Convergence is a word that can be attributed to many technologies today. PCs are moving into the living room, devices such as the Archos AV400 combine a digital photo album, video recorder/player and mp3 jukebox and, as ever, mobile phones get smaller yet manage to cram in greater functionality. Sony Ericsson has had great success in recent years, showing healthy profits, and it is easy to see why with phones such as the K750i.
This new model takes over from the K700 and is the first to market with a whopping 2 megapixel camera strapped on the back. It's also the first to include an auto-focus, which sets it a world apart from the VGA mobile snaps we've all been taking for the last year or two. It also sports an MP3 player, tri-band, GPRS, and the icing on the cake is the built in RDS radio.
The outside
As you can see from the above picture the front and the back of the unit are surprisingly different. The front (with screen/keypad) harbours the usual array of keys, softmenu buttons and the now familiar joystick, which is not without its problems - more on this later. Turn it over and you could be forgiven for thinking you were holding the latest pocket digital camera in your hot hand. A plastic screen hides the lends and autofocus, and there are also two LEDs above, which do their best to replace a traditional flash - again, more on that later as well.
Going round the edges, at the bottom is a new style of connector, which now renders my curren SE car charger useless! To the left we have the media player stop/play button and also the cover for the Sony Memory Stick Duo card, of which a 64MB card is supplied as standard. You can now buy 2GB cards, which turns this dinky phone into a pretty formidable IPOD basher. The top is host to the on switch, which is a little fiddly plus the infra-red port, while the right has the up/down rocker switch and shutter button.
The phone:
If you're used to Sony Ericsson phones there's not really much to say here. SE have long been known for producing decent navigation systems, and the K750i is no exception. Pressing the joystick down or using the soft menu brings up the 12 icon display. One notable feature is the excellent speaker, located just under the lens cap on the rear of the phone. The only phone I've ever used with a decent speakerphone capability was the Nokia Communicator, as most (including the P800/P910) suffered from feedback to the caller. But this phone works exceedingly well on loadspeaker - handy for when that bluetooth headset runs out of battery life just as you pull up next to a police car!
Navigation:
Four of the twelve menu options relate to multimedia content - Media Album, Camera, Media Player and the RDS Radio. The rest bring up the usual game, message, address book, Internet, organiser and settings options. There is also a 'download's button, which appears to link to mostly chargeable content. Many of the above functions can be accessed by shortcuts, either by pressing the joystick in a certain direction (pressing it left brings up the text menu for example) or using the 'home screen' middle menu button. The joystick can sometimes prove a little fiddly, with a left movement sometimes registering as down, for example, if you've not pressed accurately enough. Also, the model reviewed had to be replaced after a couple of weeks after the joystick failed intermittently - hopefully this is not indicative of overall build quality, which in general feels pretty sturdy. In addition to the joystick issue, the firmware also needed to be updated (through their online update centre) as the phone kept locking up.
The Camera
While this is never going to have Olympus or Canon running for the hills, it is certainly now a viable camera to have about you at all times. There is no comparison between a photo taken on a standard vga camera and one taken on the k750i. The LED tries its best to deliver, but falls short of replacing a flash altogether, although it will turn your 'a black cat on a dark night' black photos into something a little better, and will also substantially reduce redeye from indoor/night shots. It also acts as a handy torch that can even be programmed to send out an SOS signal!
The auto-focus is a welcome addition to a camera-phone, and while adding 1/4 second to the time to take a photo, it does considerably sharpen the resulting image.
Once an image is taken it is immediately displayed on the phone, with the soft menu giving you the ability to delete the image if it's not suitable. Pressing the shutter again returns you to viewer mode, ready to take more pictures.
There are several modes:
- camera/video
- shoot mode (normal, panorama, frames or burst, which takes four vga photos across approximately 2 seconds)
- picture size (small, medium and large)
- a respectable macro mode
- night mode
- timer
- special effects (b&w, negative, sepia, solarize)
- white balance
- picture quality
- date & time settings
- the location of your photos (camera memory or memory stick).
One minor annoyance is that you cannot turn off the shutter sound - this is apparently due to the increasing problem of the voyeuristic use of cameraphones, so that at least your victim will know you've snapped them! Maybe there is a hack somewhere for this? Presumably you just need access to the wav file on the phone and just need to change it to a different (empty) file.
Media Player/RDS Radio
Sony are pushing the multimedia capabilities of their new phones hard, and with 1GB memory cards holding hundreds of tracks I find it hard to think of a reason to lug a separate MP3 player around. Sound quality is better than average, with a built in equalizer allowing you to tweak the sound just how you like it. The RDS radio is easy enough to configure, but signal quality was quite poor - this could of course have been down to the location though, plus the headset doubles as the aerial. The pause/play button to the left of the phone allows you to carry on where you left off. Another minor niggle is that the functions of the volume/track selector are reversed. For example, clicking on volume up (press and let go) increases the volume as expected. But pressing and holding rewinds to the previous track rather than fast forwarding to the next - seems a little strange, but not a major issue.
Internet
This is where then k750i understandably falls short in comparison to smartphones due to the screen size and lack of full keyboard. Web access is limited to WAP and email functions are also limited. GPRS also appears slower than the likes of the Sony Ericsson P910i.
Synchronisation
The k750i ships with all of the necessary syncing software, which installed without a hitch. The review model connected immediately over both bluetooth and the supplied USB cable, which also charges the phone simultaneously.
Conclusion
There's no doubt that this is a great phone with an impressive camera on the back. Whether it will be suitable for heavy business users already making use of smartphones is another matter. Also, check out the forums to see if other users are having technical problems before taking the plunge.
Pros: A great all-in-one phone/camera/mp3 player. Takes up to 2GB memory stick duo. Build in radio. Phone has LED flash which doubles as a torch!
Cons: A question over build quality due to joystick failure of review phone. Cannot disable shutter sound, Radio signal may not be strong enough. Slightly confusing navigation/volume control on the mp3 player. Flaky firmware (R1A) on first model.