In many ways, the Sony Ericsson K750i also improves on features from previous Sony Ericsson models such as the T630 and the K700i. Both slim and light, weighing in at a mere 99 g and measuring 100 x 46 x 21 mm, nothing about the K750i reveals its considerable feature set at first glance. When turned on, however, the relatively small 1.8", 262K colour appears not only bright and clear but also unusually sharp due to its resolution of 176 x 220 pixels - more typical of smartphones than ordinary handsets.
Moving on, we find the keypad of the K750i keypad to be comfortable in use, providing good tactile feedback as well as low audible noise. The numeric keys have been positioned very close to each other, yet are easily distinguished due to their slightly convex shape. In terms of navigation the K750i offers a rather small yet ergonomically sound 5-way joystick, accompanied by the four action buttons typical of current handsets, as well as a button opening the well-known shortcut list in Sony Ericsson's user interface.
Speaking of user interface, the main menu in the K750i has received a few upgrades with animations now sliding in smoothly and effortlessly from the top and center of the screen. Being overall more slick than previous incarnations, the user interface also comes across as even more user-friendly with regard to text input.
Sound, meet fury
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The K750i snaps stills at a resolution of 2 Megapixels with good white balance, and performs admirably well under poorly lit conditions. Its appliance of contrast leaves something to be desired, however, but overall image quality must be said to be excellent with good colour saturation and crispness. Also, the K750i's implementation of auto focus and macro focus deserves praise for its good performance and relatively short response times. Still, despite offering a solid improvement over its predecessors, it cannot replace a dedicated digital camera.
Using the K750i as an audio player turned out to be a pleasant surprise, as the audio quality has been upped significantly as compared to previous mobile phones with similar offerings. Dedicated hardware buttons for play/pause and volume control enable users to listen to music without entering the menu at all during playback, and press-and-hold functionality also enables track skipping; a much welcome feature.
Although the ability to create playlists is present, we missed the opportunity of forwarding through songs without entering the music player interface - but on the other hand, the graphic equalizer with several presets proved excellent for optimizing sound. As such, it's a bit of a shame that the K750i doesn't provide an integrated 3.5 mm jack but rather relies on a dongle which must be purchased separately.
In terms of mobile phone related features, the K750i supports GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz networks, as well as HSCSD and GPRS. Unfortunately EDGE support has been left out, but at least Bluetooth and Infrared are present for short-range connectivity. Offering a Memory Stick Duo expansion slot and an USB 1.1 port, the 64 MB Memory Stick storage card and the USB cable to be found in the box allow for easy transfer of MP3 files to the phone. Furthermore the K750i also sports an FM radio, 32 MB of non-volatile internal memory, polyphonic and MP3 ringtones, SMS and MMS, instant messaging and e-mail, and lastly Java MIDP 2.0 as well as WAP 2.0 support.
Reception and voice quality for the Sony Ericsson K750i both proved excellent, as did its battery with approximately 6 hours of talktime and 9 days of standby time as compared to the claimed 9 hours and 16 days, respectively.
Availability
The Sony Ericsson K750i, also known as the Sony Ericsson K750, is at the time of writing available in several European markets, selling for approximately €475 EUR without subscription.
Price and availability
The Sony Ericsson K750i will be available throughout Europe in June 2005, selling in the €350 range.
Available in the U.S. in June 2005, the Sony Ericsson K750i sells in the $290 to $410 range.
Conclusion
Compact yet high quality, Sony Ericsson’s K750i is the first camera phone to merge a 2 Megapixel camera with a small form factor and still achieve results with good colour saturation and comparably crisp detail. The inclusion of auto and macro focus further reinforce a positive impression, even though we’re slightly disappointed by its poor synchronization performance. Connectivity in general is also a tad limited, but the high resolution screen provides a window to an otherwise impressive handset.
