Sony Ericsson K850 Review by naveen_reloaded

[naveen_reloaded]

Ok guys here is my review..






Note : Photos shown are taken from other sites ... coz @ present i dont have a digi cam to take photo .. so please excuse me...









ok before i start anything here i want say one thing :
this whole k850 sits on very new platform ie A200and as a result the software is BUGGY .. but the upoming software and press release have confirmed that it will be solved in passing months..



Specifications :

Screen : 2.2 inch TFT ( not the usual TFD screen which is present in k800)
Battery : 30% increased battery life than the present k800 phone
Dimension:102 x 48 x 17 mm (perfectly fits into palm)
Weight : 118g ( but feels lighter than the k800 .. weird!!)
Camera : 5 MEga pixel with flash, 3 LED ( point to note , useful in case of video recording in night) , Autofocus , automatic shutter open.. , with specially designed really cute circular BLUE light all around the lens when the cam is switched on



First impression :








firstly to say i have went through nearly all review in the net ... but when i first recieved the phone and opened it ... I was amazed...

really beautifully crafted phone.. thnks for italian designer( heard it somewhere but not sure)

switched it on and went thru the usual setup in all SE phone ...

DESIGN :

As i said its really beautiful and perfectly fits into the hand...







It has this really glossy looking surface which takes this phone to next level of richness...but also remember its finger print magenet... meaning it can easily get u caught if u had commited a murder ... just kidding..
Take it into the darkness... the keypad lights brilliantly conquers ur eyes..
each alphabet is neatly crafted and really nicely visible .. not have to search thru a lens...

Keypad:

Ok this where the real stuff of review begins...

U see.. SE has really went thru the design to put upa design / a layout that is really really OUT of this world...the navigation or dpad now surrounds the 2 and 5 .... and also the three new soft keys introduced as a result of new platform ie A200 PLATFORM...

ok come to reality .. how good / bad it is ??

i have been using it now for say 4 hours...

here is my take..
the middle d pad is hard... but on the long run it will defenitely be worth .. (actually its not that hard than those found in nokia..)
and the three touch sensitive keys ...
well it took me a while to practice on which position should i press..
but take my advice : donr press .. just move ur finger "lightly" over them, it will detect it .. seiuosly .. if u know where to press it .. it actully becomes VERY easy to do many task.. gentle touch.. msg sent/navigation completed / things go on...

MY verdict...

GET USED TO IT ... U WILL LOVE IT ..



FUNCTIONALITY / FIRMWARE:

function wise .. all i can say is this new flatform A200 is very advanced..
it comes with JAVA engine 8 ( very latest with many hot features like motion sensor to ontrol the apps.. advanced api1s for next level java apps..)

Overall the phone lags slightly than the k800.. but its kinda mixed .. say in some places in lags while in others places its a bit faster..
but overall its slightly slower..but that will be solved soon thru the next update..


DOWNSIDE:
at present there are some bugs/software(its software not hardware problem..remember) as a result few presses are not recognised and few presses are taken as two.. but this is nothing ... coz it will be fixed in the upcoming updates...

RENEWED MEDIA PLAYER :



if u ever seen PSP u will realise soon all the navigation in the media playeer very similar in k850...
it really rocks..!!! no other word...

ok how is the music quality: to tell the truth its very good and dont forget this has got MEGABASS option which is only found in W series.. and also remeber this is VERSION 3.0 of thier walkman platform...while differing from the original W series by missing out SenseMe feature.
Overall the player is superb... better than my friends Ipod!!
but as i have read all over the net.. this player is not yet the perfect one ...meaning upcoming updates will soon increase its quality much more..

CAmera :

Ok guys the photo is really nice for the outdoor..but i doubt for normal user there are so much of options .. like ISO setting.. which might interfere in the result of the final photo.. but AFAIK buyers og K850 are tech guys and dknow wht they are really dealing with..

function wise ITS LOADED with features... here are few

1.)Selection of MegaPixel of ur choice
2.)ISO setting
3.)Flash
4.)special illuminated lights on the side of 3-6-9-# representing variuos shortcuts of the cam function
5.)BestPic - take a series of photo ie 9 photo within a flash of a second and select the best pic u like... (helpful if u want to take a brand new BMW 5 series passing by ... LOL)
6.)Variuos modes : daylight,cloudy,incadecent etc....

overall if u r best at camera setting ... and know wht everything is .. K850 is a PLAYGROUND.....

as for the quality.. nice ... but gives a glow (maybe i am noob to this 5MP)
but overall its nice .. but really have to wait for further firmware updates...



DOWNSIDE : currently there is being problem in photo taken at night.. it comes dark... even with flash on.. but again its justa software glitch....







Games :

it comes preloaded wtih "marble madness"
where u have to navigate the ball and put it in the hole... using NOT UR KEY PAD BUT Your WHOLE PHONE !!!!!!

yes this game features the accelometer function of the phone ...

and its really awesome ..even my grandma became a kid playing it!!

SUPERB GALLERY
END OF PART 1



ok here is my second part...

nearly more than 12 hours have gone .. and played with it nearly for 6 hours...


here is my continuation:

few features i discovered so far..

RSS FEED IN MAIN SCREEN :

this feature i just happened to discover has stunned me .. coz i havent read anything likethis in any of the review over the net...

ok i tried to update my RSS feed in message and completed it .. i forgot entirely about it and when i went to my main screen... i was amazed...

all those rss feed had lined up on the side anddisplayed a small icon of image or news realted to it to its right side....and kept on moving down...
it was really superb...

ACCELOMETER WONDER :

ok i was able to findsome themes ... which was ttally cool.. like it had a actress photo.. shate ur phone the pic changes... again shake .. the pic changes... really nice..and everywhere they were able to acquire the fuinction of the accelometer...
nice !!

all the media component was responding well to accelometer.. but sometimes it misses.. but ok for now ... coz it can be fixed in the upcoming updates..

SMART SEARCH:

ok i totally forgot to say this function...
in the main screen all u have to need to get a number is start typing thier name..

ok for example if u want to get a name say "suriya"

7(s)8(u)7(r)4(i)9(y)2(a)

but the thing before u finish tyoing those no.. a drop down list will appear with probable match....

say if a friend named sunny

the momnet u start with 7-8-
it will show two names in the list like

sunny
suriya

so all u have to do is select..

this is not it..
ucan search by phone no also..
for example if a no starts with 944(BSNL)
all u have to do is type in 9-4-4 and all the no which starts with 944 appears in the drop down box..

i really liked this feature..
coz u dont have to search for a no thru all those hundreds( i have around 300+ contacts) of contact...

ZOOMING

viewing a picture is totally revamped in k850..
the zooming function of the phoien now goes smoothly inside the photo oppose to step like in prev models say k800...

this is nice coz it pleasnat feel to it...

ok lets come to the normal stuff now...

MESSAGING :

well all i could say i this is where the A200 flatform kicks in ..
this time around u have the option to put all those memorable messages onto memory card...

and above all is the ability to sort out he messages by person who have sent u..this feature is really nice and was needed by many... coz manya times u need to browse thru 100`s or thousands of message to find that one cute message sent by someone close to your heart...and this sosrt our function greatly helps ....

typing the message is also good and for me it gave a feel of having some high qualtiy stuff for typing ..remeber those D pad surrounding the 2 nad 5 button..
You have to type theu them.. actually it feels like some u have grip over the message typing

but the downside is ...
it will take some time for not so geek person to get used to it..and there may be some mistypes...but i think this will fade away when one get used to it..


SOFT KEYS AGAIN:

again i have stress about this ....
they have become next to making the phone simple to use / makes feel like a touch screen phone when it is not..
P.S i did even few times tried to select he icons(in the menu) directly by pressing over it and then felt that i was an idiot...

even many who tried the phone here .. tried to touch the screeen not realising its not a touch screen



BEFORE SEEING THE BELOW PICTURES , VISIT amd64`s PHOTOS TAKEN WITH K850
BETTER THAN MINE.....

NOTE :
1.)since i uploaded in flickr it automaticaaly changed the resolution to 1024x768, sorry ..cant help it..
but will try to posta full 5 mp pic...
2.)Still i cant able to make the best out of it ... coz few setting are very new to me.. so have to fiddle some more to find the optimum setting..
3.)these are say beta photos from me... real ones... nice ones .. iwill try to post soon....



full size pic... macro feature turned on >





Normal ones..






please remember these are just still beta photos...

Courtesy : amd64_man2005
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbK2Z0VmkKY

[Third Eye]

K800 has TFT screen too.

[naveen_reloaded]

no it has TFD screen...

recently only i came to know...

refer here

[dreamcatcher]

hmm..a few tips from an experienced user

1)for flash pics..choose iso 100 and then shoot..the flash power double...better than the n82 ehich reviewers claim..i have tried it....

2)for outside pics..use daylight profile and document..the pics come out sharper..

try to move about with the settings....if u get the hold of it..the k850 is a dream...

and be patient..the k850 is just a 3 month old phone with no support for xs++ and thus no modding..its still in a very unstable frmware version..remember the n95 when it came out was one of the buggiest phones around...

and then it got settled after they launched the revamped 8 gig version 1.5 years later..and n82 is a cosmetic change over of the n95..soo it wont have ne bugs obviously..much like the k810i in the 3.2 series...

when the drivers become moddable..it slowly and surely will come up and rule the rule the roost of the best 5 mp phones ever..my frnds k810 has gone a series of mods and its quality is quite comparable to the top notch cam phones (including 5 mp phones) in the business...due feb 2008...

the sound is simply amazing....i find it at par with the latest walkman serie phones with of coz a betta set of headphones...

wel..enuf said than dun...

cheers mate..u will surely love it..

btw..a few bugs...

1)the manual equalizer resets everytime u switch off the media player or change albums...minor bug wch all a200 phones initially had and was solved..

2)multitasking with the media player on is quite slow...new updates on branded phones have already taken care of that...

3)for ne operation failed error try master reset...

4)dust inside the les cover..nowvacuum it out by putting ur vacuum cleaner in the speaker zone...


p.s.-ur firmware version??

[naveen_reloaded]

Originally Posted by amd64_man2005

1)the manual equalizer resets everytime u switch off the media player or change albums...minor bug wch all a200 phones initially had and was solved..

2)multitasking with the media player on is quite slow...new updates on branded phones have already taken care of that...

3)for ne operation failed error try master reset...

4)dust inside the les cover..nowvacuum it out by putting ur vacuum cleaner in the speaker zone...


p.s.-ur firmware version??

thanks for the reply... mate..

my version when i bought was 029... but iud a FOTA and now its 037.. still now we dont have 038 which is latest.. have to wait it seems...

anyway as is said all this Bugs will be sorted out
new future update...
only if its hardware relateed problem only we have worry... these things are mainly realted to A200 platform..( which is new to the whole SONY ERICSSON itself)


and for ur 4 the tip... in my quoted message.. its still not yet confirmed .. and its better not to try.. some say that it will suck in other things or misplace some electronic things..

P.S : guys if there is a something wrong with the review .. please do let me know..
coz i didnt even spellcheck it ..

[dreamcatcher]

cant be 027 dude...has to be 029..hmm..well..m still with my 029..no updates on seus as yet...

ne speed improvements??..goin to the new firmware

[naveen_reloaded]

Originally Posted by amd64_man2005

cant be 027 dude...has to be 029..hmm..well..m still with my 029..no updates on seus as yet...

ne speed improvements??..goin to the new firmware

u won the bet...

sorry for the typo.. ya its 029...

confused slightly..

[dreamcatcher]

Originally Posted by naveen_reloaded

u won the bet...

sorry for the typo.. ya its 029...

confused slightly..

bet???

and y confused???

[naveen_reloaded]

no i meant to say u were right..!!! LOL

[blueshift]

Awesome review and phone.

PS: I have sent message to drgrudge for updating the sticky thread.

[Choto Cheeta]

Nice review... I am waiting for the Camera performance review of a 20k phone

[naveen_reloaded]

Originally Posted by blueshift

Awesome review and phone.

PS: I have sent message to drgrudge for updating the sticky thread.

thnks mate...


and to chota...

this is well within ur 20k mark brother...

[gxsaurav]

Reord a video from this phone & tell us what's the recording resolution+

And why r most of the images not loading?

[naveen_reloaded]

dont know ... pics load perfectly in all my three browsers...

tom morning i will record a videoa and post it...
is it ok ??

[Rockstar11]

^^ yes plzz post some pics/video samples

[Third Eye]

Post some pictures taken by the cam.

[naveen_reloaded]

will do it tom morning guys ...

def i will do it tom..

now kinda ... verytired. sorry guys..

[ravi_9793]

Phone looks cool.waiting for video and camera review.

[naveen_reloaded]

will post it soon ... till then if u have any doubts .. just ask it here...

[naveen_reloaded]

UPDATED.....

please check it out and comment..

....

[gxsaurav]

SMART SEARCH

Hey this is also in my K750i, I have configured Joystick down to open the phonebook, & then I just search the name by typing the keypad. Like if I have to search for "curvicious"...I just pull joystick down, then start writing

2(c)8(u)....& it goes to that name automatically. Also if U directly want to jump to SIM contacts, then press any number like 3 & press # key & it will open the 3rd entry saved in SIM Card[/COLOR]

But k850i's way looks better to me as u can do all this from the main screen.

ZOOMING

Faster CPU

well all i could say i this is where the A200 flatform kicks in ..this time around u have the option to put all those memorable messages onto memory card...

Nice, although it won't matter much if u use MyPhoneExplorer. Try MyPhoneExplorer whether it works with K850i or not. U will love it.

and above all is the ability to sort out he messages by person who have sent u..this feature is really nice and was needed by many... coz [B]manya times u need to browse thru 100`s or thousands of message to find that one cute message sent by someone close to your heart...and this sosrt our function greatly helps

That's it, I m buying K850i today

suggest a pic hosting site to uploaded such a big file .....

Imageshack.us

Send this to me, I have a spot empty in the Lucknow Museum

Have a look at tutorial threads on how to enhance pics taken by Mobile Cam/Digi cam

And plz post a video, i want to see the video recording resolution & bitrate/quality

[naveen_reloaded]

GX thnks for the apt comments man....


but the smart search does this ONSCREEN.... hope i take a video of it...

ya i had been using my pgone explorer for soo long.. its nice.. but this inbuilt function of saving it to memory card will come in habndy at some DANGEREOUS TIMES ( when u can save everything ur loved one sent u to the card and remove it when ur dads wants to use the phone for a day....)

cooll huh...

and regarding the MY PRECIOUS BICYCLE... its gona be made 9th wonder of the world.. os it stays with me .. !!!!

[gxsaurav]

( when u can save everything ur loved one sent u to the card and remove it when ur dads wants to use the phone for a day....)

Hmm...Point, but at least I m not worried about this.

Another thing, since it's Walkman player 3.0, can u check whether WMP11 syncs with it or not? WMP can sync MP3 files directly to the memory card with all tags etc intact

[naveen_reloaded]

yes it does it ...

it shows my k850 as device being connected...but havent really went thru those sync function as i am very new to it..

i have been doing those copy paste function...

and another thing is now when u connect with usb .. it shows four option

1.)phone mode
2.)media transfer mode
3.)mass storage
4.)Print


cooll...

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by naveen_reloaded

and another thing is now when u connect with usb .. it shows four option

1.)phone mode
2.)media transfer mode
3.)mass storage
4.)Print


cooll...

Try syncing just one file in mp3 & wma with media transfer mode turned on.

[naveen_reloaded]

ok will do it...

can u say wht the advantae in it ??

isnt copy paste works easy and fast .. whts the point ???

[invisiblex1]

bakwaas hai camera quality that too 1024 me

music quality kaisa hai compared to W series models

does it have wifi?

[dreamcatcher]

yea rite..its just his 2nd day with the phone and u xpect him to take wonders??

at least he has posted sum..some 5 mp users dnt evn feel like posting...

[naveen_reloaded]

Originally Posted by invisiblex1

bakwaas hai camera quality that too 1024 me

music quality kaisa hai compared to W series models

does it have wifi?

cant understand.... sorry

Originally Posted by amd64_man2005

yea rite..its just his 2nd day with the phone and u xpect him to take wonders??

at least he has posted sum..some 5 mp users dnt evn feel like posting...

thanks amd64_man2005....

even i have few works guys .. so sorry..

but will post some night pics.. of the same place which i took in the morning ...

[yogi7272]

Originally Posted by amd64_man2005

yea rite..its just his 2nd day with the phone and u xpect him to take wonders??

at least he has posted sum..some 5 mp users dnt evn feel like posting...

hmm .. dude seriously dont have time .. surely post some tommorrow ..