Sony-Ericsson K850i

Before I begin this review, I wish to confess that I went into it with extremely high expectations. After being so impressed with the sound quality of the z710i I thought that a top-end Sony-Ericsson would at least be the equal of its lesser brother. I’d also read some rather amazing things about the 5-megapixel camera on this model. My comments might therefore be a bit negative-sounding when they probably shouldn’t be, but I’ll try and keep my personal disappoint out of the review.


The K850i uses the Sony moniker of Cyber-shot, which alludes to it being in the same class as the line of similarly-named Sony digital cameras. Does it live up to the hype? Yes and no. At 5 megapixels it is one of the highest-resolution cameras you can get in a phone (matching the Nokia N95). The lens quality appears to be excellent, with good overall focus consistency across the entire image. The auto-focus and macro capabilities allow it to photograph things other phones can’t, and a xenon flash allows you to take indoor nighttime shots like nothing you can get from LED lights found on most phones.


But all that aside, what’s the image quality like? Well, if the shots are taken outdoors on a sunny day they come damned close to matching that of a dedicated digital camera. Color purity is excellent and the overall lack of fish-eye effect makes for very natural-looking pictures. When lighting is not so good however, the quality of the photographs deteriorates. Fortunately the sheer size of the images (2592 x 1944 pixels) mean you don’t really see the imperfections at the typical resolution that the images are displayed. However, if you print them it’s a different story, and the difference between the K850i and a mid-range digital camera is strikingly obvious.


The phone also sports a half-decent video recorder, but don’t expect anything close to a standard digital camcorder. Just the same, recordings are made at 320 x 240 and 30 frames-per-second. So long as there isn’t too much going on in the shot, the videos look smooth and are mostly free of compression blocks. They do get a bit blocky when there is a lot of motion (such as during a fast pan), but overall the videos are pretty good.


When I first got the K850i, I imagined that it was going to be the one that would finally convince me to give up using Telus Mike and switch to a GSM phone. Certainly the performance of UMTS has shown me that CDMA on a GSM phone isn’t the mess it is on current CDMA-2000 networks (like Telus PCS, Bell Mobility, Verizon, and Sprint PCS). However, the sound quality wasn’t quite up to the standards I was expecting, and keypad/touch keys are a nightmare. I really wanted to love the K850i, but I just couldn’t seem to get past the various U/I issues. My current Motorola i880, despite all its failings (especially the Motorola U/I), is still a better PHONE when it comes to the utility aspect.


While I might not want to switch, I do believe the K850i is good enough to be well worth recommending to others. It has pretty good sound quality (if not perfect), it has one of the best cameras found on any phone on the market, and it has a wonderful screen. If you can live with the keypad design and you aren’t driven to suicide by having to unlock the keypad every few seconds, then you might find the K850i an excellent choice.