Sony Ericsson K800i review

Chris Leonard

The beauty of the K800i lies in how easy it is to take pictures simply slide the cover down and press the camera button on the top

A 3.2-megapixel camera and a 3G connection makes the K800i ideal for capturing and sharing your best photos

The Sony Ericsson K800i was the first of a new breed of camera phone designed to make it as easy and quick as possible to take snaps or videos, and to upload your pictures to your blog.

By the time the K800i was released, Sony Ericsson had already taken the mobile music market by storm with its Walkman phones that did away with the need for carrying separate mobiles and MP3 players. The Cyber-Shot K800i was Sony Ericsson’s first foray into doing the same for camera phones.

Looks-wise, it has the classic candybar design with a large high-resolution colour screen that can be turned sideways for Landscape viewing, and a keypad underneath. Initially the K800i feels a little bulky but that’s because of the 3.2-megapixel camera (still one of the best around) and sliding lens cover on the back.

The beauty of the K800i lies in how easy it is to take pictures – simply slide the cover down and press the camera button on the top. Cyber-Shot technology means you can take a picture and upload it to your blog in three clicks so it’s perfect for capturing spontaneous shots during day-to-day life or on nights on the town (thanks to the built-in Xenon flash).

If you want to take printable-quality pictures, there are a wealth of options to help you take the best possible picture, and pictures can be up to 3MB in size – ideal for printing out and hanging on your wall.

But there’s more to the K800i than its excellent camera. Built into it is a music player application (which works the same as the Walkman phone software), a video player, games, and MusicDJ and VideoDJ applications which let you compose music tracks and edit videos respectively on the handset.

Another key selling point is that the K800i is 3G. This gives you high-speed access to full Internet browsing just like on your PC and it means you can make video calls using the small video camera above the screen. Alternatively, if your operator allows it you can stream music tracks and videos to your phone without having to download them.

Overall, it’s hard to find fault with the K800i. Its superb camera is still market-leading, it’s ideal for bloggers, it plays music, is 3G-compatible and best of all, it’s cheap. All this adds up to one of the best – and best value – cameraphones on the market.