Gear Eye: Sony Ericsson's K700i

There seems to be a certain type of girl in every school or every movie about high school. She's not the absolute hottest girl in class, but she's hot enough that no dude would ever turn her down for a date. She's not just good looking, but she's smart too. Not like Angelina Jolie in Hackers smart, but still smart enough to be an honor student kicking most people's ass GPA-wise. If you were a nerd, you wanted to hate this girl - she was too pretty to be that smart and too smart to be that pretty - but you couldn't because she was nice too. She would talk to you like you weren't a loser. She might have even done something really nice for you once or twice. She was hot and smart, and somehow it didn't all go to her head - she was your dream date.

The K700 is that girl. Some people may not like the new style compared to the T610/T630 but it's still good looking. Sony Ericsson has beefed up the camera, the processor and the software, so it's smart. And to put the phone over the top, Sony Ericsson has added a hundred helpful touches to the interface, making it the kindest phone in the English-speaking world. It's not fair.

The K700i is available through many importers like Expansys, and soon it will be available directly through Sony Ericsson's US online store.

The Bod: Oh Yah!
Some people think that the K700 is a step back from uninterrupted clean lines of the T610/T630 series. The bottom is now gently curved instead of square. Normally we have a thing against phones with curved bottoms, because if you put them in your front pocket instead of your change pocket, they fall over and make an ugly bulge. The K700 is so small it easily slips into a Levi's change pocket, so we didn't find the curved bottom annoying. We also did not find the bulge on the containing the camera lens loudspeaker a problem because the phone is still plenty small despite it. Both factors make the K700 more comfortable than its predecessors, so we can't hold the shape against it.

The keyboard is equally well designed. The large keys on the face, as well as the keys on the sides are all easy to press and distinguish from each other. The only thing i didn't love about the physical part of the phone was the joystick. it was so small that it took a little while until i could get the pressure right for it. Until then I'd wind up just brushing over it or pressing in on it or just generally not getting it to go where I wanted it to go half the time. Still I haven't used a phone I would complain about less than this one (and that's a big compliment).

Battery Life: Yup
The battery life hasn't improved much on these new Sony Ericssons. The K700 still gets about 4 days of use per charge (3 if you get online all the time). You could probably take the phone with you for a long weekend and leave the charger at home, but I would pack it if you're going to be gone longer than 3 days just in case. As with previous Sony Ericsson models, the battery meter is awfully deceptive. The first half takes forever to drain and the last half goes in like 36 hours.

Sound and Signal: Oh Yah!
The K700 locks on to a signal and doesn't let go. It's got a pitbull for an antenna — and it's totally internal — nothing to poke you while it's in your pocket. I got good reception everywhere I took this phone, it even did well deeper into dead zones than most other phones I've tried.

The speaker is crisp, clean and loud. As a testament to just how awesome the speaker and microphone on the K700, I took this phone to the kart track (What you think we sit inside and stare at the computer all day long?) and was able to hold a normal conversation over the din of 2-stroke engines screaming along at 8000 rpm or wherever it is that we try to keep those things (there's no tachs in our karts).

Menus: Oh Yah!
This is the first phone that literally kisses your ass. Pretty much every time you click on something, the phone tries will ask if you want to jump two steps ahead because it thinks you want to, and you know what? It's right almost every time. The SMS addressing screen keeps a list of recently used phone numbers handy. The contacts list lets you dial without clicking into a contact's entry. The web jump screen has a Google search box. I honestly have never used a more user friendly phone. And if you ever manage to get stuck despite the thoughtful interface, the left softkey is "Help" in most places. sony Ericsson should get an award for this. Seriously. It's the first UI to beat Nokia's Series 40 for ease of use.

Calling: Yup
We can't keep giving the K700 an "Oh Yah!" rating if it doesn't do anything exceptional. As for calling, this phone doesn't do any better than most other GSM phones. Everything — voice mail, redial, Call, End, Hold — it's all exactly where you'd expect it to be. That's good, just not out of this world.

Politeness: Yup
There are at least 2 ways to set the K700 from the home screen, both of them are obvious if you look at the screen of the keys at all. It has profiles (which you can assign voice commands to). Silencing an incoming call is also obvious. The only thing keeping this phone from getting an "Oh Yah!" in politeness is the fact that the volume keys do not control the ringer volume (they never have on Sony Ericssons). They only control the volume during a call.

Contacts: Oh Yah!
The K700 can hold a multitude of phone numbers for each contact, plus an email address. Despite that we still wish it could store a postal address, especially since it can accept vCards and sync to Outlook or the Mac Address Book. When you first use the phone, a wizard will ask if you want to copy the numbers from your SIM into the phone (See? We told you this phone is constantly kissing your butt.) so they are easier to get to from the Contacts menu. The Contacts menu itself is well thought out and it's equally easy to add numbers from the Contacts or from the Call list or wherever.

Messages: Oh Yah!
Composing an SMS or MMS on the T610 was one of the things I hated most. It was circuitous and involved way too many extra key presses. The K700 has not only brought this task in line with how easy it is on all other phones, it has surpassed the rest. There are two simple reasons why it's so easy. First when you push left on the joystick, the K700 brings up a simple selector : new text message or new picture message. Only Nokia Series 60 has been this friendly until now. After composing your message, the K700 really shines. On the screen that contains the usual dialog asking where you'd like to select a destination from, the phone actually populates the screen with a list of recently messaged and recently called contacts. so nine times out of 10 the person you want to send a message to is already on that screen.  It's genius. Setting up an email account is the same as on the previous models - you can tell the phone how many days' mail to poll for and compose replies to messages pretty easily.

Calendar: Oh Yah!
Although it's confusing, Sony Ericsson uses 4 different classifications for their appointments in the Calendar application; each one offers slightly different options. However once you get to know them all, the Calendar is very powerful and has an excellent alarm manager. It syncs events from Outlook or iCal including their alarms equally well. The alarm clock is easy to set once you find it, and it will wake you (albeit with a dangerous "snooze" option on screen, even if the phone is powered off.

Browsing: Yup
The K700 has a button on the right side of the handset that quickly jumps to the browser. The home screen includes a few handy links, including a quick link to Google's WAP page. These are nice touches, but it's just not much fun to browse on the small screen I mean the screen's not really small — it's the smartphone standard 176 x 220, but for some reason it just feels small. Pages also seem to load a little slower than they do on other handsets. We're not sure if this is due to the browser itself or to some GPRS issues. Either way it's perfectly acceptable, but it's not snappy.

Pictures: Yup
After what seems like a very long press on the camera button that lives above the volume controls, the camera application launches. It takes you right to the viewfinder (good so far) and it's easy to use the camera from there. Despite the fact that Sony Ericsson beefed the camera up from previous models (it's finally VGA), the pictures are still mediocre. They are washed out during the day and the night mode is still really noisy. However I will say that I always have caught amazing sunsets in all their glory with Sony Ericsson phones and the K700 is no different. This phone rules at dusk and dawn.


Personalization: Oh Yah!
The K700 can play ringtones in just about any format, including MP3. You can download, or even make your own themes, including animated home screens and screen savers. You can also customize short cuts using the joystick as well as voice commands. But you're stuck with the silver body — no faceplates or covers for this phone. Ha!

Other Stuff:
The games on the phone are ok, but you can download better ones. There is an IM / presence program, but it uses the global village protocol, so it can't really connect you to any IMs you care about. It's got IR and Bluetooth. The Bluetooth must have something weird going because it doesn't particularly like Macs.

In order to connect the phone to the new version of iSync, you must first initiate a Bluetooth pairing from the phone. Once that is complete, initiate a new pairing to the phone from your Mac. On the second pairing, the Mac will prompt you to add the phone to your iSync devices. This is the only way users (including us) have been able to get iSync to work with the K700i.

[jack @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

You never mentioned anything about the screen quality-- might I have missed it? Alas, but my T616 (yes, I use AT&T and I'm not defensive about it, dammit) has crap for readability under sunlight.

thoughts

[christopher @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Now I wanna check out the phone, too.

[picasso @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

I really like its screen. It's bright and colorful, and it offers a good readability even in sunlight and from the side.
The resolution (176x220 pixels?) is also quite good, text appears really clear.

[riffola @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Too bad it's pricey, I wish T-Mobile would carry it so I could upgrade to it and get a discount.

[doug @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

One of my favorite features of the k700 was the fm radio. Is it gone with the k700i?

[Felix @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Can you still adjust the brightness and saturation of the camera by pushing the joystick in different directions? (up/down for brightness and left/right for saturation) Coz that might solve the 'washed-out' picture problem

[Syrus Nyaiesh @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

I used this phone a few months ago staight from Hong Kong and the menu was slooooooow. Like every 30 seconds, it would take literally 1-2 seconds for a button press to do something. Then it would be fine. Especially with the motion themes. Otherwise I loved the phone (still not as hot as the T630) but was this buggy firmware fixed? otherwise it def does not deserve praise, that was really a deal breaker for me.

[Jon Gales @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

The FM radio is there, but in my review model the battery life sucked badly. I charged the thing every other night, and not just for fun--I had to. I have read this from other owners as well, so maybe you just got lucky with the firmware (some say an update did some minor improvements).

[ro. @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

how different and better is this phone compared to the nokia 6600 ?? its small alright ... but is it fully customisable and are there dozens of softwares available for it just like the nokia 6600 ?

[Mike L @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

You may be surprised, but people bought a BLD series Nokia batt for their K700 and it works perfectly and has longer battery life. See here:

http://www.pbase.com/jet2176/image/33678526


Also, The K700 and K700i are the same thing, it's just that the K700i is the "International" edition (K700c is chinese).

[Mike L @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

ro: The K700 is NOT a Symbian smartphone like a 6600 or P900, therefore there are NOT "dozens" of softwares available, but it can run Java apps.

It's better contructed than a 6600, the screen is crisper, it's a LOT smaller. It's a "smart cellphone" compared to a "smartphone".

[Nick Hales @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

I bought this phone in the UK with a Vodafone contract. Unfortunately Vodafone have plastered the thing with their Live! service making it less useable than the reviewed model. You can only access WAP by going through the Live! site and certain other features are disabled. Orange do the same apparently, so watch out.
Speed is good, Java games are impressive and it plays MP3s with a 48 MB memory. Batery life is much worse than t68i though.

[picasso @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

hey mike, using a BLD-3 battery is a really cool idea. just thinking about buying a BLD-3 clone with 1150mAh. quite a lot, compared to the sony batteries 700mAh :)

[01432277275 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

I live in the UK and we have had this phone for 3 months now. Its the best phone I have ever owned. The interface is better than a nokia and will do things I have only seen on htis phone. The camera is VGA quality and the xcreen is great. The only bad thing is the quickshare logo comes off as it is only stuck on with glue. But still buy it.

[s @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

well, could we ever hope that SE will issue a firmware upgrade for T6*0, featuring the new interface and such?

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Could someone post a sample picture so we can see the quality, please?

[Zak @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

I have a T610 and people say that I sound like I'm in a tunnel when I'm talking. Also, the microphone is so damn sensitive it picks up all the background noise. I can't walk on the street without someone asking me if I'm in the middle of a highway.

Other than that, I love the T610. Have they improved the voice quality and sensitivity on the K700i ?

[Joe @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Does the calendar accept all-day events from iCal on the mac?

The T68i doesn't...

[bill @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

the guys who review for engadget should visit chinatown sometime. according to them this phone isn't out in the US yet. i just got this phone for SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS in chinatown ($175 with $100 rebate), bought, activated same day (was switching from sprint). list prices i have seen on everywhere from their site to mobilefly.com lists the phone at around $400..guys if you live in new york go to CHINATOWN.

[bill @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

the guys who review for engadget should visit chinatown sometime. according to them this phone isn't out in the US yet. i just got this phone for SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS in chinatown ($175 with $100 rebate), bought, activated same day (was switching from sprint). list prices i have seen on everywhere from their site to mobilefly.com lists the phone at around $400..guys if you live in new york go to CHINATOWN.

[Gadg @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Whoah. And they tell me I'm weird for calling my Powerbook sexy!

[Trist @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

the k700i is a perfect phone, well for me anyway, can use mp3 as ringtones, capture videos, take pictures at ok quality and the interface is so easy to use.. love the themes especially the animated ones.. ive had a z600 before this and the k700i is way better.. lots of people have a grudge about the battery life.. but i seem to get 4-5days worth, an i txt loads, phone a bit, play some games and mess bout with the phones loads.. wonder what the battery life will be like once i update to the new firmware which further adds more battery life to what it already has

[Nic @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

the latest version of iSync not only instantly recognizes the k700, it also offers remote control of the mac via handset. no bluetooth issues at all.

[Iant @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

I have experience with my K700i to share.
I'm working at remote area (some where in Papua) which no cell phone signal on there, I was just used built in camera (about 20 pics a day), Alarm, waching picture, and playing games and mp3 some times. The Baterry was exacly as specification notice (The baterry need recharged every 3-4 days)
Base on my experience the specification notice is for standard using only and limited phone use, I believe the condition would be same with other brand and/or models.

[thelastprince84 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

http://www.sonyericsson.com/updateservice/K700/frameset.htm

[M4tt @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Has anyone tried this extensively with a k700 and coulf provide talktime/standby time compared with original provided batterie, i think this replacement is awesome

[Kidnap @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Nobody talks about the video option... is it any good??? How long can you record and how sounds the loudspeaker? a last one.. It has MP3 option right?

thanks for your replies

cheers

[Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Any idea on when and from which cellular providers it will be available here in the US?

Thanks,
Tom

[Izy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

My K700i supports postal addresses within the phonebook section allowing for title, street address, company name, city, state, zip code and country fields.

My battery life is under average though if the reviewers model is anything to go by, it'll last around 2 to 3 days maximum without charging.

I use T-Mobile UK for my service provider, they don't seem to have tinkered with the basic system too heavily, just a few menu changes to include their t-zones service and such.

[goose duarte @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

anybody know what phone that nokia BLD series batery is for? i want to order one and they ask for the phone model number rather than the battery's

[Omar @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

I've been looking for a time for a new cellphone and since I'm owner of a T68i, I thought K700i will be a fair choice. I've been gathering information all over the net and never really found a review like yours. Now I can say I know a lot more of K700 and cute intelligent girls...

[CFitz @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

The BLD battery is for Nokia 6610, the phone I currently have, don't know what other phones it's for.
I'm considering the k700i for my next phone - but I'm not sure - anyone recomend that I change?

[Daniel @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Does it have integrated handsfree? Does anybody know why Sony Ericsson never include this extremely useful feature in its phones? Having to use headphones is not practical at all. I have a T68i and was looking for a new one with camera and handsfree.

[Pieter @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Hi, I might have missed, but so far I haven't been able to find out whether this is a Series 60 phone... I guess not. I'd like to know because of software development... Anyone?

[Sony Ericsson K700i reviews @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Strong contender for phone of the year 2004. Only real downside is battery life, but oh so much better than 3g phones ...

[aitana @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

ring tones&logos sony ericsson t630

[Mr.Wolf @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Best phone I ever had!!! But,soon as I filled memory with something over 20 MB of all kind of data,I started to have some problem with phone.It happened that when somebody calls me, cannot hear me at all(description is that caller hears some noises similar to ones when you have very low signal and your voice becomes interuptive).Soon as I give call back to the same person,everything is ok.OF course,I called shop where I purchased phone and they told me that problem is all about software bug.So,yasterday I picked up my phone from service with completely new software and,must tell,so far so good.I hope that really isn't anything else causing that problem but a softw.bug on the old version of software...

[Marcus Sundman @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Since the calendar got an "Oh Yah!" then surely it must support recurring events, right? Almost all of my events are recurring (weekly meetings, birthdays, etc), so I was baffled when I got my SE T610 and its calendar for some onknown reason lacked this very basic function. So, does the K700i's calendar support recurring events?

[chikomx @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

a crazy problem has hit my k700i since yesterday.
i have used the phone for a month and like it.
but now, whenever i go to the address book, all my local contacts show the number of the guy who is alphabetically first in the list !!
the actual numbers take upto 10 minutes to appear and it's not that the phone is low on memory....

[ashwani munjal @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

i've been using this phone from past 2 months..got jst 2 words to say "amazing phone"..anytime better than nokia.the picture quality,sound effects are too good.after a long time i've found some nice & handy phone

[Naeem @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

I recently bought a second hand k700i on the cheap. It came without the CD Rom normally supplied. I'd like to transfer video footage from my phone to my laptop via infrared, but Windows Media player does not recognise the format recorded in. How can I get around this?

[Jayz @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

I heared that SE's phones battery life doesn't really last long compared to some Nokia phones! but I think K700i is isn't half bad. it has some cool features and games! I'm wandering how long does it's video recording last?

[ivan @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

Can you tell me where can update phone firmware. i mean software update

[Silnt J @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

with the new quicktime update u can view 3gp n 3gpp files on the pc. n the camera is awesome. the video can hold up to 40 MB, u hav an option of limited or unlimited recording. plus ther's a built in flashlight by the camera!!
only prolm i hav is transferrin videos frm pc to the phone, they don't wrk
i think the phone can only read 3gp n mpeg4 formats. ne1 kno a way to get around this?? e-mail me at [e-mail]

[Frank @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

an answer to question number "42" to play video on your pc from video taken by your K700i phone you have to use the apple program 'quicktime' which is free from the net works on pc and apple

[Joan @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

I bought the k700i phone last nov. 2, 2005. since then the life span of my battery keeps on running out even if I only use it for sending messages and for etc., I would charge it up for 4hrs I assumed that it would stand for 4 days but no the battery life only lasted for a few hours.The battery life should stand for 4 days maximum right, but why does my phone's battery life only stands for a few hrs or 1 day, is their a problem with the battery or the phone? By the way the key features of the phone is absolutely superb unlike any other phones I can do lots of things to it. But my only problem is the life span of my battery.

[aerorob @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

The latest firmware version for the K700i (R2AA003) improves the shutter sound situation, among other things. Specifically, R2AA003 turns the shutter sound off if the phone is in silent mode. This isn't perfect, but it's better. I believe the power consumption issue is improved with the new firmware as well.

[Paul Kelly @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

To those of you who have battery issues, did you use the phone right out of the box or did you wait the recommended time for the battery to charge up completely?

[Steve @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

RIFFOLA:
T-MOBILE do stock this phone, i got mine from them. if you have had a contract or mix it tarriff with them for 12 months they will give you this phone for FREE. just phone 150 and go to the customer services menu and talk to an advisor, they will let you know how much you have. I upgrade every year but I must say this phone is excellent.

[Steve @ Dec 19th 2005 2:41AM]

question 34

it does have a speaker phone option but unfortunately you have to recieve a call first then tell the caller to wait and scroll down using the joystick to turn it on. but it is a cool feature, just wish it was easier to turn on.