Modern Retro (Sony Ericsson K850i with Contract)

Name: spencer_hawken

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Product:	Sony Ericsson K850i with Contract
Date:	17.06.08 (120 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stacked with features

Disadvantages: Annoying keys

It seems like only yesterday I reviewed my Nokia N95 8GB version, but it's already time for my upgrade (I have two contracts and my other half is happy with the phone she got 2 years ago). Much as I liked my Nokia, after two months there were lots of little noticeable flaws and on the 6th month the screen simply died, luckily under warranty this is now with Nokia being fixed. The key thing being is that this happened with a previous Nokia phone so I felt it was time to move on.

I chose to return to an old faithful with the brand Sony Ericsson, never once has one of these phones physically died on me and I figured that's as good a reason as any. Trouble being is that I'm on the 3 network and to be honest most models were like taking 20 steps back from the Nokia phone I had. The only one that compared to the Nokia is the K850i, but the only way I can describe this is to use the term Modern Retro, because despite the funky content the phone looks distinctly 70's with the nastiest of buttons I have EVER seen on a mobile phone and two silver buttons on the left and right. Amusingly though on the back of being so incredibly dated, the phone also has touch sensitive options, but to be honest I'm thinking more ZX Spectrum rather than iPhone.

Despite the physical flaw I pushed on, thinking under the concept that quality is better than appearance, and now more than ever reliability is paramount.

So straight to the heart of the issue, I still hate the exterior, but love the guts of the phone, in some ways its more technically advanced than Nokia's N95 series, while it lacks the GPS ability that the Nokia had. In fairness however I personally never needed the GPS and the Sony phone does has the ability to see mobile maps on the phone.

Call clarity is good and when using the handset simply as a phone you can make about four hours of phone calls, when sat on standby I find I can go five days before charging the phone up; this was the reliability and strength I remembered from previous Sony phones. Like most phones you can make hand free calls either via a headset (Bluetooth or otherwise) or if you prefer being as its a 3G phone you can make video calls with people with compatible handsets. In fairness image quality is vague, but that is always the case with video phones, my grandmother looks remarkably like a baboon whenever I choose to ring her via video call.

Text messaging is far more familiar than Nokia phones, plus the onboard dictionary designed to increase your text speed is much better than any mobile I have ever had, it even had a few swear words programmed in, something that proves very handy for me. The big letdown are those awkward keys, they are small and fumbly and rather hard to the touch, but as the weeks have gone on I have begun to get used to them, however judging by the vast number of these for sale on Ebay people gave up trying after a short period of time. Believe me persistence is the key, because I'll tell you this is the best and most robust mobile phone I have EVER had.

The contacts option is concise allowing literally as much detail as you care to give it names, numbers, e-mails, websites, personal addresses, you name it you can store it; new to me was the fact that with just a click I could visit my friends websites. You can also store individual ringtones for each caller, and place a nice picture to go with that contact.

Applications - There is a photography tool called Facewarp, this allows you to photograph friends and warp and contort their faces, believe this provides much amusement but make sure your target sits dead centre of the screen as it is a centralised tool. HP Print allows you to wirelessly connect your photo album to a printer. Photo Mate is a high quality built in photo editing suite and easy share control option this is literally the sort of thing that would normally be stored on the CD that comes with your phone and only works when you transfer the image to your PC; granted its fiddly but you can do everything you can think of directly on the phone.

Entertainment - Games, to me an important feature and there were loads of games on my phone - Mine had Marble Madness, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Monopoly Here And Now, Pac-Man, Tennis, Tetris, and Worms. Although not a game also under the same heading is premier league scoreboard. I am told though that games are dependent on the network and this particular selection of games are the ones that come on the 3 network phone.
Radio allows you to tune into your favourite radio station on the movie, this only works however with the supplied headset it works as an aerial you see. You also have the now compulsory MP3 player; this phone comes with a small internal memory as well as a 512mb mini data card. You can easily store about 100 MP3 tracks on the card, and the sound is just great. On the move if you hear that song you love but cannot remember the name, select Track ID and the phone communicates with the internet to provide you with the title and track name for the song. Video DJ allows you to mix video's together with music if required, Photo DJ does the same but with photos. While Music DJ allows you to make your own music and ringtones with a choice of musical instruments.

Camera - There is a 5 megapixel camera installed in the phone that delivers high quality images for sharing however you wish. The camera has blogging add on tools allowing you to send you photos direct to a Blogger account, no transferring to PC and uploading, you can go from taking the photo to having it on your blog in seconds. Unlike most other phones though, you can turn off the phone and use it simply as a camera alone, it has its own power button. You can take either pictures, or use the video camera; this will keep filming as long as you have memory. Another great aspect with this camera phone is you can even adjust the shutter speed as well as altering the effects of the photo adding fake lighting, sepia, or on film aged filming techniques to make your video look like it was shot at the birth of film.

Video - Like all new mobiles you can store and view video on your mobile. I purchased a bigger memory card and installed a couple of films on my phone to watch on the move, be wary though when watching video the battery will only last one hour, but fine if you're travelling on a Virgin train, they have plug sockets so you can charge and view. Transferring of video is painfully slow, this is nothing new though it's the same with any phone, 90 minutes of video will require 90 minutes of installation there is of course a disc that has the software required to do this, for once in order to transfer video you do need to connect to a PC.

Calendar - There is the usual calendar, and alarm tools devised to keep you scheduled or at the least wake you up. Under the organiser setting you also have a stopwatch, timer, light, calculator, and special coded message area to stop prying eyes.

Ringtones - these are awful so you'll need to purchase some for your phone, some literally would make your ears bleed.
Now we go into the unchartered area and I must point out these services are guaranteed on 3 but I cannot promise the same on other mobiles, by selecting the Launcher option you can access the following features:-

Planet 3 - Connection to 3's own internet style menu system.

Games - Again connection to games menu's through both 3 and external games sites.

Yahoo! Search - Use Yahoo!'s search engines to find your favourite site

Music - Download music and ringtones through 3's portal.

Google Search - Search Google for your favourite sites.

TV - Watch a limited amount of TV channels on your mobile, stations like National Geographic, ITV 1, and MTV.

Live Messenger - MSN's popular messaging system on the move.

Skype - Make free internet calls via the wonder of Skype, also allowing you to connect to the wide range of Skype phones flooding the market. Set up is quick and easy via the handset and you can be making calls in seconds.

Y! Go - I love this, if you have a yahoo account you can log to your address book, check your online calendar, and make appointments. Check out maps of the area with city guide this also allows you to find your nearest cash point, shop, pub, or restaurant; you can even use the route planner to plot your journey. News gives you the top news stories in video, images and text. Sports gives you all the latest sports info in the same forms as news, as does the next features Finance and Entertainment News, all of these services are free. Weather offers you localised weather info, wherever you are. A built in Flickr account allows you to view and transfer images. A direct search engine allows you to search for info on the net, and of course e-mail allows you to view your new e-mails on the move.

Facebook - The world's favourite social networking site on your mobile.

Mobile Mail - This should allow you to access mail from any e-mail account sadly 3 and Mobile mail are having issues with the compatibility of Sony Ericsson phones.

Mobilecast - This allows you to listen to all your favourite podcasts through your mobile, I listen to this in the bath or when out on long walks.

Ebay - A special speedy mobile version of the popular auction site.

YouTube - Another popular website that allows bags of videos etc to be watched on your mobile.

As is customary with every 3 phone you have access to Planet 3 as stated above this gives you access to videos, music, text news, the internet (proper as well as wap) in fact you name it you can do it, Google maps, Myspace, the works.

A couple of months in and while I have got used to the buttons, the three touch sensitive options still cause me a bit of strife, but this is a small price to pay for a great phone and there are other bypass options.

I got my phone free on contract, but you can purchase it from Ebay for around £140 or other high street stores and online options from £180-£240.

I give this phone top marks, the only flaws being the buttons but these are overcome with time.

Spencer Hawken 06/08

Summary: Sony's latest snazzy phone with 70's throwbacks