Price Range: $469.95 to $599.90

5-megapixel power

The K850i cyber-shot™ phone is a true digital still camera - down to the very last of its 5 megapixels.

irst, the looks. Looks like Sony Ericsson were determined to restyle the phone. It’s definitely less bricklike in its looks, and it’s slimmed down a lot since the K800i days, which is a welcome change. It has a funky blue gizmo on the front and side, which you may or may not like (tip - buy the “Velvet Blue” model pictured and not the hideous “Luminous Green” option.) Now a word about the keypad design. We’re really happy to see that Sony Ericsson have finally dumped the horrible joystick that marred both the K800i and K810i but whose idea was it to position the navigation pad in the middle of the keypad so that it overlaps the buttons? And why the small buttons when everyone knows that bigger is better? Grr! And why have Sony Ericsson introduced touch-sensitive keys that everyone hates? We have to say it: we hate the keypad!

The K850i is a 3G phone which offers its user all the 3G capabilities that the user could desire including always on line broadband speed Internet access, 3G video calling & video or music streaming. The 3G HSDPA technology which is also known as 3.5G technology provides the user with super high data transfer speeds up to 384 Kbytes per second. The high speed capabilities of the Sony Ericsson K850i allows the user to enjoy quick access when surfing the Web, taking part in 3G video calls & enjoying a fast mobile email service. The 3G technology also allows the user to enjoy multitasking on their handset which means the user can be on a call whilst downloading videos, music or games.

Sony Ericsson has included a useful on/off switch dedicated to the camera. Switch it on and the shutter will open - with a satisfying click - to reveal a killer lens. The back of the handset also houses the excellent Xenon flash along with a 3LED video light surrounded by a polished black cover. Unfortunately, the aforementioned cover is a magnet for grubby fingerprints, as is the front of the handset. Not only is this annoying, it causes a serious issue with regards to the quality of the picture, so expect to be constantly wiping the handset to retain the best results.

Camera
* Auto focus
* BestPic™
* Camera - 5-megapixel
* Digital zoom - 16x
* Image stabiliser
* Photo fix
* Picture blogging
* Red-eye reduction
* Video record
* Video stabiliser
* Xenon flash

Music
* Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
* Media Player
* Music tones
* Music tones - MP3, AAC
* PlayNow™
* TrackID™

Messaging
* Email:
* MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
* Predictive text input
* SMS long (Text Messaging)
* Sound recorder

Connectivity
* Bluetooth™ technology
* Modem
* PictBridge
* Synchronisation PC
* USB mass storage
* USB support

Price Range: $325.90 to $459.00

Smooth picture perfection

The K770i Cyber-shot™ phone is smoothless all around. Place it in your palm, feel the soft, curved edges. And how every detail, including the active lens cover, is integrated.

he most direct way to share your photos is perhaps through a slide show on the K770’s screen. When you want to show them to people that are not around, though, you can post your pictures to your own ‘blogsite?or on-line gallery. Share the web site address to share your photos. If you want to transfer photos swiftly from the K770 Cyber-shot?phone to your PC or laptop, then simply use the USB Cable provided in-box to drag and drop them from one to the other. alternatively, if you prefer to print your pictures, the 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus delivers picture quality that is good enough to print your photo out at upto A4 size (297mm x 210 mm). You can even connect your K770 direct to a printer using PictBridge?for PC-free printing.

The phone is as slim as you’d need it to be, intelligently constructed and finished in a novel ‘truffle brown’ there is also a purple version exclusive to 3. The colour is far tastier than it sounds, and, unless the covetous glances aimed at our review handset prove wildly misleading, the handset will hit everyone’s sweet spot - except maybe those with truffle allergies. And, we know it’s just a gimmick, but we love the electric blue backlight that lights up the keypad when the phone is in camera mode. Actually, these do serve a purpose, as each lit key offers a shortcut to the camera’s main functions.

Camera
* Auto focus
* Camera - 3.2-megapixel
* Digital zoom - 3x
* Photo fix
* Photo light
* Picture blogging
* Video light
* Video record

Music
* Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
* Media Player
* Music tones
* Music tones - MP3, AAC
* PlayNow™
* TrackID™

Messaging
* Email:
* MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
* Predictive text input
* SMS long (Text Messaging)
* Sound recorder

Connectivity
* Bluetooth™ technology
* Modem
* PictBridge
* Synchronisation PC
* USB mass storage
* USB support

Price Range: 265.96 to $281.33

In-phone imaging - just snap and view

The K630i mobile phone gives you easy access to whatever makes your eardrums tingle. Download and listen to your choice of music - wherever, whenever.

The phone comes with a two Inch colour screen which provides up to two hundred & sixty two colours on a beautiful TFT screen. The keypad comes with small but well spaced keys which are separate & slightly raised from the handset for ease of use. The phone comes with a small navigation tool which is situation below the screen & comes with a metal finish which works as a dedicated music key. The user can take snaps when they are on the move with the built in 2 megapixel camera. The camera comes complete with a 2.5 x digital zoom which allows the user to get that little closer to their subject. The two Inch colour screen works as a viewfinder for the camera feature & the phone comes with video capabilities. The user can record, playback, stream & blog their video footage.

The Sony Ericsson K630i features an in-built Media Browser, meaning that there is just one location on the phone’s menu to launch the music player, video player or photo gallery, and so access all of your in-phone content. The Sony Ericsson K630i comes complete with new Media Manager software in-box to let you easily move your favourite music, photos, videos and more between your PC and your phone. Music tracks or video clips will be automatically converted into phone-friendly formats and creating playlists or adding album artwork to your tracks is simple.

The K630i is neither a Cyber-shot nor a Walkman and doesn’t pretend to be either. Instead, it is positioned as an all-rounder with HSDPA connectivity as its main draw. On digital imaging, there’s a main 2-megapixel fixed-focus camera on the back and a front-facing CIF camera for 3G video calls.

Camera
* Camera - 2-megapixel
* Digital zoom - 2.5x
* Picture blogging
* Video record

Music
* Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
* Media Player
* Music tones
* PlayNow™
* TrackID™

Messaging
* Email:
* MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
* Predictive text input
* SMS long (Text Messaging)
* Sound recorder

Connectivity
* Bluetooth™ technology
* Modem
* Synchronisation PC
* USB mass storage
* USB support

Price Range: $432.00 to $659.00

The world’s your studio

The world is full of pictures. The compact K810i Cyber-shot™ phone has all you need to catch the moment - and make it look as special as it was.

The built in media player provides the user with a perfect music companion which plays all popular music formats. The user can download all their favourite tracks & enjoy a lively music experience on their 3G mobile handset. The Sony Ericsson K810i can play ringing tones in either polyphonic sound or MP3 sound. The phone comes with a built in radio feature complete with RDS which allows the user to view text information which is provided by the radio station. The user can read information from the RDS & at the same time be listening to their favourite radio station. The media player comes with many useful music features which include PlayNow™, MusicDJ™, Bluetooth® stereo & TrackID™. The TrackID™ feature allows the user to record a few seconds of a song they like, but do not know what the song is called & TrackID™ will do the rest. The TrackID™ service will identify the name of the song, the name of the artist or groups & provide all this information within a few seconds. The Sony Ericsson K810i comes with a PlayNow™ ringing tone feature which allows the user to download & buy a premium ringing tone with only three clicks of a button. The MusicDJ™ is a melody composer feature which allows the user to use a selection of popular music tools to create their own unique ringing tone in polyphonic sound.

The K810i is a 3G phone, and supports video calling as well as high speed downloads at up to up to 384 kbps. In common with the K800i, there’s no EDGE capability, so 2G data transfer speeds are slow. Internal memory is a reasonable 64 Mbytes (enough for around 16 music tracks), so you’ll want to buy a Memory Stick Micro™ card, which are available in sizes up to 2 Gbytes. Battery life is excellent for a 3G phone.

The BestPic function takes nine photos with one press of the shutter button, allowing you to select the best photo. Four pictures are taken as the camera button is pressed and four just after (using memory buffing). You can then check the results and pick the pictures you like the most, saving as many as you like. This is ideal for capturing still images of moving objects - its only negative is the fact that you can’t use the zoom function.

Camera
* Auto focus
* BestPic™
* Camera - 3.2-megapixel
* Digital zoom - 16x
* Image stabiliser
* Photo fix
* Picture blogging
* Red-eye reduction
* Video record
* Video stabiliser
* Xenon flash

Music
* Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
* Media Player
* Music tones
* Music tones - MP3, AAC
* PlayNow™
* TrackID™

Messaging
* Email:
* MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
* Predictive text input
* SMS long (Text Messaging)
* Sound recorder

Connectivity
* Bluetooth™ technology
* Infrared port
* Modem
* Synchronisation PC
* USB mass storage
* USB support

Price Range: $192.16 to $399.00

Send a smile, share a moment

Share a little happiness. The 2 megapixel K550i Cyber-shot phone is ideal for catching and sharing smiles on the fly.

Just open the lens cover and you’re ready to shoot. Move in close with the digital zoom. Or go for the broad picture - try a panorama view. Use your shots to keep in touch. Send a picture message. Upload to your blog for all to see. You can also connect a USB cable and send straight to a printer.

The 2 Megapixel camera on the back has an active lens cover that protects it. You can quickly access the camera by sliding down the lens cover. Right next to the camera, you will barely notice the external speaker. Unfortunately, the M2 memory slot card has been placed under the hood of the back cover, but at least you won’t be forced to pull out the battery. The thin buttons of the keypad might look very hard to use at first glance, but don’t worry, as you’ll get used to it. Even for those that are heavy SMS-text users it won’t be a real issue after 2 days of use. The exact measures of the phone 102 x 46 x 14 mm and its weight (85 grams including battery), make it one of the smallest handsets of the Cyber-shot series. Overall, the phone looks compact and sturdy, but in terms of design, it totally lacks the X-factor.

The high quality camera feature provides the user with an easy to use 2 megapixel camera Cyber-shot™ camera. The user can take photos instantly by simply sliding the lens cover & away they go. The Cyber-shot™ camera provides the user with a high resolution digital camera which allows the user to view their shots on the TFT colour screen. The camera feature comes complete with a digital zoom, photo light, auto focus & dedicated camera features menu. The auto focus feature will automatically focus on the subject & allows the user to capture a focused & clear photo every time. The digital zoom is a 2.25 x zoom which allows the user to zoom in & out of the subject & still gain a clear & precise photo. The user can send their photos to a picture blog site which allows the user to share their photos with others easily. The user simply takes a photo using their integrated 2 megapixel camera Cyber-shot™ camera, adds some text about the photo & publishes it for all to view.

The phone delivers on the music front too. It includes an FM radio as well as a music player. Sound quality is excellent, as you’d expect from the company that makes the top-selling Walkman range of music phones. The K550i is compatible with stereo headphones and Bluetooth wireless stereo headsets - both are available as optional accessories from Sony Ericsson. A very welcome feature is the generous amount of internal memory (64 Mbytes - enough for about a dozen songs) and the support for a Memory Stick Micro™ card, available in sizes up to 2 Gbytes. As with the Walkman phones, the K550i is equipped with two useful music features: TrackID™ & PlayNow™. TrackID lets you record a few seconds of a song, and then get the track, artist and album information sent directly to your phone. PlayNow is a service for downloading music and games to your phone (you have to pay for these.)

Camera
* Auto focus
* Camera - 2-megapixel
* Digital zoom - 2.25x
* Photo light
* Picture blogging
* Video record

Music
* Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
* Media Player
* Music tones
* PlayNow™
* TrackID™

Messaging
* Email:
* MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
* Predictive text input
* SMS long (Text Messaging)
* Sound recorder

Connectivity
* Bluetooth™ technology
* Infrared port
* Modem
* PictBridge
* Synchronisation PC
* USB mass storage
* USB support