Having finally gained market traction with its popular T610 and T630, Sony Ericsson ups the ante with its new and advanced K700i: Sindre Lia prods and pokes the powerful newcomer.
Having gained fresh wind in its sails over the course of the past year or so, Sony Ericsson has certainly made its mark on phone sale hit lists recently. First up were the stylish T610 and T630 models, which became the handset maker's first true best sellers, and this fall Sony will be introducing the compact K700i as well as the camera-focused S700 series. In this review, Sindre Lia finds out whether the K700i can live up to its legacy.
Exterior
Measuring 9.9 x 4.7 x 2 cm and weighing in at 93 g, the crowd drawer of the K700i is undoubtedly its bright, 16-bit colour display with a whopping 176 x 220 pixel resolution. A round and flat five-way navigational pad, selection buttons and numerical keys - all crafted out of durable plastic - ensure that what's left of the handset's front doesn't look empty.
The right side of the K700i harbours a shortcut key for the phone's microbrowser, whilst the left side plays host to volume up/down buttons and a shortcut key to activate the camera. A small photo light and the camera lens, which concels the innards of a 0.3 MP digital camera,
has been placed far up and centered on the hind side of the handset. Meanwhile, ports for charging the battery and connecting a 2.5 mm handsfree kit have been placed on the bottom, protected by a - somewhat annoying - soft plastic insert.
Ergonomics
There virtually no critique to offer when it comes to the ergonomics department of the K700i: both navigational and numerical keys are comfortable in use, and emit low noise levels. Furthermore, its vital statistics make for a compact and solid phone which rests well in ones hand.
Features
Courtesy of its GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz support, the K700i is well equipped for voice connectivity. Data users will be pleased to learn that the handset supports HSCSD and GPRS, whilst what regards PAN connectivity, the K700i offers up both Infrared and Bluetooth with a good selection of profiles. Furthermore, the handset is also equipped with an XHTML microbrowser, as well as now-common support for J2ME, SMS, MMS and polyphonic ringtones.
Screen withstanding, multimedia is where the K700i really shines when compared with its predecessors. A 0.3 MP digital camera with 4x digital zoom plus support for both picture-taking and audio/video recording, as well as an integrated MP3 player - the latter of which is also the reason for why the 40 MB of internal memory, which initially appears spacious, is quickly stretched to its limits.
Unfortunately, neither Sony Ericsson's own Memory Stick Duo format or any other method of memory expansion is supported by the K700i, meaning users find themselves drawn by the MP3 playback capabilities will also quickly - and repeatedly - drawn to their PC and USB cable for updating ones playlist.
Performance
Sony Ericsson's K700i has been graced with the handset manufacturer's standard menu system, which is a pleasure to use - and as an added bonus, several small tweaks to the better have been added since its last incarnation, found in the T630. Pictures taken with the integrated digital camera of the K700i are fully on par with those from other 0.3 MP handsets, however the audio quality when playing back MP3 files falls somewhat short of the recently reviewed Nokia 6230.
Voice quality is good, however, battery life - although typically overrated - was particularly excaggerated in the case of the K700i: Sony Ericsson claims 8 hours of talk time and 12,5 days of standby time, whilst our test period results in approximate talk and standby times of 4 hours and 3 days, respectively.
Availability
The Sony Ericsson K700i is now available in Europe and the Asia Pacific, selling in the 400 USD range without subscription. A Sony Ericsson K700a will also be available later this year for the Americas, with a Sony Ericsson K700c slated to cater to the Chinese market.
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