-
"Almost perfect, incredibly functional" on by spudskier
Pros: 3G, beautiful screen, 3Mp cam, xhtml, easy to navigate, long battery, TONS of features, small and lightweight, great sound quality
Cons: Expensive, keys a bit too small, slightly quiet
Summary: This phone is amazing. For a true gadgeteer, you'll be in heaven. The 3mp camera is great (video is eh...) and the keys are a bit too small, but the phone is beyond useful, intuitive and well planned out. Menus are easy to navigate, and there are more settings, options, and smart setups than you can shake a stick at! The phone is highly intuitive and flexible (from the 6 Alarms to the "profiles" for having a certian ring volume or answering settings for certain places like the office, home, car, etc...)
It's very small, easily fits in the pocket. The only thing that is slightly difficult is getting used to where to place the earpiece to optimally hear the call, but if you've had a Sony before, you'll be fine.
Haven't made a video call yet (not available in my area) but it's easy to do. Text messaging is a breeze and even tries to anticipate the next word you want to type.
It's expensive because it's not linked to a service (unlocked) but I wanted an unlocked phone that I could take to other counties and slip other Sim cards into. One last thing is the memory slot. The M2 sticks aren't available yet in the US and are very expensive on ebay so i've held off adding a memory card, but I do currently have 65mb of free space in the phone right now. When I get the memory stick I'll be adding MP3s immediately, videos, and taking even more pictures.
Camera is slightly less intuitive than the rest of the phone, no rapid fire shooting here. But it's still a good camera.
Ear piece is slightly quiet but very high quality, works well with a bluetooth headset. and the FM radio is a nice touch, although it requires you to plug in the headphones to use it... can't blast the radio through the speakerphone, just mp3s... darn
GREAT PHONE!!! If you've got the cash and want the features, you can't get a better phone in this class!! -
"Almost perfect, almost......" on by Mike Rios-Belden
Pros: 3 mega pixel camera w/A REAL FLASH; full functioning MP3 player with stereo bluetooth Profile support (plays music over a pair of bluetooth headphones); battery; ability to surf the web and push email
Cons: The expandble format of memory media it utilizes, Sony's new proprietary M2 (very expensive); only expandable up to 1GB, 15 FPS max at MPEG4 video (M2 write speeds?); finding support for push email
Summary: To put it mildly, this phone kicks major ASS! Sorry, let me explain where it is that I'm coming from and why it is that I so firmly believe this. You see, I've been a T-Mobile subscriber for well over three years, and do you know what? There phones blow. T-Mobile subscribers always get everyone else's sloppy seconds. If you have T-Mobile, then you know what it is I'm talking about. I just recently renewed my contract with T-Mobile last December and got a Samsung SGH-T809 out of the deal, a great phone (if you have T-Mobile) but in the greater scheme of things it's kind of mediocre as far as multimedia phones go. After surfing the web about 3 weeks ago I came upon a review for the K790a. After reading the feature set and CNET's review I was jazzed! I had to have this phone! Fast forward to today and here I sit with a K800i in my hand. It was worth every penny of the $400 I paid for it on EBAY!
Opening it and taking it out of the box I couldn't help but notice the heft of the phone. It has that high quality electronics feel that you get from holding an expensive and well made piece of electronics. It just feels solid in your hand. At first i wasn't that impressed with the design but after looking at it in person I grew to appreciateUpdated
to detail that the designers put into it! Don't get me wrong, no one will confuse this for a Chocolate, but its mat black finish with slivers of polished metal give it a hint of elegance rarely seen in a world populated by Razors. It even has a phone strap loop btw! Oh how I've missed you phone strap loop. The buttons are also exceptional, with a nice tactile feel that makes the keys bounce back a little after key presses, excellent! The screen is extremely bright and clear with the abilty to dim in degrees of ten from one hundred. Oh, and before I forget the screen is also fairly easy to see in daylight. On the down side of things, in regards to it's external design, are the highly polished metal lens cover that attracts tons of fingerprints and feels like it could break off fairly easily, the cramped menu buttons (that make one handed operation a breeze btw. Intentional?), and a battery cover that can be frustratingly difficult to get off (for those of us with more than one battery).
After getting over the initial 'WOW' shock of holding it I put in my Sim card in and plugged it in. After charging it for a few hours I was able to get it up and running with little to no effort via the pre-installed set-up wizard! I have to admit that this was my first time buying an unlocked phone and after this intend to get all of my phones in this manner, or until T-Mobile gets some real phones available for it's service here in the states! Using this phone made me realize just how much I missed my Sony Ericsson mobile. After working with this phone for the week or so that I've owned it, it has become painfully obvious to me just how clunky the OS on my Samsung SGH-T809 really is! Plainly put the OS on the K800i is just more intuitive. Logic and experience seem to be the key guiding forces behind the design of this phone's OS. On my Samsung I couldn't even manage my contacts like I can on my new Ericsson. Inorder to copy my contacts to my SIM on my Samsung I had to connect it to a PC and use the Samsung's bundled software to manually copy them on to my SIM! That would be great if I had a PC huh? Too bad I own a MAC (which it is very compatible with btw, but more on that later), LAME! With the K800i I can manage all of my contacts using just the phone! Another good example of it's superior OS would be the ability to view things in landscape while browsing the web or just looking at pictures! You can even play certain video games in this manner using the two buttons on the top like A and B buttons like you would on a traditional game pad! Brilliant! There are also specialized shorcuts all over the phone for things like taking pictures and playing music! All in all it is a very well thought out phone. Though I guess my one complaint would be the noticable slowdown when navigating the various menus or changing apps. It won't kill you or anything, just be aware that it DOES slow down a tad.
The biggest draw would have to be the camera that the phone is named for. It's nice, just don't expect to become a prize winning photo journalist with this thing. Picture quality is nice with little to no image artifacts, though I think Sony could have gone with a faster processor. It seems to take a while before your image appears on the screen. It's no where near as fast as my Casio, so don't take this thing to your kids soccer game or anything. Oh, and did I mention that this thing has a real Xenon flash? Nice. Would it have been too much to include an optical zoom on this thing Sony? Don't use the 16x digital zoom btw, your pictures lose resolution and end up looking like ass. All in all it's a great point and click camera.
I've read some reviews dismissing this cell for it's MP3 playback functions. Well, let me just tell you that it's kicks ass! I love it and when you pair it with optional the HBH-DS970 (which I have!) Sony Walkman Bluetooth headset it's a no brainer! This is a serious contender for the Ipod's and it's strangle hold on the portable MP3 player market! I've already thought of putting up my 30GB Ipod picture up for auction on EBAY since acquiring it! In my opinion, it's music browsing and playing abilities are on par with the Ipod's (for what that's worth) not with standing it's ability to come up with playlist on the fly! My only major complaint with this phone then comes with this next key feature, Sony's choice in memory expandibility! What gives with the introduction of yet ANOTHER proprietary memory format?!? And after I just came to terms with the memory stick duo too!..... I got a 1GB M2 card for my K800i from an import shop on EBAY. It cost me nearly twice as much as another type of flash card would've for the same amount of memory! Thanks Sony! Did I mention that it's ONLY expandable up to 1GB (so far anyways. The W810i supports Memory Stick Duo, by the way, and up to 4GB of it, or so I here. Hmmmm.....)? Whatever the case, I think it's Mp3 player is a winner and way better than my old Samsung's.
DId I mention that it also takes calls? It's reception is great! I think the speaker is loud enough, though the speaker sound from the speaker phone could be a little louder for my taste... You can also play music over the external speaker? Very cool, I used it all of the time at the office with my Samsung, too bad it'ld kill the batteries life after only about an hours worth of play, not the case with the K800i! I also think that sound coming from the K800i's mono speaker sounds better than my Samsung's stereo speakers! It doesn't distort at it loudest like my Samsung's.
For what it's worth, if you want a new phone and don't mind paying for it, then this is the phone to own! It's the equivalent of and Ipod Nano (that plays videos!), low end mega pixel camera, portable internet browsing device, and cell phone all mixed into one! Buy it!Updated
It was a breeze to synchronize my address book and phone contacts via Bluetooth! For the first time since purchasing my G4 PoweBook I've been able to save all of my contacts on to my MAC! MAC owners must get this cell! Oh, and before I forget, if you buy a 1GB M2 card beware that it only has 911MB of available space! What gives Sony?..... -
"Great phone; minor problems" on by VoteforHe
Pros: Great design; awesome camera; large screen; decent music playback; intuitive design; bluetooth works; countless features
Cons: Keypad compressed because of screen size; processor lag; synchronization software very difficult to use (but eventually works); slow camera capture speed; low video resolution; lens cover slips down
Summary: The Sony Ericsson K800i is a wonderful phone, with minor flaws. I'll expand on the pros and cons I have listed above.
Great design: It's going to be James Bond's phone!
Awesome camera: Although there are cameras with higher resolutions, the 3.2 MP is more than enough for a camera phone.
Large screen: The 2"+ screen is great for previewing camera shots and pretty much everything else. There is some need to switch between portrait and landscape modes; this is generally intuitive (some practice needed), and the buttons and joystick realign themselves well.
Decent music playback: The music quality sounds decent on the K800i, especially since it is a phone. No bass, however.
Intuitive design: The menu system is very easy to navigate, and the shortcut buttons and top-most camera buttons are great.
Bluetooth works: Not highspeed bluetooth, but works fine.
Expandable memory: As soon as the 1 GB M2 memory stick is available, I'm getting it.
Countless features: It takes a while to run through all the features on this phone, including 5 alarm settings, infrared support, voice control, built-in secondary video-call camera, screensavers, games, very basic photo editor, ability to record phone calls...okay, I think that's it, but I'm sure there's something else I'm missing.
Keypad compressed: The large screen size on this candybar phone comes at the cost of the keypad; buttons are squeezed a little bit tightly, but it's easy to get used to, even with large fingers.
Processor lag: My main issue is that the processor is slow. Sometimes, when browsing photos or running Java applications, the phone "freezes," and takes as long as 30 seconds to catch up and respond.
Synchronization software: The synchronization software is very difficult to set-up and use. It is not very easy, but I was able to make it work after about 30 minutes. I usually use bluetooth file transfers, though the bluetooth is not high-speed. The packaged music-transfer program still does not work for me; instead, I just drag the mp3s I want into the Music folder via bluetooth (or USB).
Slow camera capture speed: This phone will not replace a digital camera. There is no optical zoom (some Nokias and Asia-exclusive phones have this), and the response time is long (takes a while to focus).
Low video resolution: Given the quality of the camera, video resolution is a bit low. Originally, this phone was to feature QVGA (320x240), but is not built in.
Lens cover slips down: Slightly annoying is that the Cyber-shot-style sliding lens cover will slide down in your pocket.
FM Radio: Radio quality is fantastic, but I wish it would work without plugging in the earbuds as a receiver.
Proprietary memory format: Why not just Memory Stick Pro Duo?Updated
Radio on Speakerphone: This actually is possible. Turn on the radio; click more; option 5: "Turn on speaker"
Call Volume: Call volume is out of 8 "circles". 4 or 5 out of 8 (default) is somewhat low. If you turn the volume up to 8 out of 8, it is decent (though not fantastic).
Flash: Far from perfect, very bright but focused on a small area. It would be better to use natural lighting.
Photo conditions: Outdoor, well-lit photographs come out extremely well; indoor photos are a bit blurry.
Other features: BestPic (Takes several pictures, and you choose the best one.) Once again, the camera is too slow for this feature to be truly useful. 3G: Connects to internet, gets your e-mail, and even blogs. I personally don't use it. -
"YOU CAN GET THIS PHONE FOR 200 ONLY AT CINCINNATIBELL IN OHIO WOOOOP" on by DominicanSpirit14
Pros: great camara really good sound quality awsome alll over
Cons: really nothing everything works i guess the only thing is if its in my pocket the music player goes on automaticly but i really could care less
Summary: This is the phone of the year i love this phone it replaced my i-pod digital camera and my old phone top of the line great screen and im glad i got it it replaced my 3 horhays this is my main phone and i cant live with out it
-
"Great Phone with 2 Flaws" on by ghg22
Pros: camera; software; nice feel; well-made
Cons: non-Cingular; camera cover
Summary: 1. The camera cover is too easy to slip open. Should have been made with a tighter feel.
2. Other than its nice camera, I bought it for its 3G ability. Unfortunately, it is incompatible with Cingular's 3G service (phone uses 2100, Cingular uses 850/1900). Also, using the regular GSM service is hit-and-miss because the phone doesn't support Cingular's 850.
It works nicely after I switched to T-Mobile but, alas, T-Mobile does not support 3G yet.
Write a Review
Compare to other cell phones
Compare Selected
Check coverage in your area 
%20-%20Cell%20Phones%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/sony-ericsson-k800i-cyber/4852-6454_7-31982592.html&x_breadcrumb=8900:3488:3504:6454&x_arw_bkts=MAD:high_wireless_switcher){kind=small}