Mobile phone Sony Ericsson K850i. Design, construction, control elements

: Or vice versa? A phone with a camera function? Surely, many of you have thought about this more than once, and many have not reached a clear verdict. So what is it, the current flagship of the Cyber ​​Shot line, and how should it be perceived?

Part one

Usually, in the introduction to such iconic products, the background of the creation, the views of the company’s fans on the approximate functional set of the product, the specifics of the announcement and the actual release to store shelves are mentioned. We won’t describe any of this today. What is the reason? Yes, you probably already remember those two photographs from a Chinese resource that appeared in March 2007, which showed a phone with an unusual keyboard layout and the inscription 5 megapixels on the back surface.

You most likely remember the code name Sophia and I mobile 902. If you don’t know about all this, that’s okay - it’s even better.

Appearance

When arranging all the elements of the case, the company's engineers had the primary goal of maintaining the same dimensions of the case as its predecessors, coupled with installing a larger screen than in the . As you understand, this was not the easiest task, given the fact that the screen itself is 7-8 mm higher than its active area. The option with an extremely crowded digital keypad did not seem like anything tangible, much less worthy of use in an obviously rather large device. A way out, of course, was found, and all the sophistication of the engineers adopted the supposedly innovative scheme. Marketers skillfully played up every ergonomic flaw, as a result, the device lost its practical business appearance, and appeared more like an image product for techi than a convenient and practical tool for everyone.

The phone is made in a candybar form factor, with dimensions of 102.6x48.3x18.4 mm. Considering the weight of 118 g. It is somehow inappropriate to talk about carrying a phone in the breast pocket of a shirt or shorts. In your pockets outerwear There are no problems with carrying a phone.

In the hand, the device feels much thicker than reality, largely due to the sharp edges of the body. The second negative point is the glossy finish of the entire front and rear panels. All ends of the case, fortunately, are made of matte ABS plastic.

Closer to the top edge of the front panel there are seven large holes for the speaker, protected by a fine metal mesh. To the left of the speaker is a light sensor that slowly adjusts the backlight of the display and keyboard depending on the lighting. To the right of the speaker is a CIF peephole – a camera for video calls. In general, the phone's support for UMTS and EDGE is one of the main features of the model compared to the company's previous phones. The area of ​​the protective glass of the screen begins immediately below the company logo.

The glass, in turn, protects a 2.2-inch TFT screen capable of displaying up to 262 thousand colors. The display resolution is 240x320 pixels, which completely matches the screen. However, the picture quality of the K850i screen is more on par with the K790i, not counting the fact that the brightness is slightly higher. The picture on the screen is smooth, although there is no trace of screen clarity. In the sun, the screen noticeably fades, and the soiled protective glass further aggravates the picture with numerous fingerprints.

But we are pleased with the killer viewing angles, close to the standard 180 degrees in both directions.

Immediately below the screen there is a touch film, the support for which is the display frame. Its width is about 3mm. But the mechanism of its operation is implemented in a more than interesting way. The lower glossy part of the front panel is very thin, about half a millimeter. In most places it is glued to a uniform flat base, but under the screen it actually hangs 0.5mm from that same touch glass. Thus, by pressing your finger on the area around one of the three points, we slightly bend the plastic itself. Considering the minimal bending and reliable metal base, this system can be considered more than reliable, and the minimal thickness of the plastic allows the edges of the lining to bend with a light touch. Immediately below the touch area there are two silver rockers located at the edges. The left buttons are assigned to answer a call and launch the Activity Menu. On the right is the end call and delete key C. The ergonomics of the keys are below average due to small sizes and general crowding of the keyboard unit.

Next comes the numeric keypad block, consisting of square buttons with horizontal curves. It would seem that, despite the general inconvenience and poor ergonomics due to the tight movement, tactility should be at its best. Not so. Here the presence of a narrow rectangular four-position frame comes into force, the centers of the edges of which noticeably rise above all other keys. As a result, it is not uncommon to accidentally press up instead of 2, or 5 instead of down. It will be possible to reduce accidental clicks to a minimum only after 2-3 weeks of using the phone. The key designations, due to the miniature size of the font used, are also worth mentioning. To the side of the right row of number keys there are symbols for function shortcuts in camera mode, but we will talk about this in more detail in the corresponding part of the review. The keyboard backlighting is uneven, but all key markings are clearly visible. The unevenness lies rather in the excessive brightness of the top row of keys.

Along the ends of the body there is a green U-shaped stripe, replaced at the lower end by a longitudinal textured stripe. In the Velvet Blue color, instead of matte black plastic, silver glossy plastic runs along the ends, and the strip, matching the navigation key, is painted blue. In the case of the Luminous Green color, as in our copy, and the recently announced Quick Silver Black, the ends are made of matte fine-textured plastic, and the edging is green or silver.

There are no buttons or slots on the left side, while on the right side there are literally an abundance of them.

Let's start from the top. Above the strip there is a fairly narrow, short volume rocker. Thanks to the millimeter elevation at the edges and deep bevels towards the center, it is convenient to work with.

The key travel is average, and the click is silent, although not as clear as we would like. In the design of the ends, it is also worth noting the concave bevels above the central edging strip, since on the right concave strip, at the same level with the end call key, there is a mechanical camera mode switch.

The very presence of such a switch, in the opinion of your humble servant, greatly enhances the technological impression of the device, since the very idea of ​​crowded placement of a large number of elements in one part of the body, although controversial from an ergonomic point of view, fully projects the idea of ​​a compact camera, where the eternal lack of space for keys.

The switch has three active positions, medium travel, and large risks, however, they do not cling to the edges of the pocket when you put the phone in there. The long silver shutter release button of the camera is inscribed in the edging strip. Due to its convex shape and body stop at the bottom, it is more or less convenient to work with. The initial focus press is light but clear. For the main pressing and release of the shutter, you need to apply three times more force. The overall key travel is about 0.5 mm, so there is no need to talk about the ergonomics of the solution. Next to the shutter button there is a small button to activate the photo part. It only protrudes slightly relative to the surface of the body, and the tight short stroke has a positive effect on ease of use.

Naturally, it works when the keyboard is locked. Interestingly, in Sophia prototypes this key was flat, while in commercial samples the plane of the button is located at a slight angle, forming a gentle bevel with the edge of the release key.

At the top end there is a small power key, slightly recessed relative to the surface. It has a tight short stroke and an intangible click.

Under these conditions, the phrase “act by eye” takes on a new meaning, and the screen becomes the only indicator of a key press.

The rear surface is also not entirely made of transparent glossy plastic with a black backing. Like the front part, the surface is flat, which actually creates a false feeling of the massiveness of the case.

The central element, of course, is the large silver ring, which houses a slightly recessed protective lens glass. In this case, we are dealing with mineral glass equipped with an antireflective coating. If we draw an analogy with other mobile phones, the anti-reflective coating seems like an innovation, whereas in digital cameras it is a completely common solution for the cover lens. Now a few words about the problem of fingerprints and other marks on this piece of glass. Due to the large dimensions, it is almost impossible to avoid marks on the glass, but their final impact on the resulting image is within reason, and there will be no strong distortions in geometry or colors. You can wipe the glass until it shines with any cotton cloth with a little moisture. I hope you understand what I'm talking about.

Under the glass there is a rectangular hole covered with a monolithic curtain. On the one hand, the protective glass above the curtain looks like a logical step towards dust protection, given the fragile autofocus mechanism and the weak mechanism for electronic diagonal shift of the curtain, but on the other hand, it was possible to create a simpler design, like the one used in the old one.

Hidden under the shutter is a small camera module, smaller in size than even the simplest digital cameras, but comparable in size to that of the K800i, the cover lens is noticeably larger than in most phones with 2MP and 3MP camera modules.

Presumably, the device uses a 5MP matrix with a diagonal of 1/2.7 inches, and the module itself is presumably labeled as Sony MCB991. The very location of the camera close to the center imposes serious restrictions on the ergonomics of working with the phone in shooting mode. Holding the device with one hand is simply inconvenient, and the middle finger tends to rest on the glass of the camera. The second limiting point is the light elements located to the left of the camera. This time they are presented not only with a standard compact flash with an effective illumination range of 1-2 meters, but also with classic LED backlight.

This time, three low-power LEDs are used, capable of illuminating at a distance of up to 1.5 meters. Next to the LEDs is a small microphone hole for recording the left audio channel in the video.

The last thing worth mentioning is the long slot of the polyphonic speaker, taken away fine mesh. When the phone is lying on a table with the screen facing up, such a flat design, in theory, would cause the loss of half the sound volume, however, to prevent this unpleasant moment, there are small bumps along the edges of the glossy panel, opposite the speaker. They do not cope with their task perfectly, and a third of the volume, namely the high-frequency spectrum from 10 KHz, is still lost.

It is not without reason that we omitted the description of the lower end of the case, since this is one of the most interesting, from a design point of view, elements of the case.

Firstly, instead of a glossy edging strip, there are several longitudinal relief lines that provide convenient hooking of this, so to speak, door. Above the strips there is a Fast Port connector for connecting all wired peripherals, to the left of which there is a longitudinal hole for the main microphone, since, as we found out, the phone has two of them. On the right there is a perpendicularly located plastic ring for attaching the strap. And now about that very lid. To begin with, let’s mention the rubber pad on the end of the lid, as it minimizes the device’s sliding on the table.

We have already mentioned how to open the lid a little higher. In the center of the relief strip there is a small depression and a triangle-shaped indicator. The lid may not initially have any play, but its appearance will only be a matter of time. By the very idea of ​​having such a cover, the phone again projects the norms of their compact camera segment, where there is simply no room for a full-size removable cover.

The design of the lid itself involves 2 plastic guides along the edges and 2 small metal latches in the hinge design.

Opening the lid, we are presented with classic compartments for the battery and cards. Accordingly, closer to the rear surface there is a slot for a SIM card, and next to it is a more than interesting combined slot for memory cards.

As you know, M2 memory cards differ from microSD in that they have longitudinal ears and are 1.5 times thicker; accordingly, there are no significant differences in the design of the slots for these cards. However, since Sony Ericsson's parent is Sony, and not San Disc, the installation method symbol is provided only for M2 cards. Contacts facing up, as the picture on the protective sticker says. Accordingly, microSDHC cards are installed with the contacts facing down.

We tested the work with both M2 cards from Sony, SanDisk, and microSD. In both cases, no problems were noticed with 4 GB cards, and the capacity limitation is equal to the FAT32 limits.

Next to the memory card slot there is a strange orange tooth with an arrow drawn on it. If you look closely, it partially creeps onto the battery. If you pull the slider along the indicator, the single battery latch will release it, and the battery will jump out of the case by half a centimeter.

Accordingly, we turn the phone over and the battery slides out of the compartment completely.

This is a standard square BST-38 battery, previously seen in several models of the company. Since the review is written after a couple of months of use, we can confidently report 3-4 days of phone operation with 15-20 minutes of calls per day and half an hour of use of other functions. In music playback mode, the phone lasted about 17 hours. Watching the video reduced the charge to zero after 6 hours. If you talk for about an hour and a half a day, and spice it up with an hour of SMS-ICQ, with three hours of listening to music, then by the evening of the second day the phone will turn off, and messages about low signal levels will appear by lunchtime. Overall, considering the slightly worse results of the K800i, everything is more than good.

The last thing worth mentioning is any service information about the phone. Typically, this sticker is located under the battery, but in the K850i this would be of no use. The result looks humorous: under the battery compartment cover there is a plastic tag with a small eyelet in the center. Using some kind of hook, you hook this label and pull it out.

It stretches three centimeters, so it is quite possible to see the week of manufacture, IMEI, and the optimistic Made In China inscription.

Durability of materials

Many questions are raised about the resistance of such a glossy case to the formation of all kinds of abrasions and scratches. Your humble servant, being at one time the owner, also reacted with interest to this possible problem. So, the first moments are an accumulation of dust. Dust accumulates abundantly on the end grooves that separate the matte ends from the glossy panels. You can clean these places from dust only at home, just like the keyboard. By internal walls The navigation key also accumulates dust, and not in smaller quantities. The situation with the protective glass of the camera is no better. 1-3 specks of dust may fall under it per month, flying there from the speaker mesh during the cotton of the curtain. This is also an unpleasant moment.

The marking of the coating, I must say, is exemplary. True, in the worst sense of the word. Fingerprints cover literally everything, and greasy marks are clearly visible on matte surface ends, which, in general, is not surprising. If everything is simple and clear with the back surface and the screen area, then the keyboard, being also embedded in a glossy panel, causes a negative impression. The keys are small, tightly packed, and within a week a halo about 1-2 mm thick forms around each of them. Add dust to this, and you get something incompatible with the concept of “pleasant to the eye.” Now the main point concerning the physical properties of materials. The fears of skeptics can be refuted - thick plexiglass is used as transparent overlays. As a result, minor scratches in the first month of operation it may not appear at all. If there is at least some contact with sharp metal, then the likelihood of scratches is high. The above-mentioned Nokia 3250 has scratches all over everything possible after a month of using the phone, while here there are 8-10 scratches, and even then they appeared only after a photo shoot with the camera module. The protective glass of the screen, oddly enough, is glass. It is far from the words: mineral, tempered, but it is still glass, and there are no scratches on it.

As a result, we can state a good assembly, regarding the selected materials and the tightness of the joining of the body parts. The only non-solid part of the phone is the battery compartment cover; it actually creaks when you squeeze the device in your hand.

Equipment

Like most of the company's other high-end phones, the device comes in a glossy box with a schematic design on the lid.

The kit includes:

• the phone itself


• BST 38 battery


• Russian and English set of instructions and brochure about the camera


• CD with software for connecting your phone to a PC


• charger with Fast Port output


• short cable to PC


• headset Hpm 60, suitable only for conversations


• wrist strap.

Also in the pack of documentation you can find a leaflet indicating how to grip the phone while taking photos.

A200 interface

First of all, I would like to protect ourselves from questions regarding comparison of the new software platform with its predecessor - we will consider the software shell from scratch, which is correct, in our opinion.

In standby mode, in the corners of the top of the screen there are traditional five-level indicators of signal strength and battery charge. Between them is a field for various system indicators, be it missed events, notification of Bluetooth activity or silent alert mode. The indicator for running Java applications has been replaced with an icon resembling the Activity Menu symbol.

Below on the screen the names of the operator and the active base station can be displayed, and at the bottom of the screen - the date, digital clock and timer countdown, if it is running.

The first thing that immediately catches your eye is that the fonts for the soft key labels have become as small as the date indicator. This is caused by a change in the phone control system. After the A100, this is Sony Ericsson's second step towards increasing the compatibility of various content developed for Nokia S40 phones. Now at the bottom of the screen there are captions for both the soft keys and the confirmation button. Unfortunately, this did not in any way affect the reassignability of these same soft keys. They are still strictly assigned to calling certain functions. The left one is assigned to launch the multimedia gallery, and the right one is assigned to launch contacts.
The assignment of joystick deflections has not changed in any way, and quick launch of the Java MIDlet again remains possible only through the Activity Menu. It remained unchanged, so there is no point in repeating it.

The presence of telephone keys for accepting and rejecting calls partially affected the ergonomics of working with the telephone. On the one hand, this made it possible to remove the call making functions from the soft keys, which improved ergonomics in the same phone book. The end call button made it possible to forget about holding the return button for a long time to switch to standby mode. Here lies one significant drawback, partially mitigated by a separate player key in Walkman products. The end call key turns off the player while music is playing. Logical? No, of course.

The central confirmation key is now used to enter the main menu. The menu consists of 12 items, the display style of which, as before, depends on the built-in set of icons. The file manager item has been removed from the main menu. This was done so that the user could at least once try to take advantage of the main innovation of the A200. That's how we immediately found a function that most Sony Ericsson fans will accept by rejecting the navigation key. As before, digital navigation is available, both in the main menu and in most submenus.

Among the minor improvements, you can add improved animation of pop-up windows, as well as a not very pleasant indication of a new message, where not only the type of message is displayed, but also the sender. The implementation of CallerID remains the same: half the screen displays either a picture or a video associated with the subscriber.

Profiles are still limited to 7 add-ons, each of which can be modified in a number of ways:

• ringer volume


• activation of increasing volume


• vibration alert


• key sound


• redirection


• White list


• a way to answer an incoming call (with a separate key, or by pressing any button other than end call).

You can change the name of 6 profiles, but the icons remain unchanged.

Support for Flash animation in themes has now become an invariable attribute of all the company's A200 phones without exception.

Phone book

In terms of quick search capabilities, we can only note the correct search by first and last name, as well as all phone numbers. As before, the search is carried out according to the entered criteria regarding the beginning of the number or name. So, for example, if you are looking for the number 8 999 000 65 01, the phone will highlight it only if you enter 8 in the search. Let us recall that in Windows Mobile the search is carried out from any point, and the above number will be displayed if you write 65, for example. The same situation applies to first and last names.

The phone book memory is designed for 1000 entries and 7000 phone numbers in total. Accordingly, each entry may contain:

• mobile, personal mobile, work mobile, home, work, and any other phone numbers. The fax number is added in the same section



• Email


• Web address


• individual ringtone and picture


• job title


• organization


• street


• city


• region


• postcode


• and the country where the place of work is located.


• the same address details for place of residence


• text note up to 511 characters long


• birthday reminder.

Call lists are, as usual, as simple as possible. When you hover over a number, the date and time of the call is displayed. There is sorting by received, dialed, missed calls, as well as display in bulk.

Messages

There is a good tool for creating SMS/EMS messages. As before, it is possible to display emoticons as pictures. As before, the size limit for the created message is 594 characters in Cyrillic and 1188 characters in Latin.

The MMS service has also not undergone any changes. This is a visually pleasing interface for complex composing of messages up to 300 kb in size. You can add existing audio, photos, video materials, or directly launch the tools for creating them (camera, voice recorder).

The email client allows you to set up an account in five steps.

First enter the name account and email address. Then enter your username and password, after which the phone will offer to get the remaining settings from the Sony Ericsson.com/support server. If there is no Internet access, the remaining two steps will consist of selecting the connection type (POP3, IMAP4), and entering the incoming and outgoing mail servers.

Among the interface changes, the only thing that can be noted is the changed background of the message reading/writing window.

Regarding the Cyrillic alphabet in the headings, it can be noted that the majority of messages received by the author are displayed correctly. All attachments can be saved to the phone's memory - this is a definite plus.

Organizer

Let's briefly go through the organizer's capabilities.
First of all, it is a functional alarm clock that allows you to create up to five alerts. Each alarm can be configured by trigger time and alert days. It is also possible to set an individual call signal or radio. A nice addition is the ability to rename the title.

Calendar

Two types of display: month display or week table with hourly schedule of each day.

By pointing at the desired day of the week, you can quickly create a reminder. Reminders also shine with a wide degree of customization. You can set a custom name, start time, duration, notification 5-30 minutes in advance. before the start, set the specifics of the reminder repeat (daily, weekly, monthly, annually), and also add information about the location of the event. For dessert, there is the opportunity to add a short description of the event. As you can see, reminders, if not ideal, are as close as possible to such, considering that this is not a separate organizer, but one of the functions of a mobile phone.

Notes

Text notes. The length of each cannot exceed 254 characters.

Timer

Ordinary timer. You set the time, accurate to the second, and admire the report in standby mode.

Stopwatch allows you to create up to 9 intermediate values.

Calculator notable for its ability to extract the root of a number.

Flashlight

Well, most Sony Ericsson fans did not even expect to see the appearance of a flashlight. However, a function popular among many owners has reappeared. However, with three autofocus illumination LEDs, this seems more than justified. As in its predecessor, the flashlight can be turned on for 1 minute, turned on without automatic shutdown, and also start a light indication of the word SOS in Morse code.

As an alternative to any key fobs, a flashlight works great, providing more or less clear illumination up to 2 meters, which, in fact, can be useful in some situations.

The code memo is interesting only by its presence as such. Otherwise, the four-digit password most eloquently indicates the seriousness of these closed notes.

Communications

The phone has a Bluetooth 2.0 wireless module with EDR support. Most profiles accompanying the standard are supported:

• Basic Imaging Profile


• Basic Printing Profile


• Dial-Up Networking Profile


• File Transfer Profile


• Generic Access Profile


• Generic Object Exchange Profile


• Handsfree Profile


• Headset Profile



• JSR-82 Java API


• Object Push Profile


• Personal Area Network Profile


• Serial Port Profile


• Service Discovery Application Profile


• Synchronization Profile


• SyncML OBEX binding


• Phonebook Access Profile.

Data transfer speed is at the level of 100-120 kb/s. Connection stability is high as in the case of transmission large files, and when working with wireless headset. The main change in Bluetooth operation can be considered the ability to minimize the data transfer window.

Connecting via cable to a PC is trivial. Nothing new, and safe shutdown via a utility in Windows is again included in the list of Fast Port shortcomings. average speed Data transfer is about 1.5-2MB per second, using a 512MB Sony memory card.

Memory, working with files

The phone has 43 MB of memory allocated for user needs. RAM for Java multitasking and video buffering is about 15 MB. A combined slot for microSDHC&M2 memory cards greatly facilitates the ability to store large amounts of information directly in the phone. Currently, the limitation is the ability to use microSDHC cards with a capacity of up to 8 GB (12 GB cards have been announced) or Memory Stick M2 cards with a capacity of up to 4 GB. In our case, we tested the overall speed of moving files to both types of cards with a capacity of 4 GB. The results were identical, so further actions were carried out with a Kingston microSDHC card.

To begin with, we assessed the phone's agility by updating a multimedia library of 658 songs with a total volume of 3.69 GB. As a result, the phone took 1 minute and 52 seconds, while it carried out this operation in 15 minutes, and found all the songs in 8 minutes and 39 seconds.

We then started browsing through the music library navigation, switching by sorting types and so on. Interestingly, the difference between 40 compositions and 650 is not felt at all.

We continue our experiments. Now photos are next, so the same 3.7 gigabytes of memory are filled with photos in the DCIM/100MSDCF folder. This process, to put it mildly, is not as fast as in the case of downloading music.

The library update speed, in the case of photos, was 6 minutes and 23 seconds. The phone found a total of 2811 photos.

Needless to say, what navigation through such a rich section looks like, given the fact that on the company’s previous phones it was problematic to view 300-400 pictures, but here, with multiple slowdowns and constant drawing of thumbnails, you can still find the photo you’re looking for, and It won't take much nerves.

What are all these stories for? It's simple: now, on a 4GB memory array, you still don't have any opportunity to actively use the camera on your phone without thinking about using a PC as the main storage source. It turns out that photos from 5-6 months ago, when you want to show them to your friends, end up far from being in the phone’s memory, and all because you filled the memory card with your favorite music the day before, and for a couple of the “most important” albums you had to transfer these photos to the PC hard drive. So: in a couple of years, when 32GB memory cards become a reality, it is far from a fact that the A200 software platform will not be used in Sony Ericsson phones. And those approximate volumes the information that we recorded separately will be safely stored on the memory card in the phone, and you will not strictly limit yourself in any way in search of a compromise.

You can read about the multimedia menu itself in the second part of the review.

The file manager is located in the organizer menu item, which we mentioned in the first part of the review. The organization of working with files is no different from what we could see in the Sony Ericsson T650i. You can also view image thumbnails, five icons wide. As before, you can copy, select, move files, and create folders and subfolders of any level. Work with large amounts of information is organized well, and no slowdowns were noticed from fifty folders in the root directory. Good news for generous owners will be the ability to transfer any Jar files, except the installed ones. Previously, to do this, you had to pervert the files by renaming files from sample.jar to sample.jar1, etc. Now everything is quite in line with current realities, which is good news.

The K850i is designed for those who constantly use their mobile phone to take high-quality pictures on the road or on the move. The sophisticated design hides great capabilities - this is not just a phone that supports UMTS and provides high speed transferring images to the Internet and blogs. K850i is a phone that is equipped with one of the highest quality cameras. In photo mode, xenon flash with red-eye reduction function allows you to achieve High Quality photos in low light conditions. The K850i's rich communication capabilities make it easy to share photos. Picture Blogging lets you upload photos directly to your blog, while Bluetooth™ and USB 2.0 make it easy to share photos with friends or download them to your computer.

According to ZOOM.Cnews readers
Sony Ericsson K850i:

Lightweight, masculine, beautiful, functional, affordable, has a good camera, inconvenient, has a weak battery, cannot be a replacement for the player.

CHARACTERISTICS

easy

Male

Beautiful

Functional

Affordable

Has a good camera

Ergonomic

Has a capacious battery

Can be a replacement for the player

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MAIN TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Nutrition

Battery capacity: 930 mAh Battery type: Li-polymer Talk time: 9 h Standby time: 400 h

Additional Information

Features: BestPic - 9 pictures per second; image stabilizer, video image; TrackID; RSS feeds; NetFront; slot for memory cards MS M2 or MicroSD; 2 flashes (LED, xenon) Date of announcement: 2007-06-14

General characteristics

Type: phone Weight: 118 g Control: navigation key Case material: plastic Case type: classic Number of SIM cards: 1 Dimensions (WxHxT): 48x102x17 mm SIM card type: regular SAR level: 1.14

Screen

Screen type: color TFT, 262.14 thousand colors Image size: 320x240 Scratch-resistant glass: yes

Calls

Type of melodies: polyphonic, MP3 melodies Vibrate alert: yes

Multimedia capabilities

Camera: 5 million pixels, xenon flash Camera functions: autofocus Video recording: yes Front camera: yes Video playback: 3GP, MPEG4 Audio: MP3, AAC, FM radio Voice recorder: yes Max. video frame rate: 30 fps Games: yes Java applications: yes

Connection

Interfaces: Bluetooth, USB Internet access: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA Standard: GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G Synchronization with a computer: yes Use as a USB drive: yes Modem: yes Connector for external antenna: yes Protocol support: POP /SMTP

Memory and processor

Number of processor cores: 1 Built-in memory capacity: 40 MB Memory card support: microSD (TransFlash), up to 4 GB Memory card slot: yes, up to 4 GB

Messages

Additional SMS functions: text input with dictionary, MMS message templates: yes

Other features

Speakerphone (built-in speaker): yes Airplane mode: yes A2DP profile: yes Auto redial: yes

Notebook and organizer

Organizer: alarm clock, calculator, task scheduler Book search: yes Exchange between SIM card and internal memory: yes Main technical characteristics

Screen
Screen	TFT
Diagonal	2.2 "
Color rendition	262144 colors
Permission	240 x 320 pixels
Memory
Built-in memory	64 MB
Call and multimedia
FM tuner
Data transfer
Bluetooth
Infrared port
Email client
GPRS
MMS
Camera and video
Number of pixels	5 million pixels
Additional Information	video telephony
Battery
Talk mode	9 hours
Standby mode	400 h
Dimensions and weight
Width	48 mm
Height	102 mm
Thickness	17 mm
Weight	118 g

Short description:

Phones produced by the Sony Ericsson production duo have always been famous for their quality, reliability and original design. The SE K850i model belongs to the famous Cyber-Shot series. There are still few such devices on the market - a phone with a 5-megapixel camera is more of a camera than a phone.

Technical features:

• The K850i is somewhat bulky in appearance. However, you shouldn’t rush to conclusions - the thickness of the phone is largely due to the power of its camera - a “camera” module with such characteristics takes up quite a lot of space.
• In general, the model looks quite presentable. Black color is generally considered universal, classic, both for phones and electronics in general, cars, clothes and much more. The plastic of the case is mostly glossy, both on the front and back panels. That's why fingerprints easily remain on it - it's better to have a handkerchief with you just in case.
• There are three interesting features model body. Firstly, there are three touch keys under the display on the front panel. They are interesting primarily because they are easy to press accidentally. This creates certain inconveniences, but they are quite tolerable. Secondly, a rather interesting navigation block is used. Its frame keys are located 'around' buttons 2 and 5. Very unusual, to put it mildly. One gets the impression that this design appeared as a result of a software application failure on the part of one of the SE designers. And thirdly, there is no battery compartment cover on the back. The back panel is occupied by the camera and auxiliary elements. The battery, SIM card and memory cards of two formats are inserted from the bottom end of the case.
• Sony's decision to compromise principles in introducing its own memory cards is unusual. Now, unlike most other Sony Ericsson models, the device supports not only Memory Stick cards from Sony (in this case, the micro version), but also microSD cards from third party manufacturers.
• As in “music” Walkman phones, the functions of “pulse” keyboard backlighting (pulses to the beat of the music) and “recognition” of songs via the Internet (thanks to the presence of the so-called Track ID) are supported - through a special company server, any unfamiliar performers can be easily identified upon request , album, song title, etc., including quite rare ones.
• You can add data about a thousand subscribers to your contact list. The phone's capabilities allow you to create a whole dossier for each person - specify a name, up to seven phone numbers, email address, www-address, residential address, birthday, etc. Each contact can be assigned its own picture and ringtone.

Camera:

• The camera in the SE K850i is really good - 5 full megapixels, with autofocus. There is an automatic shutter that opens/closes the lens when turned on.
• Excellent technical detail- xenon flash. As you know, they are only available in fairly expensive phones with a powerful “camera” component and replace the LED flash, the latter is called a flash only out of pity. However, the model also has an LED flashlight, especially for autofocus and convenient illumination in dark rooms.
• There are a lot of settings on the phone - from adjusting the photosensitivity of the matrix to adjusting the white balance, exposure metering, selecting effects, etc. - everything is almost like a regular camera.

Equipment:

• Sony Ericsson K850i phone,
• Charger,
• Battery,
• Stereo headset (wired),
• USB cable for synchronization with PC,
• M2 memory card (Memory Stick Micro),
• Disk with software,
• User's Manual.

Sony Ericsson has apparently placed its bet on the development of a promising series of camera phones. One of the most notable representatives of this series was the new one, distinguished primarily by the presence of a 5-megapixel camera. And although the market already offers mobile phones with a 5-megapixel camera from other manufacturers (in particular), the appearance of the K850i model in the Sony Ericsson phone line demonstrates that the company is not going to give up its position as a technological leader.

Key benefits of the K850i:

• 5 MP camera with autofocus, automatic shutter, camera control buttons
• HSDPA (3.6 Mbit/s) and EDGE support
• Buttons for accepting and ending calls, key to move the cursor to the end of the line
• Large 2.2" LCD display
• Slots for two memory cards
• FM radio with VHF
• Bluetooth (with A2DP)
• Multitasking support

The main disadvantages of the K850i:

The K850i's keyboard is virtually identical to the T650i's, except that the buttons are slightly larger. The right column of alphanumeric keys in camera action mode is used to change the shooting mode, frame settings, timer and flash. The blue-lit picture explains the purpose of each of them. The navigation button is also used to zoom in or out on a subject while shooting.

On the bottom panel of the K850i there is a battery cover that covers the phone's battery, SIM card and slots for removable memory cards. By the way, this is the first Sony Ericsson phone that supports 2 memory cards: M2 and microSD. The first is inserted face up, the second - down. Nearby is a hole for a standard port for external devices. The SIM card, memory card and battery are fairly easy to remove. On the top panel of the phone there is only an Off/On button, which can also be used to quickly switch between call modes.

The right panel, of course, attracts attention; from this side the phone looks very much like a regular digital camera. This panel contains three buttons for controlling shooting modes - camera, video recording and playback mode. Directly above them is a button for closing the camera shutter and next to it is a small button responsible for turning the camera on/off. Perhaps no other mobile phone (except perhaps the new LG KU990) can boast of having such large quantity camera control keys. It is worth noting that when the keyboard is locked, the camera's off/on button continues to operate. At the top of the right panel is a raised V-shaped volume control key, which can also be used to zoom in/out while viewing photos.

Positioning

The Sony Ericsson K850i model is the company's flagship and will be on the market for at least one year; only in the second quarter of 2008 will more solutions equipped with a 5-megapixel camera begin to appear. Based on the popularity of previous models, we can safely say that Sony Ericsson is trying to ride the wave and take advantage of those solutions that were previously so in demand on the market. Will it work? Everything is not very clear, and primarily due to the growth of the company’s business. If initially Sony Ericsson focused on the audience of technical enthusiasts, as well as the image segment, today it has been decided to target the largest possible group of users. The Sony Ericsson K850i model is the living essence of these ideas, here the camera shutter was abandoned, the new experience is as similar as possible to conventional cameras. We discussed in our review of the K850i why this happened and what it does in terms of experience for the consumer.

But in addition to the camera, there has been a sharp change in the ergonomics of the device; it is worth noting the appearance of touch keys, which clearly requires a change in the usual control style. The transfer of the navigation keys inside the digital ones all together affects the ergonomics of the solution. It is aimed specifically at technical enthusiasts; they are ready to receive such innovations and get used to them. But, on the other hand, the task was to make a mass device for ordinary people. A contradiction, a dilemma arises.

Will this phone be massive, like the company's previous flagships? Definitely yes, it will be popular, despite the radical changes in approach. But will he be able to allow the company to make a qualitative leap, a leap forward compared to its competitors? Just like one, only model? After all, if we remember previous decisions, the Sony Ericsson T610i was a breakthrough that opened up a whole direction, then came the Sony Ericsson K750i, and finally the update of the Sony Ericsson K800i. Is the Sony Ericsson K850i such a breakthrough today?

In my opinion, it is impossible to talk about this, since the model is interesting for its technical solutions, but does not bring anything exclusively new to the market. Let's remember the technical innovations of previous devices.

• Sony Ericsson T610i is the first mass-produced model with a built-in camera.
• Sony Ericsson K750i is the first model with photographic image quality, an all-in-one solution: player, radio, games.
• Sony Ericsson K800i – the emergence of multitasking for Java, improved interface, opening of the new A1/A100 platform, priority in terms of camera, time to market.

Is the Sony Ericsson K850i the first mass-produced device with a 5-megapixel camera? No, the Nokia N95 is already on the market and is wildly popular. In my opinion, there is a miscalculation by Sony Ericsson marketers; they did not believe that the expensive solution from Nokia would become so popular on the market. According to our estimates, every second of those who purchased the Nokia N95 could potentially become a buyer of the Sony Ericsson K850i if the models were released within one to two months of each other.

The basis for the miscalculation was previous experience, because in a combination of Nokia N93 and Sony Ericsson K800i, the first model clearly lost, people were not too willing to buy it. The question did not lie in the plane of a smartphone or a regular phone, as is sometimes believed. It was a question of ergonomics, the unusualness of the Nokia N93 body and, most importantly, its size. In the case of Nokia N95 and Sony Ericsson K850i there is no such difference; the devices are quite comparable in size.

It was initially assumed that Sofia, which is the code name of the Sony Ericsson K850i, will appear on the market in early summer. Then the finalization of the A2/A200 platform was pushed back to a later date, especially since the main competitor, Nokia, somewhat delayed the release of the 5th edition of the S40. In fact, a substitution of concepts occurred within the Sony Ericsson company. If previously both regular phones and smartphones were considered competitors, now only phones are left. And the S60 platform was taken out of comparison as expensive and aimed at a different segment. This is a mistake that can be very costly in the future. At the moment, competitors to the entire line from Sony Ericsson are both the S40 and S60 products.

Functionally, the Nokia N95 is much more powerful than the Sony Ericsson K850i, plus it has been on the market for a long time. For operator markets, where the purchase of a phone is part of a contract and its cost is minimal for the consumer, there is not much difference in what to choose. The cost of the solution fades into the background and is not so critical. The image component should also be taken into account; the slider form factor is in greater demand on the market.

A truly paradoxical situation is emerging. Sony Ericsson produces a monoblock that is aimed at a traditional, somewhat conservative audience. Then in it she changes the concept of management, there is a total departure from everything that came before. Including the transition to an interface from Nokia, however, more on that a little later. Is there consistency in the user experience? No, it's missing. It is the Sony Ericsson K850i that accounts for the gap in this aspect. This is what makes us wonder what will happen to the Sony Ericsson K850i on the market. The struggle for a place in the sun will not be as easy as for previous models. Most buyers do not know about the implementation of specific functions before purchasing a product, but choose based on other parameters. The main audience for this product is Sony Ericsson loyal users, but for the mass market a little more is needed.

For the first time for the company's flagship from Sony Ericsson, the model's prospects do not look too bright, and the phone initially finds itself in a tough competitive environment. Perhaps this will force the company to rush to update this model. Let's hope so, although in the coming year it will be the Sony Ericsson K850i that remains the flagship.

Once again, what I am describing here are just the first signs associated with the growth of the company, and perhaps problem areas will be able to be overcome during 2007-2008. If this does not happen, then Sony Ericsson may begin to lose its halo as a technological leader, and this is extremely dangerous for the company.

Design, construction, control elements

The design of the phone is not made in the usual style for the company; the device does not have rounded corners, which makes its appearance rectangular, sharp and creates the impression of large volume. Both in photographs and in real life The phone always seemed thick to me, offhand I always thought it was larger than the same Sony Ericsson K800i. To my surprise, this is an optical illusion, and if you look at the same K800i, you will see that the K850i body is thinner.

Phone size – 102x48x17 mm, weight – 118 grams. For comparison: Sony Ericsson K800i measures 106x47x18 mm and weighs 115 grams.

The model is available in two colors – green and blue (Luminous Green, Velvet Blue), and in both cases the plastic of the front panel is black, and the edging of the navigation key is different, plus the color of the side insert. The sides of the device are silver only in the blue version of the case, but the back panel is enclosed in transparent plastic, the substrate is unusual for phones, but is similar to a number of cameras from Sony. The quality of the plastic is good, this is especially evident on the black version of the case; it looks better, although blue has its own charm. In all cases, hand marks easily remain on the front panel, which is glossy.

The soiling of the device is a topic for another discussion; the phone has too many glossy surfaces, not only the sides. Within a few hours, the phone becomes covered in your fingerprints, which can be very annoying for some. The back surface is made of plastic, it glares. Moreover, a “sandwich” type design was used here. Actually plastic surface has a backing made of a thin layer of metal, which protects the insides of the device and gives rigidity to the body. If you press on the back surface, it will begin to “walk”, there is freedom of movement. This would be good if it were not for the possibility of squeaks appearing under strong compression; in this parameter the phone is clearly inferior to previous models. Also, within a month, we involuntarily received an internal scratch on the back panel; the plastic in the pocket burst when pressed (I don’t think it was too strong, and the phone hasn’t been dropped). The crack is visible at a certain angle and nothing more, it did not increase, but its appearance is not very reassuring in principle.

The back panel is not removable; at the bottom end there is a standard Fast Port and right there is a hinged lid, this solution is non-standard. Already under this cover, which has a latch, you can find a SIM card slot, a slot for microSD/M2 memory cards, as well as a battery mount, it is secured with a latch.

Display

The screen in the model is slightly larger than that in the Sony Ericsson K790i/K800i, its diagonal is 2.2 inches (previously 2 inches). Screen resolution is QVGA (240x320 pixels), which allows you to display up to 8 lines of text and up to three service lines on the screen. With a smaller font size, it is possible to display more lines. Just as before, the display displays up to 262,000 colors (TFT), has a mirror substrate, which makes it highly readable in the sun and increases viewing angles. Like the Sony Ericsson T650i, this device uses mineral glass to protect the display.

If we make a direct comparison with the Sony Ericsson K800i, the picture quality has improved, primarily due to the larger diagonal. But the changes cannot be called fundamental. The screen is good, on par with modern models, but not extraordinary.

Keyboard

The phone's keyboard is made in an unusual manner; these are small rectangular keys, they are similar to those we saw in the Sony Ericsson T650i. The keyboard may not seem very good, but it is quite convenient to work with and is comfortable. The main thing is to learn how to press the buttons with the entire area of ​​your finger, then there will be no problems. The fact that it is necessary to relearn to some extent is a common thread running through this phone. The navigation key is unusual, as it is integrated into the number buttons, and due to the fact that its edges protrude, it is also pleasant to work with.

Keyboard backlight white, it is clearly visible in different conditions. Overflow effects are used for the keyboard, when the backlight for rows of keys changes according to a certain rhythm, this is interesting and diversifies the device. This solution was first used in the Sony Ericsson T650i.

Just like in the Motorola RAZR2 V8, the screen has three touch zones; contextual keys are located here. Thanks to this solution, the company was able to reduce the number of buttons by one, now the OK button, as well as two touch-sensitive soft keys. They work without any problems and are contextual, as was the case in all previous models for regular buttons. This approach is interesting because in the future it will save space and increase the size of the number keys.

If on the RAZR2 V8 the zones were made by placing the sensors on the surface of the screen itself, then a different technology was used here. You see three white dots on the bottom edge; these are the output of contacts and sensors. When pressed, the finger still occupies most of the surface and touches these sensors. Pressing occurs. We experimented with pressing hot objects and cold ones, there is not much difference. The bottom edge has a slight play; when pressed, the protective glass of the screen moves. On the display itself, a corresponding mark appears at the bottom, as if you pressed it. The question of the mechanical stability of the screen in the future, with constant use of the keys, remains open; the company tested the device for such wear, but it is unknown what real use will show.

At first, working with touch pads is not entirely familiar, but then you get used to it, and they don’t seem particularly exotic. In terms of ergonomics, they are somewhat inferior to regular keys, but not by much. Overall, the keyboard is average and requires some getting used to.

Memory, memory cards

The phone has about 40 MB of built-in memory; you can store both your data and applications in it. Behind the folding latch is a dual slot for MS M2 or MicroSD memory cards. For the first time, the company went for standardization and offered a choice: either original M2 cards for owners of all kinds of equipment from Sony or previous models of the company, or a slightly cheaper microSD. There is no fundamental difference in price between memory cards of these standards, nor in their functionality. To a greater extent, this is a matter of convenience and the availability of one or another card. This move from Sony Ericsson looks very strong; other manufacturers offer only one type of card.

Physically, the slot is double-sided, that is, the M2 card is inserted with the contacts facing you, and the microSD card is inserted vice versa. You cannot install two cards at once; they will not fit in the slot. “Hot” swapping is supported, that is, you can change cards while the device is running, regardless of their type.

It is extremely difficult to insert a card incorrectly; it requires considerable effort and literally pushing it into the case. In this case, the card holder may be slightly deformed, since it is made of a thin metal plate. In very bad circumstances, the card will lose contact, but this problem can be easily corrected by pressing the plate with any thin object. In my opinion, only with extremely careless handling can such problems arise.

The phone has a media player to manage all the contents of the memory of both the phone and the card.

Built-in motion sensor

The device has a built-in motion sensor, but unlike previous models (W710i, W580i) it is used not as a pedometer, but to determine the orientation of the screen. In the gallery, when viewing a photo or video, turning the phone on its side means that the orientation automatically changes from vertical to horizontal. At the moment, only Apple's iPhone has this functionality among its characteristics. Plus, the built-in sensor is used in a number of built-in games; this device has one similar toy.

On Nokia phones, the built-in sensor has long been used to rotate photos while shooting, but not for other applications.

Battery

The battery in the phone is a new type BST-38, it is lithium-polymer with a capacity of 930 mAh (previously 950 mAh). According to the manufacturer, the phone provides up to 400 hours of standby time and up to 9 hours of talk time. In Moscow networks, the average operating time of the device will be about 2 days under average load; there are no striking differences from the Sony Ericsson K800i. Full time battery charging takes 2.5 hours, charging to 90 percent of full capacity occurs in two hours.

Performance

There are virtually no differences in performance from previous models, for example, Sony Ericsson K800i. It is at the same level; it would be difficult to expect major changes with the same hardware architecture. At the same time, menu navigation is slightly faster, and viewing of a number of functions, such as the phone book, has also been improved.

Data transfer

With a USB connection, you are forced to choose whether to access files, this is a data transfer mode, or continue to work with the phone, or turn on Print mode (printing photos). In the first case, the phone turns off, you see the memory card and phone memory. Despite the stated support for USB 2.0, the data transfer speed does not exceed 500 Kb/s. In the second case, there are various USB settings for accessing the network, the phone acts as a modem.

Separately, a mode has appeared in which you can use the network installed on your computer for access from your phone. This is a convenient feature in some cases, such as when using ActiveSync.

Another supported protocol is MTP, which allows you to directly transfer music to the device from Windows Media Player 10 or 11. A convenient option for those who do not want to use a separate utility from Sony Ericsson.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth in this model is version 2 and supports EDR; you can set an increased energy saving mode in the menu. The A2DP profile is also supported, which allows the use of wireless stereo headphones. Unlike the K800i and other previous models, Bluetooth activation with the “Flight Mode” profile is supported. Model supports following profiles:

• Basic Imaging Profile
• Basic Printing Profile
• Dial-Up Networking Profile
• File Transfer Profile
• Generic Access Profile
• Generic Object Exchange Profile
• Handsfree Profile
• Headset Profile
• JSR-82 Java API
• Object Push Profile
• Personal Area Network Profile
• Serial Port Profile
• Service Discovery Application Profile
• Synchronization Profile
• SyncML OBEX binding
• Phonebook Access Profile.

GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA

One of the first devices from the company that supports all data transfer technologies at once, which makes it extremely interesting. It remains to be noted that the rejection of the infrared port is due to the fact that this type Communications are gradually dying out, the future lies in wireless standards for data transmission and communications. In particular, the integration of Wireless USB into mobile phones is on the agenda.

Hardware platform A2, software platform A200

Many people are interested in how the A2 platform differs from its prototype, and how critical these changes are. In terms of hardware, there are not many changes, the amount of RAM has been slightly expanded, but the processor remains the same, it is ARM11 with a frequency of 220 MHz. For most applications the power of this processor is sufficient; increasing the power would lead to an unjustified increase in power consumption. Among the serious issues related to performance, it is probably worth noting the slow rendering of photos in the Media section (preview icons) due to the size of the photos. This takes a couple of seconds, but this is more likely due to the limitation not of the processor, but of the bandwidth between the memory card and other system components. I see the main reason in this and nothing more. Once the gallery is loaded, navigating through it is no problem. In my opinion, it made sense to create copies of the icons in a reduced size, rather than generating them dynamically each time. This trick is used on a number of devices, it has its disadvantages, but there are frankly more advantages.

A200 software platform

The new generation of phones is primarily a software part and nothing else. The main component of the update is the JP-8 Java platform, the version has increased by one compared to previous models, and many new APIs have been added that are of great interest. Therefore, let's focus on this change first, and we'll talk about all the changes in the interface area later.

The introduction of the concept of Java platforms for Sony Ericsson was a logical step to simplify application development within the current generation of phones. Standardization always has a positive effect on third-party developers, saving time and costs. Firstly, just like in Nokia phones, a little later in Motorola and a number of other manufacturers, JSR-248 or Mobile Service Architecture is supported. This is an umbrella standard that describes the necessary, minimum set of APIs for modern phones equipped with Java. While using different flavors of Java has created a problem for developers in the past, the industry has come together to avoid this in the future.

The MSA includes a set of mandatory standards, while at the same time a number of them are optional, so the manufacturer can use them or not, which provides diversity in the functionality of devices. An example of an optional API for Sony Ericsson is JSR 256, which is the Mobile Sensor API. With its help, you can create applications that use the capabilities of the built-in motion sensor. The K850i, for example, has a built-in toy where you can kick a ball along an inclined surface. Other manufacturers may or may not support this API at their discretion.

Let's look at other APIs:

JSR 239 Java binding for OpenGL ES API– support for three-dimensional graphics.
JSR 177 Security and Trust Services API– support for cryptographic protection and user identification. The main API for organizing e-commerce in the future.
JSR229 Payment API– payments from a mobile terminal.
JSR 234 Advanced Multimedia– 3D audio, access to camera, built-in FM tuner and RDS information, partially supported in JP-7.
JSR 179 – Location API– applications for working with coordinates, for example, Google Maps.
JSR 238 Internationalization– localization of devices and applications.
JSR 211 SIP support– organization of VoIP calls.

If you look at the set of APIs, it becomes clear: the modern phone is not so far from smartphones, and Java will ultimately become no less interesting for expanding the standard functionality of terminals and will soon be able to offer the same functionality as applications for Symbian.

I would like to make a reservation that the K850i is one of the first devices to support JP-8 (the other two are Z750i, W910i). It is foolish to expect that Sony Ericsson will implement all the features of the JP-8 in this phone. For example, VoIP calls mostly require a built-in WiFi module (not necessary, by no means, but highly desirable, otherwise there’s no point). As practice shows, operators are extremely opposed to allowing users to save money using VoIP calls; for example, a number of operators have abandoned this functionality in the Nokia N95; we wrote about this in our review of the device.

For regular phones, it will be necessary to wait for the appearance of third-party programs, since the manufacturers themselves will specifically and at the request of operators limit such functionality. Let's remember the example of Nokia 6136 with UMA support (WiFi only for VoIP calls through the operator's native network with appropriate tariffs).

I am glad that opportunities for creating applications have been opened for independent developers; this allows us to hope that such programs will appear within the year. But by that time, the relevance of the same Sony Ericsson K850i will decrease. But for other models with JP-8 such applications will come in handy.

In order not to go into the weeds of describing various APIs and what impact they will have on future models, I will only note that with an external GPS receiver HGE-100 and a Java program or an online connection to Google Maps, navigation is also possible on the Sony Ericsson K850i. Another thing is that in the intermediate model between this device and the next flagship, this will be implemented initially, that is, already in the box with the phone. Interestingly, history is repeating itself with the Sony Ericsson K800 and Sony Ericsson K810. Let's call the model Sony Ericsson K860i. I really hope that they will add a curtain to it, gentlemen, marketers, you can consider this a direct and unambiguous hint.

Nokia User Interface

One of the strategic decisions for Sony Ericsson was the support of Java classes for Nokia UI in 2004. As a result of the development of this direction, we see full transition on the S40 ideology in Sony Ericsson K850i and other phones using JP-8. What does this mean?

First of all, in the keyboard layout. All the company's phones up to this point used two soft keys; there was also a separate Back key, which allowed you to move to the previous menu or exit to standby mode. On new models they abandoned it completely. Now there are three soft keys located under the screen, their actions are most reminiscent of those for the S40 platform from Nokia. It is clear that such a move on the part of Sony Ericsson, coupled with the standardization of Java (MSA support), makes life as easy as possible for software developers. But is this good for users? In my opinion, we are again faced with the fact that the user experience is interrupted. What the company had been teaching consumers to do for almost 5 years has disappeared, and a new experience has arrived. It is interesting for those who would like to migrate from Nokia products to Sony Ericsson, but not for loyal consumers of the brand. A very controversial, but forced move. It remains to be said that one way or another, users will get used to this layout, fortunately it is not too difficult.

In this regard, it is worth noting the significant efforts that Sony Ericsson is making to standardize various classes of devices. Thus, for UIQ 3.1 a combination of 3 soft keys is also used; within the product range, a field of identical products appears.

Full description changes in the interface due to three soft keys can be read

The next part will talk about how Sony Ericsson wants to make money for K850i buyers, about the implementation of SVG and its conventions, about new functions in messages that I liked, as well as about all the remaining capabilities of the device. Including very interestingly implemented operating modes, for example, slide shows, media and much more.