. Under this cover which has a mechanical stop, there is a SIM- card slot, and memory slot for microSD/M2, as well a battery holder which is fixed with a latch.

The screen of this device is a bit bigger than the same of a Sony Ericsson K790i/K800i, its diagonal is – 2.2 inches (earlier 2 inches). Screen resolution is QVGA (240õ320 pixels), this allows displaying up to 8 lines of a text on the screen and up to 3 auxiliary lines. At a lower font it is possible to display more lines on the screen. The same as earlier the screen displays up to 262000 colors TFT, and has a mirror baseplate that allows better readability while under the sun increasing the angle of visibility. Like Sony Ericsson T650i, this device uses only mineral glass it protects the display.

If to compare directly with Sony Ericsson K800i, then it's possible to say that the image quality has improved, first of all due to its diagonal. But it's impossible to call such changes fundamental ones. The screen is good at the level of the modern models, but not an extraordinary one.

The phone's keypad is unusual, it is represented by small square keys, and they are similar to those previously seen in Sony Ericsson T650i. The keypad might seem as not a very good one, but it's quite comfortable to work with it. The main thing is to get used to pressing keys with the whole surface of the finger. Generally, this device outstands by the fact that it is necessary to get used to manipulate this phone. Directional key is rather unusual one, as it's inserted into digital keys, not mentioning that its edges come out it's also very comfortable to manipulate it.

Keypad's highlighting is of a white color, it's clearly seen under different conditions. There are chatoyment change of color available for the keypad, when the highlighting of some lines of keys changes according to some rhythm, it's quite interesting and makes the device multivarious. For the first time such style was used in Sony Ericsson T650i.

The same as in Motorola RAZR2 V8, the screen has three sensitive zones where are situated the context keys. Due to this solution the companies were able to reduce the line of keys to be one less, and now the OK button, as well as two soft-keys is touch-sensitive. They work perfectly and are contextual as it was usual in all previous models for ordinary keys. This approach is rather interesting as it allows achieving to save more space as well as size enlargement of digital keys in the future.

The phone has about 40 Mb of built-in memory; it is possible to hold there your own data as well as some applications. Behind the folding-out latch there is a double slot for memory cards MS M2 or MicroSD.

Physically the slot is dual-sided, i.e. M2 card is put in with the contacts to you, while microSD – vice versa. It's not possible to put in two cards at once they will not fit in the slot. The device supports “hot” change, i.e. you can change cards while the device is on, regardless their type.

The device has a built- in motion sensor, but unlike previous models W710i, W580i it's used not as a pedometer, but for determination of a screen layout. While previewing pictures or video in the gallery turning the phone at one side means the automatic change of a portrait layout to the landscape one. At present only iPhone from Apple has such functionality among its characteristics. As well, the built-in sensor is used in some built-in games, the device has such one game.

There is a battery of a new type BST-38 in this phone, it's lithium-pol with volume 930 mAh (earlier 950 mAh). According to the manufacturer's announcement the phone provides up to 400 hours of work in a stand-by mode and up to 9 hours in a talk-mode. Full time of battery charging is 2.5 hours, 90% charging is completed in two hours.

There are almost no differences in manufacturing from previous models, for instance from Sony Ericsson K800i. It was unwise to expect some serious changes having the same device architecture. At the same time menu navigation is a bit quicker, as well the preview of some functions, for instance of a telephone book is improved.

At connecting USB you compulsively must choose where you'll access files, that is data transfer mode, or you'll continue to work with the phone or to turn on Print mode (for printing pictures). In the first instance the phone turns off, you see memory card and phone's memory. Despite the declared support USB 2.0, data transfer speed doesn't exceed 500 Kb/s. In the latter case there are different USB set-ups for accessing the network the phone works a s amodem.

Separately there has appeared the mode when you can use the network installed on the PC for access from the phone. This function is rather useful while, for example, using ActiveSync.

Another supported protocol is MTP, it allows to transmit music directly from Windows Media Player 10 or 11 to the device. It's very convenient for those who don't want to use separate utility software from Sony Ericsson.

This model has Bluetooth version 2 and supports EDR, in the menu there is a possibility to switch on the advanced energy-saving mode. The device also supports A2DP profile that allows the use of wireless stereo headphones. Unlike K800i and other previous models this device supports activation of Bluetooth with Flight Mode. This model also supports the following profiles:

• A2DP
• Basic Imaging Profile
• Basic Printing Profile
• Dial-Up Networking Profile
• File Transfer Profile
• Generic Access Profile
• Generic Object Exchange Profile
• Handsfree Profile
• Headset Profile
• HID
• JSR-82 Java API
• Object Push Profile
• Personal Area Network Profile
• Serial Port Profile
• Service Discovery Application Profile
• Synchronization Profile
• SyncML OBEX binding
• Phonebook Access Proflle.
• GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA

It's one of the first devices of the Company that supports all transmission technologies at once, thus making it a very interesting device. It should also be mentioned that the refusal from IR-port is made due to the fact that this way of communication gradually dies away, and the future is on the wireless fibre channel. Among other things there is the integration of Wireless USB in mobile telephones on the agenda.