Sony Ericsson K750 review: Get excited!

Marek Lutonský, 26 June 2005.

Sony Ericsson K750 - one of the most important and most anxiously expected mobile phones of this year has finally hit the market. We are being offered a top-class device, which outruns most of the competition. No doubt a phone of its class naturally deserves a special review ... our is a little bit longer than usual.

Key features

  • Very high quality camera with auto focus function
  • Memory card
  • Brilliant sound quality in the MP3 player
  • Good quality display
  • New Activity menu
  • Built-in radio equipped with RDS
  • Recharge through a USB cable
  • Flashlight function

Main disadvantages

  • No EDGE
  • Display is not imbedded
  • Lower quality touch orientation on the keypad
  • Menu animation cannot be switched off
  • No standard support for USB Mass Storage
  • MP3 ringtones of average quality
  • Camera shutter sound can't be switched off (update - on some firmware versions it can be switched off)

Sony Ericsson - just like the former independent Ericsson - has never missed to prove its competency in equipping its mobile phones with the latest high-class technologies. Taking into account the reasonable prices Sony Ericsson models are usually sold at, I think they have always managed to offer the customers a little more equipment than the competition of the same category. Let me remind you of mobiles like R320, R520, T39, T68, as well as of the latest T610/T630 and K700 models. Those were phones that would worm the cockles of any technoid's heart. They did not put themselves on airs, nor did the manufacturer use bumptious marketing statements in its promoting campaigns - the phones were simply good and functional. In proportion to price and performance they often did better than the competition.

The new Sony Ericsson K750 homes into the king class of the so called manager mobile phones. Once again quite boring at first sight, the phone invites you to peep into what is hidden inside its shell. By the way, this review comes out exactly a year after the publishing of the tests of the previous K700 model.

Sony Ericsson K750. Click to zoom Sony Ericsson K750. Click to zoom Sony Ericsson K750. Click to zoom Sony Ericsson K750. Click to zoom Sony Ericsson K750. Click to zoom
Official pictures of Sony Ericsson K750

It has been some time since Sony Ericsson K750 first hit the markets in Europe. On internet it is being offered for approximately 370 euros.

As you see, the price is not high. What's more, a notable price cut is to be expected too. The previous Sony Ericsson model K700 was launched in July last year at an official price of about 470 euros. Within a few months its price went down by 130 euros.

We are testing the marketing sample of the phone, the constructional work on which has not been carried through yet (see creaky sounds, for example).

At the beginning, let us make one last "organizational" remark. When we write our reviews, our purpose is not to praise the phones (no matter how good they are) from the very beginning to the very end of the article, but to rather call readers' attention to certain details, which may seem irrelative in theory, but could vex you unpleasantly in practice. There is no doubt Sony Ericsson K750 is a brilliant mobile phone, one of the best on the market. Yet, it is not perfect and has its minuses as any other phone, so if we sometimes stress its cons too much, please do not take it as an offense.

Nice-looking, but for whom?

The construction of Sony Ericsson K750 is standard. It has quite a conservative design, accentuated by the dark color tone, which is also the most frequent one. The phone we are testing is elaborated in the same dark version. The light version looks a little bit happier. Having in mind the target customer group of the phone, there could hardly be found a more appropriate look than the conservative design of the new K750. Yet, the new model is not the type of phone that everyone gets to like and excitement is not the only feeling it evokes in the customers.

Sony Ericsson K750. Click to zoom Sony Ericsson K750. Click to zoom

Gone far back in the past are the times when Ericsson mobile phones used to have a metal frame. K750 is made of plastics, just like the rest of all present-day phones. Its silver sides are covered with fine metallic-paint finish; the black-brown plastics are matt in order to make finger prints invisible - a very comfortable characteristic indeed. The only parts of the phone surface that get easily "filthy" are the glass cover of the display and the triad of glossy functional keys. This time Sony Ericsson has not put a cleaning cloth in the phone's box. What alarms even more, however, is the fact that the display is not imbedded - a detail, which could eventually lead to its scratching.

Sony Ericsson K750. Click to zoom Sony Ericsson K750. Click to zoom Sony Ericsson K750. Click to zoom Sony Ericsson K750. Click to zoom

In our first comparative article we were complaining of creaky sounds in the construction. Not that we are backing it down now - the device we are testing reacts angrily any time its body is touched. The sales version, however, is said to be solid enough. We have made sure of this talking to people who had already had the chance to buy Sony Ericsson K750. Let's hope it will stand the test of time. The phone does not waggle when put on a table surface, but starts to easily slew round when having been touched.

The size of Sony Ericsson K750 is 100 × 46 × 20 mm. The phone weighs 99 g. Its size characteristics send it into the category of small phones. On the background of today's mobile tendencies, however, its 99 g do for a place in the medium-weight category only. Let's now have a look at a small comparative table with a few related mobile phones

Model Size Rough volume Weight Rough density
Sony Ericsson K750i 100 × 46 × 20 mm 92 cm3 99 g 1,08 g/cm3
Sony Ericsson K700 99 × 47 × 20 mm 93 cm3 93 g 1,00 g/cm3
Sony Ericsson T630 102 × 43 × 17 mm 75 cm3 93 g 1,25 g/cm3
Nokia 6230i 103 × 44 × 20 mm 91 cm3 99 g 1,09 g/cm3
Siemens S65 109 × 48 × 18 mm 94 cm3 98 g 1,04 g/cm3
Motorola E398 108 × 46 × 21 mm 104 cm3 110 g 1,05 g/cm3

The display climbs a step up

Sony Ericsson K750's display is no different from the one of its forerunner K700. Resolution details have not been changed either. What differentiates both models is the number of performed colors. As I do not have K700 at my command at the moment, I can hardly verify how significant this difference is, but I could try to evaluate it in absolute terms. The display is brilliant. Despite the fact that the 176 × 220 pixels resolution is no more a surprise in today's mobile world, the display is far from monstrous and its picture is therefore extremely fine. Have another look at the comparative table:

Model Display
Size Surface Resolution Colors Pixels per cm2
Sony Ericsson K750 29 × 36 mm 10,44 cm2 176 × 220 262K 3709
Sony Ericsson K700 29 × 36 mm 10,44 cm2 176 × 220 65K 3709
Sony Ericsson T630 28 × 36 mm 10,08 cm2 128 × 160 65K 2032
Nokia 6230i 30 × 30 mm 9,00 cm2 208 × 208 65K 4807
Siemens S65 31 × 42 mm 13,02 cm2 132 × 176 65K 1784
Motorola E398 30 × 37 mm 11,1 cm2 176 × 220 65K 3488

Reader comments

  • HLANGL
  • 02 Jan 2024
  • teX

June 2006 - December 20, 2023 (17 1/2 years).... My Sony Ericsson K750i was working from mid-2006 all the way up to less than a couple of weeks ago/back in this 2023, with the BST-37 battery it originally came with.... That battery seems to have died...

  • Anonymous
  • 11 Oct 2022
  • 3Lp

Diamond memories…

  • Keshava Javagatti
  • 11 Sep 2016
  • U{i

Sonny Ericsson K750 super mobel Old mobel strong mobel