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Written by Marc Pell
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Wednesday, 06 October 2004 |
Lets check out another Microsoft Smartphone competitor, this time the Sony Ericsson K700i. By now you will all have seen the television advertisements with the guy and the girl going about their daily lives in a busy city with their Sony Ericsson K700i?s in symmetry, Sony Ericsson do love their advertisements! So what is all of the fuss about? Well the phone is promoted as having a strong camera with the slogan ?camera meets phone? however, on further inspection it has to be said that this is a somewhat misleading, to find out why (and check out a Smartphone competitor) read on!
Hardware
The device itself is a good size, fairly compact and well built; the keys are made of a plastic/rubber material which, although not being my favourite choice, does the job more than adequately. The screen, although physically smaller than that of any Smartphone is clear and rich boasting 65k colours, no problems there then. The speaker plays ring tones with clarity and the phone can play FM radio (via the stereo headset provided which acts as an antennae to keep the phone?s physical size down), MP3?s and videos too which is a nice touch however herein lies my major issue with the handset. Ultimately storage space is essential to the success of a media player of any sort; the K700i has no storage card expansion capability which is unfortunate. The integrated memory is sufficient for approximately a dozen MP3?s but no more, I am sure that were I to use the K700i as my main phone I would constantly be swapping and changing the phone?s contents dependent on whether I wanted to listen to a few songs or watch a video, this problem would not arise where the user able to purchase a storage card and expand the memory.
The front of the K700i
The camera will always be a talking point when discussing the K700i purely as a result of the marketing campaign employed by Sony Ericsson. The integrated camera is 0.3 Mega Pixel; it takes pictures of a decent quality for a phone and has numerous options for tweaking the way that you take a photo. However I have to say that I was led to believe that I would be dealing with a Mega Pixel camera having seen the advertisements in the media. Having said this, the K700i?s camera isn?t poor, it employs an integrated LED to act as a flash which is useful when taking pictures in dark environments although, as with all LED implementations don?t expect true camera flash type results, the LED only really has a useable range of about 50cm. The night mode rarely produces photographs of an acceptable quality either unfortunately. The camera unit also includes a self portrait mirror which is always useful and will record video with sound too which is a nice touch.
The K700i's LED flash
The rear of the phone has been designed to look like a normal camera with the circular surround encapsulating the lens; it is a smart design that, in truth, deserves a better camera. This sounds like a negative review of the K700i?s camera, it is in fact a comment on the fact that it is nearer middle of the road as opposed to being something special as the advertisements suggest.
The phone is cased inside a brushed aluminium casing which provides a stylish and robust finish which most will be more than happy to show off!
The back of the K700i
Software
The K700i we have been supplied with is courtesy of Orange, as such it has a dedicated Orange World portal button on its side to provide one touch access to the Orange World mobile site as well as some exclusive content, as is the case with all branded Orange signature phones. Specifically, together with Sony Ericsson, Orange have developed a home screen as well as adding downloads allowing the user to preview and download ring tones, this is what we have come to expect from Orange Signature devices but it is a nice touch none the less. The themes built into the device are quite smart; they include animated backgrounds and screensavers which liven up your screen! The phone comes complete with a media player which is great for listening to MP3?s or watching videos, I was even able to download videos from the Orange World portal using GPRS which was great. The integrated radio software is intuitive to use, it features the ability to store your favourite radio stations for ease of selection in the future.
The menu is structured in the same manner as previous Sony Ericsson mobile phones such as the T610 and T630; in fact the K700i could easily be classed as the obvious upgrade from these two handsets. It features Sony Ericsson?s patented QuickShare? technology allowing you to take pictures and send them ?to anyone anywhere in the world instantly. That's what QuickShare? is all about: Keeping sharing to a couple of clicks?.
Conclusion
The K700i is a nice phone, a worthy upgrade if you are familiar with the Sony Ericsson User Interface and would prefer a new device with a similar look and feel. It?s a real shame that the K700i doesn?t have a memory card expansion slot as it would really benefit from having one, users will have to make do with the integrated memory for storing MP3?s, videos and pictures.
I have tried to write this review with an unbiased view point, I personally prefer the Windows Mobile Smartphone UI but found that of the K700i to be intuitive and easy to use. Windows Mobile is not for everyone, that is for sure and I?m positive that the K700i will achieve good sales figures, especially with the marketing being employed by Sony Ericsson at this point in time.
Examples of the K700i's Photographic Capabilities:
A picture taken in the dark with some light in the background and using the phone's 'night mode'.
A picture taken in total darkness with the LED flash on, from close range it is very effective.
Thank goodness for the LED as this is a picture taken in total darkness just using the 'night mode'!
Here's your average picture taken in the daytime (moderate light) with no effects.
This is a preview of the cool panoramic mode, it allows you to take three pictures and stitches them together! Click HERE for the full size image.
A front comparison between the K700i and the SPV C500
A back comparison between the K700i and the SPV C500
A side comparison between the K700i and the SPV C500
The Sony Ericsson K700i is available from the Orange website by clicking here.
Specifications/Features:
Battery life:
- talk time 6.0 hours
- standby 8.0 days
Weight: 93g
Features:
- Bluetooth technology
- Built-in camera
- Call divert
- Colour screen
- Email
- FM Radio
- GPRS
- Hifi ring tones
- Infrared connection
- Java? capable
- MP3 player
- Orange High Speed Data
- Photo Messaging
- Polyphonic ring tones
- Predictive text input
- Screensavers
- Selection of games
- Tri band technology
- Video Messaging
- Voice activated dialling
- Voice memo
- Wallpapers
- WAP
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 01 February 2007 )
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