Sony Ericsson K700i review

The video camera shoots 15-second clips with sound in two resolutions, 176x144 and 128x96, and you can choose from a similar list of effects. Alternatively, you can shoot as long of a clip as will fit on the handset's whopping 41MB of memory. Both photos and videos were good quality, but the K700i can't compete with a standalone camera. When finished with your work, you can save pictures and clips to your phone, upload them to an online album, or send them to a friend via a multimedia message.

With the headset acting as the antenna, the K700i's multimedia options include an FM radio, support for MP3 files, and a MusicDJ application for mixing your own ring tones. The handset comes with three Java (J2ME)-enabled games: Darts, RiverRaiders, and Super Real Tennis. You can download more titles, if you want. You can also personalize the phone with wallpaper, themes, sounds, and screensavers.

We tested the triband (GSM 900/1800/1900; GPRS) Sony Ericsson K700i world phone in San Francisco using AT&T Wireless service. Calls were clear with loud volume. On their end, callers said they could rarely tell we were on a mobile. Calls using the speakerphone were also clear, while the included earbud headset diminished quality only slightly. We also made calls with the Cardo Scala 500 Bluetooth headset; we encountered occasionally patchy reception but had no problem pairing the two devices. We noticed the phone's OS was occasionally sluggish, however. More than once, games froze when we tried to activate them.

Battery life for the K700i wasn't quite up to par, but it should satisfy most users. We managed 4.5 hours of talk time, significantly less than the promised 8 hours. Our standby time was 7 days, far less than promised 12.5 days. According to the FCC, the K700i has a digital SAR rating of 1.03 watts per kilogram.