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- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 59 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Almost perfect, almost......"
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?.....
- 4 replies to this review
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I also own this awsome piece of phone. Let me tell you something: Bought it, traded it for a Nokia N93 for the optical zoom. Big, big,big mistake. Allthough the resolution is the same (3,2 MP), Nokia's pictures were crappy just because of the optical zoom. Let me put it this way:optical zoom - more lenses - poor quality pictures (I could see the pixels on the screen). So, I ended up selling the Nokia and buying back the K800i. Now I'm happy. If you want to tell me something, just write me (sin_sorin@yahoo.com)
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Hey Mike! great review mate! I live in new zealand, and this phone is for sale unlocked here. Whats the best carrier for this phone over there? I see you mentioned T mobile in your review? They ok??
Cheers Mate.
Regards
Chris. -
...because:
Every manufacturer of any storage device will advertise that:
1 Megabyte = 1000 Kilobytes
However this is technically not true. While this may be true with all SI units, KB and MB are not SI units.
The reality is:
1 Megabyte = 1024 Kilobytes
You are essentially losing some space there. You may also lose some space depending on how it is formatted: FAT, FAT32, NTFS, etc...
Look at anything like HDD and other memory cards and you will see this is ALWAYS the case. You will ALWAYS have less actual storage than theoretical storage. Its not sony's fault. -
I was thinking about the sony ericson W810i and the k800i. Reading reviews, comparing features, on and on... Thanks for your detailed review. This will be my first unlocked phone too and I have a T-mobile sim card. I find most carriers limiting and cingular had the w810i, but I didn't want a plan. I have been a pay as you go customer for almost a year and I love it. Well, thanks again and enjoy your phone. Have a wonderful day~ Nia from Washington, DC
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