k850i update or a reverlation.. (Sony Ericsson K850i)

Member Name: bargains007

Product:	Sony Ericsson K850i
Date:	11/02/08 (1256 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Built well. Camera cover improved over K800i No joy stick

Disadvantages: touch screen keys too sensitive. loves fingerprints

K850i. The phone was delivered next day from www.mobilepricehunter.com . when you open the box the first thing you notice it that it is very sleek and sexy with a great shiny gloss finish. This it now unfortunately the latest craze but they just love fingerprints. You are constantly cleaning it to make it look respectable. Next put in the sim card and battery. The K850i has a rather unique way of doing so. Instead of taking the back of like most phones you slide open a door very similar to a compact digital camera. You insert and remove your battery and if you have one, a memory card with a slight push. removal is just the reverse, a great improvement over the old sony models.

The keys are raised well and easy to use but are small. a new feature on this sony model is 3 "touch sensitive" soft keys just at the bottom of the screen. I advise any potential purchaser to try them out before hand. Although they do work well sometimes they are over sensitive and you find yourself pressing them by accident.

The K850i main selling point is the camera. It is a 5MP autofocus model with a zenon flash. For the not so camera savvi amoung you it means it has a powerful flash at night, enough to blind a rabbit at 10 paces. Be warned though because over use of the flash will drain the battery in no time. Picture quality is very good due to having an auto focus system but in my opinion not a huge leap in quality you would expect in a 5MP camera.
It is a common mistake that the larger the "Megapixel" the better the quality picture. This is not true it is more down to the lens used and the processing of the image internally which counts.
It is a feature rich phone with the normal bluetooth,speakerphone, vibrate and the like so unless you need a pda type phone it will be more than enough for everyone else.

The ringtones can be set quite loud which is one of the main reasons I purchased this phone as many times I could not hear my old phone.

Overall it is a good upgrade. Solidly built to withstand the test of time, or at least a "contract time". It looks neat and modern but not what I would call a "winner take all" phone. I think Sony need to keep on the ball or they will find themselves being overtaken as the king of camera phones.

Summary: A great upgrade but not a revelation.

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