Sony Ericsson K850 review: 5 megapixel Phone-and-Shoot
- A
- Aisha
- nCb
- 24 Apr 2008
The phone was impressive upon first buying it, but then it really became extremely disappointing.
This is my 5th month using it and I've already master-reset it four times, losing all my sms messages among others in the process.
When my battery dies and I start recharging it, the phone starts giving me errors and I lose access to my messages & applications and have to master-reset it. Sometimes it just happens.. It freezes and won't restart and then suddenly restarts itself and I can no longer access my messages.
I'm severely disappointed with this phone, and finally decided to buy another phone. I don't even know if I can trust SE after this rather miserable experience.
- @
- @ma.chi
- vpb
- 17 Apr 2008
btw.. thanks for the answer tomy last post.. thank you.. i also post the comment below.. i forgot to type my name.. hehe thanks!
- ?
- Anonymous
- vpb
- 17 Apr 2008
I had this phone last december, it's great but just last week i have had a big problem with it, the "menu" soft key the in the middle is not anymore working.. but when i press the keypad, the glass, the menu is working.. the keypad is now very irritating i can't use the phone well.. can someone please help me? i think there was some kind of problems in the keypad.. moreover, my phone didn't fell or something.. i was using it last week then suddenly it doesn't work.. thanks..
- D
- Daniel
- Sh8
- 04 Apr 2008
Just got this phone last night and am really pleased with it. It takes a while to get used to the new keyboard layout and those 'soft' buttons can be a little tricky at first.
Phoning people and writing messages is still straightforward and the customisable shortcuts are still very welcome. I would still like to see a hot-button that allows you to skip straight to the 'spell word' screen - I am constantly typing in new words and having to press three buttons to reach the 'spell word' screen is quite irritating!
MP3s to me sound top notch so no complaints there.
The camera is definitely the best i've seen on a mobile phone and even the indoor vids I took were quite impressive given the low level of light. For anyone having trouble with taking photos and getting nothing but a dark screen back make sure none of your fingers are on the back of the camera where the sensors are. Sony obviously didn't expect people to take heed of this since in my camera box there was an extra piece of paper clearly added with a diagram making this obvious!
My only complaint is that the FPS on the user interface isn't very high probably due to it being a high memory GUI or something but this is a minor point at the moment.
Overall I rate the phone 9/10. Keep up the good work.
- ?
- Anonymous
- I78
- 27 Mar 2008
i have had my se k850i since october last yr, i fink the phone is awsome but........ it frezzes, and now i can't use my messages it comes up with a prompt comand sayin "operation failed"
i phoned up vodafone "191" and they told me that "its quite common with sek850i to do this" why did i have to hear this from my network provider and not from the phone shop!!!!!! very annoyed!!!!!!!
- s
- seno
- PFE
- 13 Mar 2008
i think its cool, but i want to save sms to my pc. what's the application can save sms to pc? anybody knows??
- m
- machi
- wce
- 22 Feb 2008
hi..im new here n i had review all the post tat have been post..
n i wish 2 buy tiz phone..but do yu ppl tink its worth it 2 spent such a prize on tiz h/p
and i want a better quality of sound n i want the camera 2 capture as gud as real CAMERA'S... but my dear friends sum coment tat its not...
and plz let me noe...i want 2 noe tiz to da max...
plz do help me dear friends...
- R
- R
- 2F2
- 21 Feb 2008
kevin... make sure u don't have any plastic glass paper cover the leds. cause the leds makes the flash lightup to bright things what u r shooting at. remove it or don't cover the leds when u take pictures. enjoy...
- k
- kevin
- Ycp
- 20 Feb 2008
when ever take a picture witht his, the camera flashes, but the picture ends up being very dark
can someone please help me fix this problem?
thanks in advance =)
- ?
- Anonymous
- w0Q
- 03 Jan 2008
@ma.chi
Maybe you used to own a k800 or k810, the display of pics were truely crispy. Honestly, as I first handled the k850 I was dismayed, my expectations were blown. But after learning that increasing the display from 2"(k800) to 2.2"(k850) actually skew detail so much, I was challenged on how to use the phone.
I do not use the flash that much. I only use it it during very very dim light.i don't use flash inside the house that much. But when its dark ie during the night, the twilight portrait is a good option. When taking pictures of good sceneries like near beaches during the night, use twilight landscape. sceneries doesn't require you to hold the phone very still because the subject doesn't move. When there really is no visible object because there is Zero or Near-Zero light, use flash.
When plain colours are obvious at the background like sand or snow or plain painted large walls, use the beach snow feature.
When changing ISO, level 200 is a more common option because it doesn't overexpose or underexpose photos to light. when the light source is too much, use ISO 100. when light is too low, ISO 400. But I prefer Auto.
But ofcourse, sometimes we encounter some scenes like you need to snap a picture very quickly, like its impromptu - i always switch my phone to Bestpic than just turning the phone on.
You could memorize how to switch on or off some features. you could also anticipate that every moment you might encounter a shot or two.
Also learn how to use the PhotoDJ and Photofix. SE sets the PhotoFix easier to access after taking photos because SE knows that somehow every shot isn't always perfect.
when taking pictures during a sunny day, just use Auto.
I know its not that much of help, I'm sorry but that is how I managed to learn the phone. Also, read the manuals intensively. The dark photos everybody's complaining is due to sensor blocking.
Also try to upgrade the phone via upgrade service. the camera driver has been upgraded from 2.9 to 3.4
I hope somehow what I posted here helps even by 1%
Have a nice day... ^_^
- m
- ma.chi
- vpd
- 30 Dec 2007
i just bought this phone yesterday, i was disappointed too with the camera.. anyway how do u use the camera correctly? what's the hokus focus thingy?? how? pla reply, thankz!
- ?
- Anonymous
- w0Q
- 23 Dec 2007
I don't know what happened to others but I bought my k850i just last week.
ei, at first I was skeptical as i first used the phone and almost contorts to what the review and comments have just said days before.
Yes indeed the camera sucks as I first used it. The k810 seems to give better camera results. but after some hocus-pocus I learned how it works and now I'm loving the camera. ^_^
I like how it plays video. although in a pc the videos doesn't look that cool but viewing it using the phone is a new experience. I mean it was like holding a video cam. hehe!
this phone is nice as I know it. ^_^
I'm loving it actually.
- ?
- Anonymous
- 3cH
- 16 Dec 2007
hey noobie
k850 doesn't run on UIQ, it runs on a200 platform
but the rest is right
- k
- kungfool
- 0RD
- 15 Dec 2007
Had the K850i for a few days... Am pretty disappointed with it and am returning it to Vodafone. The photo quality is absolutely nothing like that from a proper digital camera. The images might be 5MP but they're blurry and have poor colour capture. It's also very irritating having to wait 10 seconds after you take a photo as it 'saves' it. How Sony lets Sony Ericsson slap the Cyber-shot brand on rubbish like this I've no idea. Oh, actually, I do, it's about raking in cash.
As a phone, the 850i has nice sound quality, but the keys are painful to press - they're sharp little bumps not rounded keys. I can't figure out how anyone in the design department thought this was a nice thing for people to use? On top of that, there are three 'soft' keys across the bottom of the screen that are too easy to accidentally press.
The operating system is Symbian UIQ, which means it looks pretty and runs fairly smoothly. But the individual bits of software that operate the camera, the media/ music player, and the phone itself, were clearly all written by different teams at Sony Ericsson. As a result, there are lots of inconsistencies in the user interface - opening the media player is like using a completely different device.
Overall, as you can probably tell, I'm really underwhelmed with my first Sony phone. It's badly designed and the camera is over-hyped - how can reviewers honestly say that it's as good as a digital camera when anyone with eyes can see that the pictures are not up to scratch? It's nonsense to argue otherwise, and they're not doing a professional job of critiquing the product.
Oh, and you're constantly forced to keep wiping fingerprints off it because that nice glossy plastic looks a total mess after the first time you pick it up.
I'd rate this K850i at 5 out of 10 - totally average, and really over-hyped.
- G
- Gem
- ceE
- 14 Dec 2007
Am I missing something really obvious?
I've just got this and love it, but have come to play with the images I've taken using Photo DJ and I can't find a way to crop images!
Please tell me how to do this somebody!
Thanks in advance!
- R
- RAZ - P4u
- mCS
- 12 Dec 2007
K850i - Very much this is a gangster phone, bit chunky but a very good phone!
- P
- Petri
- Nxs
- 07 Dec 2007
Hey ppl!!!Im am 16 and want n phone that is hot and user friendly. I just want to know if it is worth my money or do I have to believe the people that think this phone is bad? and if not this phone, what phone then?
- i
- ike
- iKt
- 02 Dec 2007
Hi guyz.
I love both listening to music and taking pictures, and I want to buy the first SE phone. I am confused between k850 and w910.
Which one is better?
- r
- rifat
- S3H
- 02 Dec 2007
OMG is sony ericsson p5 coming !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- r
- rifat
- S3H
- 02 Dec 2007
Hi peoples !
The sony ericsson k850i is good.
It pwns !
I like it its a good phone witch 5MP but my sony ericsson have 4 GB to.