Updated 26 May, 2012, 4:18 pm IST

REVIEWS / MOBILE PHONES / SONY ERICSSON

Sony Ericsson K850i

05 Feb, 2008, 4:00 pm IST | by Shayne Rana | Mobile phones

Camera
Now to the most important aspect of the K850i: its 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with Xenon flash. I can sum this up in one sentence: not too good. Yes, I’m as surprised as you are. First of all, the camera was way too slow, unless it was a flaw with this particular piece. (I doubt it though.) No mater how much I adjusted the settings I just couldn’t seem to get a really good shot.

On the plus side, if you’re into closeups, the Macro mode is excellent. You can get some really good closeups of whatever catches your fancy. The colors are quite good, even from up close.

Under different lighting conditions, and with various settings as well as in simple auto mode, I was not quite happy with the results. Normal pictures in daylight seemed fine, but they looked more worthy of a 2 MP camera (and certainly not a Cyber-shot). The colors appeared okay, but on closer inspection a watery effect was evident. Oh, and the Xenon flash didn’t do much good in the dark, so make sure you go up close to your subject. Really close.

Battery
The K850i's battery was above average. It easily lasted two days' usage, which included music, some Internet browsing, a decent amount of calls, messages, and Bluetooth usage. So no problem on the battery front.

The Bottomline
There are many things I liked about the camera – the design, for one. I also liked the music player, the battery life, games, the camera's Macro mode, and the semi-touch-sensitive display. On the whole the phone is quite basic and doesn’t offer much for its price. At Rs 19,000, it may seem one of the more affordable 5 megapixel cameras, but give it some thought before you decide either way. Don't buy it for the camera though – this Cyber-shot is shot and I’m quite appalled.

Specs

Sony Ericsson K850i
Network	GSM 850/900/1800/1900, EDGE, HSDPA
Physical	102 x 48 x 17 mm, 118 g
Display	240 x 320, 256k colors, TFT, 2.2 inch
Memory	40MB internal, M2 for external
Media	MP3, AAC, Stereo FM with RDS, 3GP, MPEG4, Voice Recording
Camera	5 megapixels, auto focus, Xenon flash, 3LED for video, secondary video call camera
Connectivity	USB v2.0, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
Battery	400 hrs standby, 5.5 hrs talk
Street Price	Rs 19,000

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Tags: 5 megapixel

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