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K850 "Only for Fans"Review |
technical-expert
Joined: Mar 13, 2007
Posts: > 500
From: Pacific Rim
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K850i Review
http://www.smape.com/en/revie[....]on/SonyEricsson_K850i-rev.html
Design, ergonomics
K850i ergonomics disappoints immediately - the device sits in the in the hand in a very awkward manner. Judging the size, it is not the biggest one around and the length is average. But all characteristics are not optimally fitted to each other, so the case seems to be disbalanced, especially concerning the dimensions. We decided to check this opinion and asked 10 people next door to comment on this point. Half of them admitted K850i is really inconvenient, three kept neutral and the two remaining persons complained about small flaws but on the whole they were pleased. The inconveniencies are mostly associated with the rather sharp corners, they leave an unpleasant feel while getting used to the devce. Check that K850i is comparable to Nokia N95 in folded state, in spite of a much larger screen, collapsible construction and the rich stuffing (GPS, Wi-Fi etc.) in N95
Call and drop buttons are covered with silver paint, which started to peel off right after a short usage period which became a very unplesant surprise. This defect is especially remarkable at night while when the backlighting turns on. .
We'll check the battery bay which is located on the back side of the case. Memory expansion slot is near, it supports two formats simultaneously - M2 and MicroSD (though it's not possible to use both cards at the same time, though the contacts are separated).
The idea is unique for the modern mobile phone market but its implementation is poor - microSD cars often twists on insertion, it necessary to watch check it every time and turn back to normal position.
While the accessory is connected it's impossible to open the battery bay. It isn't nice remembering that the memory card slot is located there
The casing is fully made of plastic and leaves the impression of a relative durability - after some time bruises and worn spots will become an essential part of design, and the glossy surfaces will suffer from minute cracks. The whole back panel becomes covered with a web of small scratches - it's absolutely flat, smooth and textureless, so nothing protects it from harmful physical contacts with various surface etc. On the whole the material quality as well as that of assembly is rather mediocre
If the phone is rested on the table with the back panel turned to the table the sound is seriously blocked. It's a great secret for us what prevented the constructors to solve this problem more intelligently.
A USB 2.0 support is stated by the manufacturer, but in reality the data exchange speed is much lower. The only hope is that for newer firmware versions that would possibly fix this
In fact the picture is very nice – sporting full contrast, brightness and rich in colors. Not brilliant yet very good.
The brightness is a little higher. In other points the parity is full. Though the extra 0,4" in diagonal seem more important to us so N95 is more preferable. As for G600, Samsung is comparable to the competitors but has less brightness like Nokia and less diagonal length like SE so it loses to both models.
There's no support for selectable themes, which looks as a kind of failure as compared to the latest Nokias. There is no connection with movement sensor like in W910i. The headset is quite a trivial piece, its quaolity is rather average, it only provides for an acceptable audio quality and little more, worse than in Walkman and G600. The accessory possesses only the single 'Respond' button, there are no extra player controls like Rewind, Pause/Play or anything like that. The sound volume during mp3 playback is enough for most environments, yet in some really noisy places the maximum volume might seem a little bit too low. We consider it a noticeable fault since very few competitive solutions suffer from that. The overall audio quality doesn't seem to reach the ideal. In general, the latest Nokias are comparable in audio quality and player ergonomics while Samsung products cleanly beat the competitors in terms of sound quality and volume.
camera
As for the camera, K850i is not a revelation for the market which is dominated by Nokia N95 for more than a month. .for the first time in the world the lens guard is covered by a protective glass and is being opened and closed automatically. On the one hand, it's much more difficult now to repair it in case of any mechanical damage. But on the other hand the chance of taking such damage is lower.
Market Perspectives
Many people expected the continuation of Cyber-Shot model line so Sophia will anyway receive a stable demand due to its forerunners' glory. But really the solution looks less interesting than the more high-tech Nokia N95 which costs only 50 euros above the price of the former (550 against 500) and more the more Samsung G600 (350 Euros). Near these models this nice product looses its few trumps. To our opinion the demand for this model will stay at an averae level, this device probably won't become a bestseller in its class yielding this honourable place to the mentioned competitors.
Conclusion
Sony Ericsson K850i is rather a questionnable solution, concerning its declared price. It will surely be preferred only by the SE fans in the first place. The main point of the model, the camera, doesn't look outstanding in comparison with the competitors and other features aren't just as well as they could be.
the overall implementation level of the rest of the features are causing doubts in the novelty's bright future. The motion sensor, the automatical screen rotation depending on the phone's physical alignment in space are interesting features but their practical usability looks doubtful to most consumers. This is a pleasant addition but nothing more.
The manufacturer is gradually refusing from issuing balanced solutions like K750i, which, in fact, served the company to win the technology leader status and attracted a big number of new loyal customers. During the development the camera phone product line the state of affairs strayed to the less optimisti side
and now there are already 5-MP phones in existence designed by Nokia and Samsung which can provide an excellent picture quality while the new Sony Ericsson photo flagship just started its market advancement and its ergonomics is very questionable in terms of making a strong challenger.
It's a pity that an idea so neat suffers from a poor implementation. Ironically, the double-standard memory expansion slot is seen as a necessary element only by the developer company themselves. Nokia and Samsung have provided a more practical and user friendly solution to make storage expansion more widespread and popular - both N95 and G600 make use of the unified microSD standard. So the list of the new gadget's virtues (aside from the camera) is rather short - just the long battery life time and a powerful software platform (but only for a casual phone, the smartphones based off the S60 platform like Nokia N95 are much more functional). We'd advise Sony Ericsson revising the price policy on this model, otherwise the demand will keep on a level much lower than that for the more balanced N95 and G600 solutions by Nokia and Samsung.
[ This Message was edited by: arunvc on 2007-12-03 10:20 ] | |
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goldenface
Joined: Dec 17, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Liverpool City Centre
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[groan]
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Krubach
Joined: Dec 05, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Sunny Portugal! :)
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Clearly an SE hater...
Not 1 positive point?
The guy didn't like it because of the «rather sharp corners»!?!?! Is it so different from the "marvellous" N95?
Oh... and he complains about the fact that you can't have anything connected ir order to swap the mem. card. 
What about the way the "marvellous" N95 exchanges a SIM card? Brilliant of course... |
mib1800
Joined: Mar 18, 2004
Posts: > 500
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@Krubach:
I think what he meant was you cannot open the bottom cover and remove the mem card if you have accessory connected at the bottom. You think this is an invalid statement?  On the N95, you can take out the mem-card anytime. He just state the fact that K850 cannot be used without a SIM card whereas N95 can. As usual, a person is tagged a SE hater when he states the "real and valid" issues with K850. Nice going. 
[ This Message was edited by: mib1800 on 2007-12-03 11:52 ] |
se_dude
Joined: Nov 07, 2007
Posts: > 500
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lol....m gtting the k850 today and no bunch of jokers are gonna deny me frm having it...
btw the k850 s strength lies in the fact tht the whole nokia world is a frenzy over this..kepp it up sony... |
Sammy_boy
Joined: Mar 31, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Staffordshire, United Kingdom
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Uh oh... in the words of the Kaiser Chiefs, I predict a riot here.... 
"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
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masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
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no, I don't think so.
I think we have enough K850 vs N95 discussion without the need to repeat it here
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Posted: 2007-12-03 11:16
