Marketed in India as 'The Blockbuster', The K500 has is fully loaded with a VGA camera, Mp3 playback and a Big beautiful 65k color display.
Build
The phone is made completely of plastic and they keys used on this one are kind of like the one's used in the k700, but assembled in a different manner. The phone is quite durable when compared to the Nokia's, but not quiet as durable as the T610 and K700, the missing material, Metal. The phone also has a nice big joystick, which is fun to use. The phone has a curve in the keypad area which gives the phone a unique look. The dimensions of the phone are 102 x 46 x 14 mm, quite a slim phone from the bottom, gets a little fatter on the display area.
Pros
Great Joystick
Unique Look
Cons
Bad quality of Numerical keys
Display
The resolution of the screen is 128 x 160 pixels; the screen is quite sharp and bright, viewable in the sun. The phone's display is actually bigger than the pixel count. The screen of the phone can display up to 65k colors and can use the themes of SonyEricsson K700. On display timeout; the whole screen is black, except for the time, which saves battery life. 3D animations can be set as wallpapers and screensavers are also supported
Software
The software of the phone is same as the K700 and very user friendly. The software is fast and hardly hangs the phone. The phone has a built in mp3 player and a video player. The video playback is up to the mark, so is the mp3 playback. Messaging is easy to use with T9 and Multitap options available. The phone has a 3D java engine, which allows the user to play 3D java games, same as the K700. The phone supports .amr and .mp3 playback. The phone is capable of viewing .jpg, .bmp, .gif and .png format of images; the best part is that Folders can be created within the phone. The software on the whole is quite customizable, it also feature's themes, which can be used to change the appearance of the phone, and give it a new look
Pros
Easy to understand
Option To create folders
Changeable Themes
Connectivity
Messaging
Since the keys are not too good, messaging isn't the best part of the phone. The phone supports major European and Asian Languages. T9 and multitap can be used for typing text messages.The phone is capable of sending MMS's. The phone can store upto 50 messages in its memory
Pros
Messages can be stored in the phone
Cons
Messaging is no fun because of the keys
Call Features
The phone features a built in hands free, the loudspeaker is louder and clearer than ones featured in any other phone of any class, this is because of the built in stereo speaker. The phone allows the user to browse through it even when in a call, just like the good old SonyEricsson's.
Pros
Great Voice quality
Loudspeaker Option
GPRS
The phone supports GPRS, and has a built in browser, and is capable of receiving settings over the air.
Camera
The phone has a built in VGA camera. The quality of the camera is average, works better in sunlight and white lighting. Good enough for outdoor photography. The phone has only 12 Mb of memory, enough for pictures(about 200 at 'best quality' ), but not for other features like mp3s.The phone can stand on its own, on the side, which is helpful for taking photographs in the self-timer mode. The phone has video recording capabilities, and can record videos up to 5 minutes. The camera features like frames and effects make the camera fun to use.
Pros
Decent Camera Quality
Cons
No Flash
Conclusion
To start with, the phone is great to use, it has enough features for a normal user. The sad part is that it doesn't have expandable memory, Just 12 Mb of space which is just not enough since they have put an mp3 player in the phone and it doesn't have Bluetooth, only Infrared connectivity, which is sad because even the T610 has Bluetooth. On the other hand, the phone is very handy and has a unique look. So I would recommend this phone for the average users, but not for the close to power users, or to music lovers due to the limited memory. So the phone is a decent buy at Rs.11900, but I would recommend the Motorola E398.
Yeah...i won a bluetooth handsfree for this reivew!!!
The review is also available at
www.gsmarena.com[/u]
And here's the prize winning review of the k500!!
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