My New Buddy (Sony Ericsson K610i)

Member Name: rosycn1979

Product:	Sony Ericsson K610i
Date:	24/02/07 (353 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: light, large screen, easy to access functions, efficient backward key, web 2 . 0 features

Disadvantages: may feel confused by so many functions

(This review was first posted on ciao.co.uk.)

I used Motorola V975 for one and half year. And now I got a upgrade phone free 3G. That's Sony Ericsson K610i. Compare to the old one, this is such a small and light phone with many more functions.

~~~~~~ Appearance ~~~~~~~~~~

This phone is very slim and is claimed by 3G as one of the smallest phones supporting 3G network. It is 102 * 45 * 17 mm. Even though it is small, it has a large screen that takes almost half size of the phone. The keypad is very neat at the bottom part of the phone. On the back side, there is a camera and a small speaker.

There are basic three color options for this phone: urban silver, misty white and evening red. Although I might more fancy the evening red, I still enjoy the calm misty white I have.

~~~~~~ Features ~~~~~~~~~

I am always trying to explore as more functions as I can when I get a new phone. And this phone really brings a lot of features.

1. Communication
As this phone comes with 3G network, you not only get voice talking but also video talking. Apart of that, it also provides conference call for up to four persons. Phone calls are easy to access by one key click and they are organized in very clear tabs. However, this is the function I didn't notice at the first as most phones just organize stuff in scrolling menus but not in tabs. In the first tab, you can view all calls. The second tab allows you to view answered calls. The third tab allows you to view dialed calls and the last tab allows you to view missed calls.

2. Messaging
The message function can be accessed by one key click as well. There are four types of messages: text, picture, voice and email. In text message, you can write texts, add icons, sounds and animations. In picture message, you can add pictures from your photo album, take a picture then add it, add music or record sounds, add videos, etc.

You can easily add symbols into your message, switch between different writing options or even spell a word then add it into your dictionary. It also provides copy paste function for you to write message faster.

3. Camera
The phone has a 2-megapixel camera with 2.5x digital zoom. To access the camera, you just need one simple click on the side button in the right. It makes you feel you are using a real camera. Before taking pictures, you can change settings. These settings include followings:

Shoot mode: normal, panorama, frames and burst.
Picture size: 2 MP, 1 MP and VGA.
Effect: black & white, negative, sepia and no effect.
White balance: auto, daylight, cloudy, fluorescent and incandescent.
Picture quality: normal and fine.
Night mode, self-timer, four kinds of shutter sounds, time & date, resetting file number and setting save place.

You can also easily switch between camera and video record from the first menu in the settings. Not like my old phone that only allows 10s video length for each one. You can take video for up to the available size of the memory as this phone has a relatively big memory space.

The picture is auto stored and the quality is fine. But you may find it is not able to be sent to some other mobile phones through picture messages due to the big size. The phone also provides a photo editor called PhotoDJTM that allows you to change light balance and bright/contrast, remove red eyes, rotate and add effects. There is also a video editor called VideoDJTM allowing to edit your videos. You can also blog the pictures on www.blogger.com.

4. Music
The phone provides one key access music player. It can also be accessed from entertainment menu. You can download music from internet and play them by artists, tracks and playlists. MusicDJTM is also available for you. You can edit your own polyphonic ringtones.

The phone contains Bluetooth stereo which can transmit high quality music from phone to headset and other devices. By far, I haven't tried any Bluetooth feature.

5. Entertainment
Under entertainment menu, you are able to access editors for photo, video and music as well as three free games: QuadraPop, Tennis and Poker. If you would like to play more games, you can download them from 3G internet. The costs are various and the cheapest ones are around 5 pound. Before you download, it's better to check the compatibility because some games may not suitable to your mobile. However, if you choose to download them, they will charge you although the download process fails.

6. Internet
Using 3G internet feature, you can free browse the update information, download videos and games. And if you are a fun of MSN message, you can download it free and keep in touch with your friends wherever you are. You can also subscribe RSS feeds to keep updating with news and other content.

7. Organiser
There are many organization features in this phone including contact book, calendar, calculator, alarm, file manager, flight mode, notes, stop watch, tasks and timer. So far I found one function is very useful and it is not available in my old phone is sending contact information through message directly from contact list.

8. Connectivity
The connectivity function is one tab under the setting menu in the main menu. It is available in Bluetooth, USB, GPRS, 3G, UMTS and synchronization, etc.

~~~~~~~ Feature Facts ~~~~~~~

Networks: GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900, UMTS
Available colors: Urban silver, Misty white and Evening red
Sizes: 102 * 45 * 17 mm, 4 * 1.8 * 0.7 inches
Weight: 89 grams, 3.1 oz
Screen: 262.144 color TFT, 176 * 220 pixels

~~~~~~~ My Experience ~~~~~~~

So far, I feel this is a very good phone. There are several pros I can list:
- Slim, small and light.
- Many functions are accessed by one key click.
- Efficient backward and cancellation keys.
- Good battery time.
- Large memory.
- Large screen.

I would like to recommend you to have a look at it if you are thinking about a new mobile.

Thanks for reading, rating and commenting.

Summary: a great phone with many functions in one key click

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