Sony Ericsson k750i | April 6, 2005

Last year I purchased a Sony Ericsson k700i and I have to say it’s the best mobile phone I’ve ever owned. However my one gripe is the camera. If you’ve seen any of the advertising you’ll know that the phone is marketed on the basis that its form factor looks like a digital camera. As such, you’d expect the phone to have semi-decent imaging capacities. Unfortunately you’d be wrong. I’d hoped that I could take the odd picture and upload it to flickr for a bit of moblogging action. However the quality of the images isn’t really up to that. Instead the camera has been relegated to taking disposable pictures of drunken nights out.

Now to be honest I didn’t really expect to get quality pictures. I knew the resolution wasn’t great, and after all, it’s only a phone. I’ve spoken to many people about this and they always tell me to carry a camera with me wherever I go. However I really can’t be bothered having another digital device loading down my pockets, just on the off chance that I want to take a picture. Instead I’d much prefer to have a single device that could do both jobs.

One of the other reasons I bought the k700i was it’s integrated mp3 player. I’m not a massive consumer of mobile music, but I occasionally find myself on a bus or train and it would be great to be able to listen to some tunes. When I first got the phone I transferred some music over, however the phone could only fit about two thirds of an album on it. I think I used the mp3 player twice before getting bored of the same 8 tracks. Instead I went out and bought an iPod shuffle and my k700i headphone are now gathering dust in a draw somewhere.

Sony Ericsson k750i

Enter the k750i, the k700i’s bigger brother. Now this looks like a really slick bit of kit. It has all the feature I like about the k700i, with the addition of a 2.0 megapixel camera and up to a gig of removable storage. The specs arn’t such that you’ll be throwing away your digital camera and mp3 player. However they are good enough to fill a useful niche, and I’ll be upgrading as soon as my contract allows. That’s assuming an even better phone isn’t release in the meantime.

Posted at April 6, 2005 11:05 AM

Comments

Jon P said on April 6, 2005 1:31 PM

gripe?

James Wragg said on April 6, 2005 2:01 PM

It’s chunky, granted, but Samsung are not hanging around with their 7 megapixel phone.. yes, that’s right 7!

http://www.samsung.com/PressCenter/PressRelease/PressRelease.asp?seq=20050310_0000102045#

Rob McMichael said on April 6, 2005 4:36 PM

Hey Andy nice to see you back and blogging again, hope all the free lance stuff is going well.

I have the same phone K700i, and whilst it is a good piece of kit, the battery life and call quality on my version are extremely poor. This may be because I got it early doors (on release). Also the stick on mine has decided to become very temperamental, not to mention the stickers falling off and the battery cover becoming very loose.

I have therefore decided to switch to Orange and go for the soon to be released 3G Nokia 6680. The phone has a 1.3Mpixel camera on the back that should be enough for the odd photo of the pier on fire. It also runs Symbian OS that means there are already a number of apps out there for it :) Orange are also doing a 2 year contract with 3 upgrades, so it should let me keep abreast with the latest gadgets.

I should be getting it next week, so will let you know my early thoughts.

Allan Rojas said on April 6, 2005 4:50 PM

IMO, Samsung can make 200Megapixel phones if they want but I’ll never ever back to them until they learn some concepts of UI design and “user-friendliness” …

I have a Sony Ericsson T610 and its just the best phone i’ve ever had… The interface is SO well designed!!!!

Kevinn said on April 6, 2005 5:31 PM

I’m excited to get my grubby hands on phone too. A great successor to my k700i.

The S700 also takes pretty good photos for a 1.3mp phone but expensive! Actually it bested most 1mp phones IMO. You might want to check that one out.

If SE comes out with a 2mp s700 model, that i’m sure to pick up quick!

Ben Ward said on April 6, 2005 7:16 PM

It does seem that the K700i has been /the/ phone of the past six months or so. I’ve had one myself since last September. On the whole very pleased, though the camera on mine has actually packed up. It seems that one of the colour receptors (or however the hell these things work) has packed in and I now get terribly banded photographs.

That 750 looks very nice - my digicam is only 2MP itself. Like you I can see the appeal of carrying it around everywhere, but the added bulk would be more of a pain than I can see the benefit for. Especially in Bracknell. There’re only so many times that concrete can be photographed and still be interesting, I’m sure.

Tig said on April 6, 2005 7:56 PM

The sound quality of these Sony Ericsson phones is great. The Music Player software is basic but does the job. One problem people have with Sony phones is that the headphones use a 2.5mm jack rather than 3.5 so you can’t easily plug in alternative headphones, however, the headphones supplied are adequate for listening to 128kbs MP3 files and you can send and recieve calls through the headphones and attached microphone without taking the phone out of your pocket.

My P910 is a fantastic device, easier to carry around than a pocketful of iPod, phone and PDA. Even at a couple of hundrerd quid it’s still cheaper than buying all 3 of these devices so it’s worth considering if you need that little bit more from a phone.

N0se said on April 7, 2005 7:21 AM

One gripe of the k700i is the inability to zoom in on photos. My plan of shooting a tube map for reference was scuppered. If the 750 has this feature, then I’m sold. No point having a 2MPixel photo if its zoomed to fit the tiny screen and you can zoom in.

ian said on April 7, 2005 8:59 AM

“taking disposable pictures of drunken nights out.”

thats exactly what mobile phone cameras are for ;-)

GaBuBu said on April 7, 2005 9:26 AM

Yeah, it is a good mobile, that K700i is a goob phone! Havent u experienced empty SMS sending to the first person in your Contact list? The battery anyhow needs to be better for that K700i!

Rob said on April 7, 2005 9:45 AM

Bluetooth always on really kills the battery life.

Agree with N0se, a Zoom feature would make me upgrade. And the ability to pause/forward/rewind video would be cool.

danbee said on April 8, 2005 2:59 PM

I’ve also earmarked the k750i for my next phone, but I’ve got no idea when O2 will have it!

Ricebowl said on April 9, 2005 7:09 PM

Hey Andy, you might be interested in taking a look at this link:

http://wired-vig.wired.com//wired/archive/13.04/start.html?pg=10

It’s about this new technology that can be used for mobile phones. You’ll get great quality pictures on your phone!

Andy Budd said on April 9, 2005 9:54 PM

Wow Ricebowl, that sounds fantastic.

Sian said on April 10, 2005 3:15 PM

I’ve got the s700i and love it, providing Sony keep up the standard up with their new models, I won’t be going back to Nokia or Samsung for sure.

simon said on April 11, 2005 3:35 AM

two words

i-mate jam …

get it .. it kicks the sonys butt !

zahir said on April 12, 2005 11:15 AM

Actually, I recently found out you can zoom in with the camera feature on the k700i which is great but the quality is still not that good. Looking forward to the new k750i.

Gideon said on April 16, 2005 10:28 AM

You should see the new phones SonyEricsson are bringing out… the W800 for instance is an awesome looking, tiny, lightweight phone with walkman capabilities and a 2mega pixel camera! This is what i call a sweet little phone.

http://www.sonyericsson.com/w800

MikeMayUK said on May 10, 2005 7:11 PM

I recently got rid of my p910i coz of its sheer size and poor camera quality, and am looking for a new phone by sony ericsson and the s700i i returned, because it took over an hour to transfer a 7meg Mp3 to it (wonder if anyone else had this problem it was on 02). And your PREVIEW of the K750i may have made my mind up. I spoke to a sales rep in my local orange store the other day and she told me there would be a D750i only available on T-MOBILE which is the same as the K750i but with T-MOBILE branding and fascia. However there is also a W800i essentially a K750i with a sony walkman branding and a 512meg duo bundled and extra connectivity to your hi-fi. Either way these three handsets carry almost identical features, but for music a 512meg is better than a 64meg in the case of the K750i, but at the end of it all i will be getting the one which comes out first on ORANGE, because they all look fantastic.

Sid said on June 3, 2005 2:51 PM

I jus got my K750i yesterday (on Orange) and i like it… alot! i’ve had both the T610 and the K700 (you could say ive become a SE fan) the 2mp camera is excellent. works and feels like a sony digital camera, the active lens cover is a great addition - works well and keeps the lens free from the crap i used to have clog up my K700 lens.. the light/flash is much improved on the k700i. look feel and style of the phone are great, menu system is much the same but more smooth. I’ve had the nokia 6630 3G phone, but didnt like the menu or functionality. SonyEricsson are definately on the way to becoming market leaders.

Andy Budd said on June 3, 2005 4:46 PM

Excellent. I had a look in the window the other day but they didn’t seem to be out yet. I must pop by the Orange shop soon to check them out.

alex said on June 17, 2005 5:00 PM

i just orderd my k750i on O2 today and i cant wait till it arrives, looks wicked!!! i was going to opt for the 6630i, but nokia need some orignal idears, 1.3mg sucks compard to 2mp and hotswapable media is better than takeing the dam batter out all the time!!!!

MikeMayUK said on July 4, 2005 6:18 PM

I would just like to say i am sticking with my Sony Ericsson P910i for a bit longer….although the K750i is a fantastic phone….I think i will wait for the W800i as this has all the features of the K750i but it is a Sony Walkman LOGOED phone which comes with a 512mb Memory Stick Duo in the box, which makes the phone a better value contract phone, although with Sony’s PSP (Playstation Portable) taking the DUO sticks, I am sure the price of these little wonders will drop, but then perhaps by the time the W800i arrives in the shops the samsung D600 will be a rival to it.

The D600 boasts all the features of the very popular D500 but it claims it can take memory cards, and has been upgraded to a 2megapixel camera, and a new 3D sound duel speaker, so the ringtones should sound fantastic on this model, u can find it here along with the other coming soon handsets:

MikeMayUK

Andy Budd said on July 4, 2005 8:06 PM

Nice looking phone. The key(board?) layout looks a bit more user friendly than the k750 as well.

Hawk said on July 29, 2005 4:09 PM

When i got my P900 about 2 yrs ago, i felt it is the best phone i ever buy (this would be my 9th cell phone, first was a nokia 101). I felt i will never ever need another phone.. this one has everything. However, the only thing i hated about it was the size. The cam was ok.. until i saw, felt, and tried the k750i. I did switch .. i sold my P900 (unlocked) and bought me one of those little life wonders called k750i. I am so in love with it. It has everything my p900 had, except for additional application capabilities, but then again, it’s not a laptop. I’ve always been debating buying me a digital cam, but never did, and never will, now that i have the k750i..With this k750i I got me a 1. amazing digital cam with 2mp and zoom + pic effects + flash, 2. digital camcorder (ofcourse not big enough to tape weddings) 3. walkman + mp3 player + radio, 4. MS Outlook email reader + address book + calender and task list.. etc., where it syncs with my laptop via infrared and wut i have on my laptop gets copied on my phone and wuts on my phone gets on my laptop.. so i don’t have to type the same entry twice, 5. Online gaming capabilitu with the PlayNow technology, and 6. the camera flash acts as a light (really nice strong blue (zion) light.. comes in handy when u need it at night (parking lots..etc.), and it can also send an SOS signal if u ever need emergency.. oh i almost forgot, and 7. a phone… i mean, wut more do u need from ur phone? to massage u? fine, put the k750i on vibration and keep calling urself from ur land line while the k750i is …. wherever u need the massage.. hahaha… anyways, thats my 2 cents worth of opinion.. and I say to the SE people, keep up the good work, and u should advertise the k750i as the “camera that wants to be a phone”… if u use it pay me..

MikeMayUK said on August 17, 2005 10:42 AM

I got a Sony ericsson W800i Yesterday, and i can say it was well worth the wait, I posted B4 to say that this was the one and it truly is the phone has it all, I have the Vodafone one which is no different to any other really coz the phone has no security locks like Voda Live! handsets do, u can add ur own ringtones, Mp3’s and it takes gr8 2 Megapixel Pictures at 1632× 1224 in fine mode, the menu’s are beautifully animated and quick, if u have had the K700i or even the K750i this is way better, the headphones take some getting used to but a phone with a 512meg DUO card included and 34 meg in the handset they is a lot in this small device when its in ur pocket, not only that it looks really nice, and build quality is second to none on this handset…..

yo said on August 28, 2005 6:41 AM

I don’t give a fuck this phone rule, stick your shits on your moms ass cuse I love the sony k750i