A truely great all-rounder. One to remember, I think. (Sony Ericsson K800i)

Member Name: Jondot

Product:	Sony Ericsson K800i
Date:	15/06/09 (6 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic camera, easy to use, great features, cheap, reliable

Disadvantages: Doesn't have HSDPA. But I can live ;)

Ahh, how I love my K800i. Easily the best phone I've owned.

I've had 2 K800is actually - the first one on O2 Pay as you go, and then I got another one free when I got a contract on 3. Both have been excellent.

Let's start with the camera. For a phone, it's still brilliant. I've got it on the highest setting and I consistently take great pics. Not quite up to the level of my 8 megapixel Sony camera (shockingly), but still good. Better than the saintly iPhone, put it that way. The flash is also particularly handy, I've found.

One thing I particularly like about the K800i is its ability to seemingly handle everything. I think mine's been the most over-used phone in the world... I've used the camera, I've used the video call, I've used the infra-red port, I've used bluetooth to both send files and tether it as a modem to my MacBook, I've used the web-browser to check stuff on the go, I've used the email functionality, I've used the RSS feeds... It's brilliant. I find myself looking at the (relatively expensive) Nokia E71's functions and thinking 'hang on, my K800i does all that...'. It's a brilliant phone.

The build quality is brilliant too - it's clear to see that, at one point, this was a high end phone. Take a look at Sony Ericsson's current model range. Aside from the painfully expensive ones, they all feel rubbish. I took a look at the G502 the other day, and it's atrocious in comparion. Everything, and I mean everything, is plasticky. The K800i has a nice, solid metal frame surrounded by a soft-touch back and rubberised keys. It's a joy to use from an ergonomic perspective.

And some of the features are simply brilliant. It seemlessly integrates with both my Sat Nav and my Laptop (meaning I can send texts without even touching the phone). It acts as a remote control too, which comes in very handy when I need to give presentations, and will even share its internet connection over bluetooth - something I made great use of at school.

My 3 contract was up for renewal a couple of months ago and, stupidly, I decided to try another phone - one called the INQ. In the shop I quite liked it, but once I'd been playing around with it for a couple of days it had driven me insane. It was like 3 steps backwards from the K800i - the menus were clunky, the web browser was slow to react and a pain to navigate. The camera was particularly horrid - absolutely all of my photos came out blurred, no matter what I did. So I sold it, and now I'm back to the K800i. Much better :)

Unfortunately I think my handset is now starting to die. I mean it still works in pretty much every single way, but there are some little glitches starting to appear. The backlight decided to not to wake up the other day, for example, so I couldn't really see what was on the screen. But I think considering I've been using this particular handset for nearly 2 years and have dropped it and bashed it a considerable amount, it's done brilliantly. I'd buy another one if they still sold them :p

Summary: Absolutely brilliant phone. Almost iconic, I think. Like a more modern Nokia 3310.

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