Product Reviews

Sony Ericsson K850i

5 MP Sony Ericsson Camera Phone Shoots And Scores
$500  •  sonystyle.com
7 out of 10


 

5 MP Sony Ericsson Camera Phone Shoots And Scores

Image isn't everything. Beyond a solid Cyber-shot-branded cam, this tidy 118 gram candy bar comes chock full of sweet, easy-to-master programs that let you edit, remix and publish sharp pics and vid clips on the fly. In minutes, we whipped up a 45-second, 1.7 MB video slideshow that looked surprisingly decent online at 240x320. But despite Bluetooth, adequate web browsing and RSS feeds, this pin-striped, 3G beauty isn't picture perfect. Switching between the somewhat finicky partial touch screen and quasi-D-pad really took some getting used to. And the keypad's tiny nubs could aggravate even the daintiest netizens of Thumb Tribe, USA.

WIRED Truly pocket-size; accelerometer allows quick-flips between landscape and portrait. Swift and seamless, on-the-go publishing to Blogger. Always-on headlight option for dim video shoots. BestPic takes rapid sequence of nine images - bonus: "best" recommendation is mostly right on. Super accessible microSD slot can hold up to 4GBs (perfect for those Cloverfield moments)

TIRED No optical zoom. Sluggish Auto Fix takes 30-45 seconds per pic. Snapping shots silences FM radio. No Wi-Fi, no GPS, no geocoded vaca pics. Neither a 3.5 mm nor a 2.5mm headhpone jack (better RFID that Sony FastPort set of earbuds!)

  • Style: Multimedia
  • Manufacturer: Sony Ericsson
  • Price: $500
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Travel Home Wall Charger for Sony Ericsson W580i W810i K850i Z310a Z750a S500i P1i K550i P990i W300i prices from PriceGrabber.com

Editors' Ratings — what do they mean?

  • Metaphysical product perfection
  • Nearly flawless — buy it now
  • Excellent, with room to kibitz
  • Very good, but not quite great
  • A solid product with some issues
  • Recommended with reservations
  • Downsides outweigh upsides
  • Serious flaws, proceed with caution
  • Just barely functional — don't buy it
  • A complete failure in every way

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