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This thread is for Sony Ericsson K800i Cyber-shot reviews only. The intention is to start one single review thread for each new model. Feel free to start other threads in the Review forum.
Comments about the reviews should be posted in other threads.
You will find one review here
http://www.esato.com/reviews/sonyericssonk800/
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Posted: 2006-07-20 18:22:48
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reviews anyone?
lol
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Posted: 2006-08-26 22:00:48
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I dont like the k800i
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Posted: 2006-08-27 02:21:19
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I do Like
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Posted: 2006-08-27 12:02:38
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K800i is a good phone........
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Posted: 2006-09-03 09:10:56
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Loved the K750 & W800, cannot make up my mind about the K800.
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Posted: 2006-09-07 16:39:39
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Curretnly liking this phone very much, excellent camera despite what people say about the n73 being better...nice design as well although the joystick could be better. Audio playback is pretty good as well and works well with my hbh ds970 bt headset.
Alll in all a very good phone, i quite like it and havent really had any issues with it. Internet browsing is pretty good i have to admit...email works very well...downloads my email from gmail every couple of hrs.
At the moment cant fault the phone.
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Posted: 2006-09-07 16:49:39
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I don`t have this kind of phone but from what I read and heard...
this phone is really good if you`re into pictures and images...
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Posted: 2006-09-07 16:50:39
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really nice screen..cant get enough of it...horribel keypad...i get tried writin a tet msg..joystick??? dont kno about it..hope it doesnt get messed up..so far so good..
sound quality wid hpm-70s is good..cmera is good specially the best-pic function..its nice..
had a couple o bugs in the beginnin..crashed usin mobiluck..wouldnt regester any calls i would make , recieve,or miss..would have to clear the whole call log...
when the screen fades away for standby..first the bottom half of the keys goes out..then the top half and the screen..meanin first buttons 789*0# go out then 123456 and then the keys above dat and then the screen and its the opposite when u press a key...first thought it was a bug and didnt like it at all..but no i actually like it..its a cool effect
picture dj is good..specially teh clipart..flash is good for nite pics..
and overall a nice phone.
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Posted: 2006-09-09 12:20:28
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My Review:
After owning several Samsungs, several Motorolas, a Nokia, and the K750i, I've gotten my hands on a brown (shiat color!) K800i, and I am convinced that it is absolutely the best phone on the market. Here's why:
First and foremost, it is a phone, so call reception should be the most important characteristic. I've found the reception of the K800i to be relatively SPECTACULAR on T-Mobile. My old Samsung S105 had great reception, but when I "upgraded" (I use the term loosely) to the E315, it was horrible. On down the line, I got a hold of the Motorola V300, which had decent reception. The SE K750i had pretty poor reception, usually 1-3 bars. My brother's W800i had usually 2-4 bars. I've had the K800i for a little over a month, and I can honestly say that reception is consistently 3-5 bars almost everywhere. And it's not just because they've tuned the bars to make it look like you have better reception; the improvement actually shows in call quality and stability. I used to get dropped calls on EVERY SINGLE one of my previous phones (except for the Samsung S105, which I still think is an awesome phone), but I have yet to have a dropped call on my K800i. I am sad to admit that I used to think that having dropped calls was standard and acceptable. Now I know it is not.
Phonebook was highly customizable, you can specify individual ringtones, pictures, and other personal info for each contact. One thing I don't like about SE phones though is that for speeddial, you hafta press the button and then press call, whereas on the Samsung ones (or was it Motorolas?) you just press and hold the number to speeddial.
Camera: The camera is awesome. I usually have it on Auto mode, Infinity Focus (auto focus takes too long for me), Normal Metering (I don't really like Spot Metering), and Auto White Balance, and pictures come out clear, bright, and colorful. The image stabilizer is actually overhyped, because it's only available in the Landscape and Twilight Landscape presets, and it's just not that useful or efficient anyway. Image Stabilizer is supposed to be used with zoom anyway, but seeing how this phone only has digital zoom and no optical zoom, it's quite useless. The Xenon flash is awesome in low-light conditions, but ABSOLUTELY DO NOT use it when there's sufficient light (or even semi-sufficient light), as it will actually DARKEN the picture. Compared to stand-alone cameras, it holds its own. Only problem is lack of optical zoom.
The BestPic function is actually better than I thought. One thing about it is it's actually extremely fast. Takes about 1 second to take 9 pics. Then you get to choose which ones to save (you can save all 9 if you want, but you don't have to save any). One particular use is for slow-mo frame-by-frame shots.
As for the video camera, it's quite insulting that they call it "High Quality Video." Yeah, 176x144 resolution is really high quality. Come on Sony, you couldn't slap in a VGA video camera? Well, at least the sound is decent in videos.
Note: The pictures of my phone were taken with my bro's K800i. The photos of the black one were taken with my K800i.
Music Player: I find it better than the K750i and my bro's old W800i. The interface is improved, and the music just sounds clearer--it's like you can hear more sounds or more channels. There is a loss of the MegaBass equalizer preset, but I don't really think it was really that great on the K750i or the W800i. I just use the manual equalizer and raise the 1st, 3rd, and 5th bars up, and lower the 4th bar down. I listen to music on my HPM-70s, and I personally think it sounds better than any iPod. Remember - the bundled headphones suck, so get either the HPM-70, the HPM-82, or the bluetooth stereo HBH-DS970 (though I cannot comment on this item since I do not own it).
The video player is quite awesome as well. It can play at a 320x240 resolution, which is quite sufficient and comparable to other video players out there. The 2" screen is quite nice and a great improvement over the K750i/W800i. I've watched entire South Park episodes on this thing!
Other features: (Note: for T-Mobile it's $6/mo for unlimited 56K-speed internet) The built-in web browser sucks ass because it's so slow, but Opera Mini works very well (even though it's not as beautiful). The email functions on the phone kind've suck, as you cannot navigate your email folders. You can only download emails from your "Inbox" folder, which is retarded. I've used a plethora of other email applications from
http://www.getjar.com such as Flurry and Repora, and I have decided that using Opera Mini is still the most efficient way to get my email.
It lost the Flashlight that the K750i had! But at least someone provided the Torch hack that forces the orange/red autofocus light on.
The video call feature would've been great, if only anyone else around here had it (California)! Unfortunately, no one does. It would have been a decent mirror if the picture of yourself wasn't so small.
There are alot of other apps you can get for this phone from
http://www.getjar.com, from which my favorite is Google Maps Mobile (other than Opera Mini, of course). I've converted from Yahoo Maps to Google Maps a few months ago, and I was thrilled to find out that they actually developed a mobile version for it. One thing the mobile version has over the full version is that you can check traffic! And it's actually accurate!
Connectivity-wise, there's USB, Bluetooth, IrDA, and Internet.
Battery Life: I just feel that the battery life is actually better than the K750i, despite the lower rating of 7 hours talk time. And the indicator is more accurate too! On the K750i, the battery bar keeps fluctuating--one minute it would be at 65%, the next it would be a 33%, and the next it will be 48%. The battery indicator on the K800i is consistent for the most part. Notably, using the speakers doesn't drain as much battery as it did on the K750i.
Gripes: Memory Stick Micro M2. $$/$$$. Unnecessary "upgrade". Ordered a 1GB SanDisk brand one on Amazon just to avoid giving Sony more money (and also because it was "only" $53). I say we all boycott Sony memory sticks and all buy other brands!
Sony's PC Suite sucks. Just install the USB drivers and install MyPhoneExplorer instead.
Design: The phone has a very sexy candybar form. The bulge on the camera actually makes for a good deskstand. Good solid feel on the front, and soft sueded touch on the back, with a big beautiful screen. The joystick feels considerably sturdier than on older models. The keypad isn't that great. It would be nice if they actually spaced the buttons apart like on the W810 so that you could dial by feel. However, typing isn't as bad as it's made out to be once you get used to the T9 word recognition system (hold * to enable/disable). I actually prefer it to oldschool style where you press 6 once for m, twice for n, and thrice for o--which my brother still uses religiously.
The "Internet" button on the left is quite useless since I use Opera Mini to access the web, so I wish there was a way to reprogram it. Unfortunately, SE only allows reprogramming of the joystick directional buttons.
The menus are very intuitive, and you could create your own themes! With animations if you like!
Conclusion: I love this phone to death and wouldn't trade it for any other, though I hate Sony for some of its problems (M2 expensive!). With Sony it's always a love/hate relationship, but in this case love overcomes. An excellent phone, camera, mp3 player, AND web browser all-in-one with great connectivity.
I give it
8.5/10
Edit: After about nine months, my phone now has the WSOD. I am in the process of flashing w/ Wotanserver. I am starting to suspect that the camera is not actually 3.2MP. I would speculate that it just takes a 2.0MP picture, resizes it, and processes it. Most pictures won't come out well unless there's (1) good lighting and (2) you're holding the camera steady. Flash or not, low light performance still sucks most of the time. And as always, there's ton of color noise, which I have to use Photoshop to postprocess. Parts of my keypad are also starting to peel off. Calendar reminders suck because (1) you can't change tones for it and (2) the default tone is not loud at all. Oh well. At least M2 prices are dropping. I still love my phone
D. I have changed the rating from 9.5 down to 8.5 to reflect the update.
[ This Message was edited by: ch33sehead on 2007-06-07 20:55 ]
Update 2: I now have had this phone for over a year, and I am deathly afraid to turn off my phone. The WSOD might strike if I do, and then I'd have to go through all the trouble of reflashing it, even though it can be done for free. It has happened to me twice already. I now have a REAL camera (a Canon SD1000), so my k800i camera is just a gimmick now. My keypad is about half peeled off, but all of the buttons still work perfectly. Call quality is still great, and so is battery life (no replacement battery - I'm still using the factory one).
I'm going to have to agree with all of chris_de_ze's complaints, except for the joystick/keypad ones, and disagree with most of NewHolland's points. Yet, I've done a large amount of research on newer models from different makes and cannot find a suitable replacement despite all of my complaints.
[ This Message was edited by: ch33sehead on 2008-01-13 21:25 ]
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Posted: 2006-10-14 23:21:55
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