Sony Ericsson K810i

There's no doubt that Sony Ericsson phones are the new in-thing. From being just another mobile manufacturer, it has risen to be a formidable competitor to Nokia and others. Perhaps the only problem with SE phones is that you can’t always trust them to be consistent.

Take the K810i for instance. As an upgrade for the K800i, it's a sorry attempt. But as a standalone device it’s brilliant, at least in certain aspects. Before anything else, let’s talk about the form factor.

Speaking of the design of the K810i, SE has taken big strides in making its phones look like no other. In many instances, they managed this by compromising on ergonomics. The K810i, for one, has tiny rounded keys that look uncomfortable. (I, however, liked them.) They are evenly spaced and are big enough to hit accurately with only one eye open. Having said that, I won't deny the keys look rather ugly.

At 106 x 48 x 17 mm, the phone is quite bulky and causes a rather alarming looking bulge in your pocket. I feel the 3.2 MP camera is one of the reasons for this excess flab. So you need to decide what is it you really need before you pick up this handset.

If you look closely, you will see two keys just above the 2-inch TFT screen on either side of the earpiece. These are camera shortcuts that enable direct access to the pictures clicked. For navigation the phone is equipped with a five-way joystick, which is quite responsive.

My fat fingers had a bit of a problem using the two open keys (Call and Menu) and the Back and Cancel buttons. On several occasions I ended up hitting the Shortcut key. The screen supports 240 x 320 pixels with up to 256k colors and is adequate to the task.

If you have an SE phone, there is absolutely no reason why you should go for the K810i. There is a good chance that your phone has more to boast about than this one, unless you are looking for a 3.2MP camera. More on that later!

The interface is user-friendly, but slight slower than the last one I tested (the W580i). You will notice this 'lag' when you start typing a message. One good thing about the phone is that it’s well equipped with connectivity features. It supports Bluetooth, USB and even infrared. It also features 3G, for which SE has included a secondary QVGA camera just above the screen for video calling. Here's to a speedy rollout of 3G services in India!

What I didn’t like about the phone is that the bundled browser is next to useless. It opens only WAP-enabled sites, so you have to either download Opera Mini or forget about surfing at all. For additional memory the phone takes memory stick micro (M2); the slot is on the left side. Be warned that it tends to get more sluggish than it already is if you max out the data on the card and try accessing it.

It also has the usual assortment of applications bundled with most SE phones. FaceWarp, for instance, is a cool application that allows you to distort any pictures you click. Just check out the handsome dude below.

The camera is brilliant. This is something that SE takes pride in with the K810i. So we ran the camera through some comprehensive tests. The fact that it features 3.2 MP is of absolutely no use, since blowing the picture up to its actual size will show too much noise to bear.

Photos were decent; a lot crisper than what most mobile cameras churn out these days. But one problem was that the most pictures turned out dull. You can get up to 2048 x 1536 pixels, and the autofocus is decent. You can shoot video in QCIF format.

If you want a good music player you need to look at the Walkman series of SE phones, for this one is just average. The FM radio reception quality is good, but listening pleasure is reduced considerably because of the bad quality of the bundled earphones.

If you listen to songs, click a lot of pictures (with flash) and make around 10 longish calls a day, better carry your charger with you. I wasn’t very happy with the battery. The manual claims it offers up to 400 hours of standby, but I doubt it.

The K810i offers nothing new, and at its price of Rs 14,500 is not value for money. Of course, it has a good camera, but that’s not the first thing in your list of necessities in a phone, is it? For a lower price you can get another SE phone – the w580i – which offers not only great music, but also a good camera and a pedometer.

Specs

Sony Ericsson K810i
Network	UMTS / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900
Physical	106 x 48 x 17 mm, 103g
Display	2-inch TFT, 256K colors (240 x 320 pixels)
Memory	64 MB built-in user available memory, Memory Stick Micro (M2)
Camera	3.2 Megapixel
Connectivity	USB, Bluetooth with A2DP profile, GPRS, 3G, Infrared
Battery	Up to 400 hrs standby, 10 hrs talktime (according to product manual)
Street Price	Approx. Rs 14,500