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K700 user reviews |
dmxmd
Joined: Sep 30, 2003
Posts: 45
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I got the K700i for only 7 hours and these are my first impressions:
1. Really nice screen. Bright and clear. Nice animated background, too.
2. I'm a little put off with the cover for the charging port but it does make the K700 look better.
3. I'm a concerned with the keys and how easily it might be scratched.
4. The T610 looks more professional than this one but I'm not complaining.
5. I like having MP3s as my ringtone. Disappointed with not being able to customize the message tone but I already knew about it so it's ok. Ring is also louder than the T610. I like.
6. I hold the K700 differently from the T610. I still haven't discern how it is. i think it'll take me some time to get use to it. I feel the K700 is faaaat.
7. Flawless connection via Bluetooth using Float's Mobile Agent and BluePhoneMenu for Mac.
8. SE finally allows me to customize the shortcuts on the joystick. No more annoying SE homepage.
9. How come SE insists on limiting users in finding an entry in the phonebook. This is my biggest gripe!
10. Menu structure has changed and I have yet to look around it.
11. Too bad SE didn't put an aluminum finish on the K700i. It would have looked sooooo fine.
12. There's no minute reminder for calls. I don't know why they removed it.
13. SMS is much much much faster than the T610. So's the menu.
Haven't tried the camera yet and I haven't encountered problems with the #2 key. I still have to play with the phone so I can make sure nothing is wrong with it. I have to review the complaints some had with their units.
I'll update this as soon as I am able.
[ This Message was edited by: dmxmd on 2004-07-28 03:24 ] | |
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engineer
Joined: Jul 02, 2004
Posts: 4
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Outlook sync-issue seems resolved. I installed Sync Station 1.2.9.1b which was put on the Web yesterday and suddenly everything worked.
Conclusion: wait 2 or 3 months before buying a brand new SE product. |
aseancat
Joined: Jul 14, 2003
Posts: 30
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Any comments on the battery life? Sony Specs sheet says 300hrs; Can't seem to juice out more than 6Hrs. |
JWBlue
Joined: Apr 10, 2002
Posts: 104
From: t68i to t610 to k700i to k750i
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my battery life is less than 24 hours  verry annoying! |
lordmat
Joined: Jul 21, 2004
Posts: 410
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wicked reveiw and phone
should be getting mine soon 
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GoH
Joined: Jun 23, 2003
Posts: 400
From: somewhere in sg
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erm, the zip file of original content seem to be gone... can someone upload it again pls? i want the rotating blocks screensaver really badly... u can just upload that too.
thx in advance. |
honus_700
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 88
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Hi I've just got this phone a couple of days and these are my first impressions. However since this thread is heavily populated by ppl that love the phone and are SE fans I thought I'd balance things out a bit.
Comparing this to a Nokia this phone is well ahead with technology, the connectivity, the camera quality (keep reading), the animated wallpapers, its aesthetics and loads more...but what this phones lacks in my opinion is its ergonomics. To highlight the difference:
Phone Call
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i) In general pretty much superb, good volume etc. The only thing I didn¡¦t like is that it doesn't retain a missed call time on the miss called tab¡Konly on the all type of calls tab.
Messaging
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i) The keyboard is for left handed users...the space key is on the # key so it makes it awkward for a right handed user to use
ii) The t9 on it is a bit hard to get used to¡Kthe "spell" feature is outside of the selections list and selected with the joystick. Also when you do select spell¡Kit comes up with the current "wrong" word so you have to delete it first to add. Furthermore to add a symbol you need to go through a menu to select a symbol, not just hold down a button. What is cool however is that it has picture smileys...hidden ones on this phone too! It also has groovy emoticons 
Phonebook
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The most important thing of a phone is its ability to act as a phone. The phonebook in my opinion isn't designed very well.
i) Firstly you can't search a whole name as you can on a Nokia. So if you have a lot of contacts then it¡¦s really hard to find the user.
ii) It only has a 512 capacity even though having a 41mb memory and it only allows either the sim contacts or phone contacts to be view at one time can't at the same time. However I guess the last sent sms numbers compensates slightly...
iii) The Options and new contacts menu is situated within the phonebook itself unlike a Nokia has its own outside options (Just a difference that you need to get used to)
iv) The multiple number entries into the phonebook do not allow you to have more than one type of a number eg. When you add a number it will let you choose home, mobile, work, fax or other. Once you have already stored a mobile number it will not allow you to store the next number as a mobile. What is cool though is you don¡¦t need to go into the contact itself you select a number you can left/right select it from the phonebook itself.
Calendar
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i) From what I can see you can only add appointments to a date. On a Nokia you can select from a range of ¡§notes¡¨ eg. Meeting, Call, Birthday, memo etc However I¡¦ve seen on the T610 there was an option to do this¡K
Menu
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i) It¡¦s not as smooth as everyone says it is >.<
Additional
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i) The night mode sucks! In full daylight the camera rocks...but when things get slightly dim the camera is atrocious. Very grainy...even the LED light helps just slightly. I think my old 7250i can do better.
ii) A thing everyone says¡Kbut actually I don¡¦t agree is the ¡§no expansion slot¡¨¡Kit¡¦s a phone¡Kgo get an mp3 player or a proper camera!
But that at the moment is actually it...This might just be a "I hate the phone" opinion..but actually i love it..i just thought that it'll be better to have a review that highlights some of the bad points and not just lots and lots of praise! Hope SE fans don't hit me!
Ps. Please correct me if any of this is wrong I haven't completely figured out the phone yet
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Chazzer3
Joined: Mar 23, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Edinburgh, UK
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I thought I'd post my review of the K700i now I've got round to doing it, I am only 13 so be nice, and If I find my review anywhere on the internet other than here, i will take legal action!
here we go, enjoy!
The K700i is a brilliant phone, it has loads of features, 0.3Megapixel camera, Best Screen available, MP3 player, 41MB, Mpeg4 player, just to list a few. It is a great phone, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a phone of great quality, with loads of features, but still good enough size and weight, read on to find out more about this fabulous phone.
Ease of Use
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As with Any Sony Ericsson the K700i is extremely easy to use, it combines great robust buttons, with a highly refined joystick, and two customisable soft keys. Also there is instant access to the Internet with a button on the side, and instant access to the camera on the other, there is also the volume buttons below. All the buttons are crafted very well, with high quality plastic, making them a joy to use. The keypad buttons are kind of see-through, and the soft keys are frosted. The on/off key is easy to use as well.
The phone itself is easy to use once you’re on; its menus are very simple, resembling those of most previous Sony Ericsson’s. The menu is fast, a huge improvement over my old T610, and so is the texting. The sub menus are also very easy to use with a new tabs system, resembling that of the P800/900/910, which is great and cuts down the sizes of the menu that is great.
Other features of the phone are very good too, the camera is very simple, using a point to shoot system, and as soon as you’ve taken your photo you have the possibility to send it straight away, via Bluetooth, E-Mail, IrDa, (infrared), or MMS, (Multi-Media-Messaging). The camera is also useable in dark with its built in light, (which is powerful enough to use as a torch as well. The screen is exceptionally easy to use; it has a TFT screen with a display size of 176x220. Which is a brilliant resolution for a screen the size of the T610’s. Overall the K700i is extremely easy to use.
Look and Feel
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This phone feels great when you put it in your hand; it is very solid, yet still very light. It is made of plastic, but the back of the phone feels, like a highly refined piece of aluminium. The buttons are soft, and never hurt your thumbs in a sudden text conversation. The cover and surrounds of the screen are smooth, and well made. The joystick has been in the making with Sony Ericsson’s for a long time now, which means that the pointer on the K700i is highly refined, and of great quality, it is astounding.
The phone also looks very nice. In all the pictures you see of it, you are only getting the stupid top down view, which is a pretty bad picture, so I’ve attached, a few pictures I’ve taken, at the bottom, for you to see the look of the phone, from other angles. Anyway, the phone looks great, it has an instant, “Wow,” factor, which is great if you like people to know you have a great phone. It has a lovely, grey colour on the back, and sliver-ish on the front, with a kind of raw metal frame around the screen. (Now sorry, but I’m not very good at describing, and it is A lot, I mean A LOT, nicer than I describe it). Anyway, the size is also great; for the amount of features it is very small. So overall, this phone is great looking, and feeling, a huge pro for this great phone.
Durability and Robustness
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There is not that much to say here, I haven’t dropped my phone too many times, but for the few I have, they’ve always been on hard surfaces, and, its fine, not even a scratch, nothing wrong at all. It is extremely strong for the plastic body it is made from. And also, just from putting it down on a table and moving it around, you don’t get a mark, whereas with some of Nokia’s ‘cheap,’ ‘Fascias,’ they scratch away the paint within a few weeks! There is also a rubber cover over the connectors on the bottom of the phone, of which I think is a great addition. Overall, the durability, and robustness of this phone are great, highly commended.
Reception Quality
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The reception quality is once again very good, for an internal antenna, it has great results, it provides a very, ‘alive,’ coverage of signal using the display, (by that I mean that it tells you constantly every millisecond the quality of signal, whereas in the lower down Nokia’s theirs seems to change every second. It also sucks the entire signal it can for you, so that you have the best quality. And the GPRS antenna does very well indeed also, it has full signal nearly constantly. But if you live in a horrific signal area, on the back of the phone there is a small hole, and to this you can attach any number of external antennas. Overall the signal quality is outstanding.
Battery Performance
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Here we come to a section, that isn’t that good, now before you go on, don’t skip this part after the first few lines, because it ends happily. Okay then, the K700i has a new Sony Ericsson battery, the BST-35, which is a great battery, but the standard firmware, (software), that comes with the K700i is very buggy, and one of the bugs, are that the battery meter displays the wrong amount of battery power remaining which in turn leaves you with a lot less battery life, most people will be saying across the world that the K700i battery is appalling, but with a simple firmware upgrade, that is free in almost any store, (so don’t pay for it!). The new firmware fixes 90% of all bugs, including the battery meter bug, giving you about a week and a bit of battery life, (much better!). Overall the battery life can be great, you just have to know what to do!
Value for Money
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This phone isn’t cheap when sim-free, (£249.99), but if you know the best way to do it, it can be very cheap. Okay, I wouldn’t buy it sim-free if I were you, the best way to do it, is to get it as an upgrade, or on contract, I got it as an upgrade, to my ageing T610, and I only had to pay a miniature, £20, which is great. I am very glad about that! So to you, the buyer, I highly recommend, that you either upgrade your existing handset, (if you’re on contract), or if you aren’t then I highly recommend that you switch to contract, and bother the company for it free, or you could get it for what they are asking, which will always be cheap. Overall, the phone can be extremely cheap!
Range of Features
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Well, the range of features on this phone is outstanding, I’ll start by listing a few off my head, MP3 Player, FM Radio, VGA Camera, with video, 41MB of memory, organizer, 3D Java graphics engine, greatly organised phonebook, T9, Long-Text, E-Mail, wap and web, GPRS, Bluetooth, IrDa, Super high quality TFT screen, lightweight, File manager, and many, many more. This phone has the most amazing amount of features, and this is without consuming any of the illustrious 41mb of memory!
Now then, this phone has the range of features to suit anyone, the MP3 player, and FM Radio, come out of the high quality speaker on the K700i, or through the outstanding handsfree kit included. And the new graphics engine is superb; it can play ludicrously high quality 3D games with ease. Overall the range of features is outstanding, I can’t list them all right now!
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Overall I recommend this phone to anyone, who loves his or her phones, this one is of such high quality, it is outstanding. Highly recommended to anyone!
**WARNING**
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This phone is normally supplied with a firmware titled R2A, which is bug-full; it decreases battery life, and numerous other things. Although the K700i is starting to be supplied with the new firmware, (R2L), there are still some with the old. So, I recommend you take your phone to the local phone shop, or CPW, (Car Phone Warehouse), or you service provider, (not recommended, but still possible), and ask for your phone, to be ‘flashed, or upgraded’ to the new firmware, R2L.
So,
New: R2L
Old: R2A/E
To see what firmware your K700i has, go to your main screen and quickly press, >*<<*<<*, (where < and > mean the movement of the joystick), then go to information, and software information, to see somewhere in there it will say either, R2A, R2E, or R2L.
Thanks, for reading, please rate, and I love to hear comments!
© Charlie Styr 2004
remember, don't take this as your own!
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mmsman
Joined: Dec 14, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: slovenia
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Quote:
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On 2004-06-15 15:57:49, caff wrote:
The camera shutter sound can be turn off by choosing the meeting profile !
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not in mine k700..... |
Chazzer3
Joined: Mar 23, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Edinburgh, UK
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my K700i not mine
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masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
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nearly 3 months after getting my first K700 and starting this review thread I bought a second one on Friday, this time a UK model and had both K700s updated to R2L at the same time.
the original one certainly has become creaky and I have happily lived with some of the quirks in the firmware, but I am happy to report that the new model with the new firmware now seems better than ever. The automatic phone lock works, the accepted caller list is no longer lost when the phone is powered off and on, the 2 key doesn't stick etc etc
In summary, after 3 months of using the K700 I am as happy today as the first day I took it out of the box. My 14 year old son is also happy now as he has given me his old T610 in exchange for my old K700 and within 2 hours had figured out all its new functions and filled up most of the memory with his favourite MP3s, themes (from esato) and other stuff!
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osj
Joined: Jul 24, 2003
Posts: 15
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and the battery?
i know its better on r2l but how much better?
thx |
devilfishes719
Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Posts: 19
From: Singapore
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@Chazzer3
great review |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
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cheers! watch out for my P910 review coming up soon (followed by the S700 review)  )
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lordmat
Joined: Jul 21, 2004
Posts: 410
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cool ur reveiws are great i cant wait for the p910 and the s700 reveiw that will be so good
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Access the forum with a mobile phone via esato.mobi
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Posted: 2004-07-27 16:40
