Sony Ericsson K700 review: A winner

Three basic resolutions

  
Standard 640 x 480 format and the same scene by interpolated resolution • details are missing with the "megapixel" resolution

 
The same scene with higher and lower picture quality

Exposure compensation • shooting from a short distance

Effects: black&white, negative, sepia, solar effect

 
Digital zoom: middle resolution in the first row, low in the second

 

Photo in dusk: standard setting • night mode • with lighting • night mode with lighting

 
Some frames

How will the camera manage small fonts? Pictures are made with different exposure settings

 
 
 More photos

Comparing pictures: Nokia 7610 vs. Sony Ericsson K700

Let's turn back to the interpolated resolution that makes K700 a "megapixel" camera phone. I snapped the same scene with Nokia 7610, which boasts a real megapixel chip integrated. None of the pictures is perfect but Nokia gets more details still.

 
Sony Ericsson K700

 
Nokia 7610

Sony Ericsson K700 supports video shooting capability by a really low resolution - either 176 x 144 or 128 x 96 pixels. You can set whether you want to make a MMS suitable or limited just by free memory video. Digital zoom and exposure compensation are also available and there are the same effects as with camera (except the frames).

 Video player

Videos are made in 3GP format, which is compatible with most of the advanced handsets. The quality is traditionally poor but it's good enough for the phone display. Have a look at two demos:

• Higher resolution (155 kB)
• Lower resolution (119 kB)

The question about the Sony Ericsson K700 memory was not clear for a long time. Producer claimed official memory of 32 MB, but soon afterwards it has been heard that only a small part of it will be available. However, Sony Ericsson K700 has finally almost 41 MB of memory. This capacity includes also the items, which you get from the producer in the basic set. They exceed 2 MB and you can delete them from the memory.

 Memory data

Forty megabytes means really a lot and it's quite a record among the usual mobiles. In the early 90's this capacity was usual for PC hard drives. What shall users do with such a capacity? It's not enough for playing MP3 files - you need a memory card for that - and it's too big for saving pictures. From my point of view, forty megabytes of memory in K700 is needless, of course if Sony Ericsson doesn't consider the phone as a portable memory medium.

File manager is used for orientation in multimedia files. Folders are sorted by type: pictures, sounds, video files, schemes, games, applications, etc. Their content is displayed in a text list form; usually it's possible to run through the items. An exception is the picture folder where you have graphic views (four per display). It works very slowly with photos; you have to wait two or three seconds until it is reading next page. Here I'd appreciate the possibility to set a text list.

 
File manager folders • item list

You can view images in full-display mode; the phone features also presentation function for slide show. Unfortunately, zoom-in and detail view are not supported.

It's possible to exchange photos via MMS or e-mail and send them to a PC via infrared port or Bluetooth. It's a pity, but you won't be able to send more pictures at once. The K700 mobile phone allows you to choose more files at once, but you can only delete or move them to another folder, not to send together. With Bluetooth you can take advantage of a new function called Remote screen. It is used primary for picture projection to a Bluetooth enabled TV but it works also with a PC or another Bluetooth device.
Update 27 Dec, 2004: The Remote Control function in bluetooth menu is quite easy to use actually, it's a Bluetooth Dev HID for mouse and keyboard. If you install Windows XP Service Pack 2 that comes with Bluetooth support the Remote Control function is automatically activated while connecting to the PC. When the mobile is detected by the computer, it adds Bluetooth modem and HID device on the system and you get a prompt on the phone to activate the remote. (Thanks to Salman Aziz Khan)

Picture gallery • photo folder • full-display picture • presentation mode