Goodbye old flame, Hello Sony Ericsson... (Sony Ericsson K700i)

Member Name: zingara

Product:	Sony Ericsson K700i
Date:	21/04/06 (665 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: has almost everything you need (music, camera), strong and sturdy

Disadvantages: no handsfree loudspeaker and hassle to edit contact list, camera resolution not s great

I was a Nokia user from 1998 to 2003. I've had 6 Nokia phones and my family are all Nokia users. I decided to switch to Sony Ericsson starting with T610 because I was attracted at how it looked. I was surprised at how durable Sony Ericsson is. I keep dropping mine but I never demaged the LCD screen or have the phone pieces come apart.

So when the K700 first came out in July 2004 (in Asia), I did not hesitate to sell my phone and buy the new one. I remember after a week of playing with the phone how i was ready to propose and never let go. It was a marriage between me and my phone. It's so easy to use.

As a phone, it has great voice quality. I can hear pretty well (although Nokia might be a bit better with louder volume) and I receive strong signals (If I'm in a place where Nokia don't have signals, my phone would still pick up). I love how it is so strong and sturdy that despite it doing a lot of the matrix stunts, it never ever smashed or fell apart or gotten a broken lcd. It does not look as fragile as other phones. It lasted me longer than my other phones even if I dropped it the most.

I love it because it is easy to use! I love how it looks.

I love the shortcuts, I love how I can store real music and assign each person or group, a specific tune I want. (I had maybe 10 songs).

I love how i can take pictures and videos (no time limit!) and use the camera flash light as a flash light. I love how it looks like a camera. I love how I can take pictures and make a landscape or make comics using the frames.

I love how there is an FM radio with automatic tuning (up to 20 stations).

Plus, I love how it could survive three days without charging it! Battery life was pretty good and I never had to buy a spare batt unlike with other phones. Note that if you keep the camera on accidentally (which can happen easily given the external button), it can drain overnight.

The bluetooth and infrared also is good for transferring files. But don't keep it on too long as it can drain your battery, too.

The cool thing about this feature is quickshare! So you can copy themes, pictures, music and other extra features your phone might not have.

Downside:

Address book editing sucked! I could never fix the contact list as easy as with Nokia. I had trouble editing the contact list or changing status of number types (mobile, home, work).

Also, there is no speaker so i can't use it handsfree unless I have the the headset with me (which did come free with the phone). If you do keep the headset on which also acts as antenna, you can set the phone on to speaker to play music out loud, but i'm not sure if you can take calls that way.

Also, I wish there was a message counter so I can keep track of how many messages I sent. I can only keep track of the minutes I call.

Camera resolution was also not as great as other phones and should probably have a cover. The worst downside is once it does broken bad, there is no fixing it back. It is my fault though for making mine an action star, but dropping it damaged the signal receiver which meant I could not use it anymore. Too bad since it is really better than other phones.

When you take a picture, it makes a loud sound, to get rid of that, I have to put my phone on silent each time I want to take discreet photos! But then it only takes 2 seconds to change it to silent mode.

Also, I noticed the ringing volume is higher if I use built-in songs or music. But the ones I downloaded are not as loud. Still, I can hear it well so I don't mind.

Overall, I'd recommend this phone. I've used Nokia, Motorola satellite phone, and Samsung, and SonyEricsson is still the winner for me. The K7001 may not have as much memory or camera resolution as the other phones out there, but it has great features and is still pretty good. I suppose the higher Sony ericsson range would give the same performance so if you want more memory, go for the K750 or higher.

All I know is when it first came out, i thought it was already cutting edge for me. I think if it were alive, I'd still stick to it. I'd probably use a real camera and a real mp3 player anyway, just to preserve the battery life. But if you do go out and forget to bring your player and camera, this will still do the trick. Take care of it and it should last you years...

Summary: A great marriage

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