Sony Ericsson K850i

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From an audio/video perspective the K850i employs an auto screen rotation when the phone is flipped to landscape mode in the Gallery section only, or if a video is playing or image displayed. Sadly it doesn’t work with web pages. It may not be a Walkman handset, but the music output was pretty good. It lacked thump and wasn’t very loud, but it was good enough to drown out unwanted ambient sounds. I watched some videos without a hitch.

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Web features include TrackID, PlayNow and of course the PLUS application that comes preloaded. The phone also supports video calling, being 3G-enabled and all, but unfortunately we don’t have 3G in this country yet. The K850i supports HSDPA for faster connectivity and EDGE/GPRS/WAP. Bluetooth with A2DP profile is supported, so you might want to get yourself a good stereo Bluetooth headset if you’re really into music.

In the entertainment department the K850i has plenty on offer, from games like Marble Madness (which uses the movement of the phone to control the marble) to editing video and image files taken with the camera. The MusicDJ application allows you to create your own music. Well, not really, but you can create some really interesting ringtones. There's a voice recorder and a Bluetooth remote – which unfortunately refused to connect to anything, including my PC and other devices.