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Sony Ericsson K750i Review - Hardware

A quality phone, full featured digital camera, and good quality MP3 player all in one? Is it impossible? This month we take a look at the K750i, one of Sony Ericsson's latest mobile phones, that promises to offer just that.

For those interested in the K750i, it is also worth considering the sister phone - the slightly more expensive "Walkman" W800i, which contains much the same functionality as the K750i, just more branding as a portable music player, and a larger 512mb memory stick duo included. The casing, buttons and menus are slightly different in the W800i as well, but the core hardware and functions are largely the same as found in the K750i.

Things are now starting to become quite interesting in the mobile arena, with phones starting to offer what were only 12 months ago very basic novelty addons, to fully fledged functionality seen in other portable devices.

What comes in the box

• Installation CD
• Full Instruction Manual
• Bud earphones / handsfree kit
• Mains Charger
• USB cable / charger
• 64mb Memory Stick Duo
• Memory Stick Duo Adapter
• Wrist strap

Initial Impressions / Form

Sony-Ericsson's K750i seems to aim more for the older or executive market, rather than the teenage market, and doesn't too much tacky or gaudy gimmicks to grab attention. The design itself is black, sleek, and fairly business like, and not suffering from some of the over the top flare of some of it's counterparts. A mostly black case with brushed silver highlights it works well. It's pretty much a curved rectangle, and it's a welcome change from some of the overly curved phones that seem to be flooding the market. For such a fully featured design, the phone also feels very light in the hand compared to many other phones, another nice design aspect.

The large display is probably one of the first things that grabs you, taking up over half of the phone's face area. We measured this at 29mm x 39mm. It is easily one of the largest displays for any regular form factor mobile, and boasts crip detail and high colour throughout. Sitting just below the display is the now standard Sony-Ericsson 'joystick' and navigation buttons. Below that sit the standard keypad with very subtly angled buttons, and a nice solid 'press' feel.

Flip the phone over and you are presented with the phone's camera functionality, looking pretty much like any other compact digital camera. No little pin lens inset into the case there, but an attractive brushed lens cover that can be flipped open at any time with the thumb. Hold it like a phone between your index fingers, and one finger will be resting directly on the shutter button, and the other will be naturally resting on a solid rocker wheel for zooming in and out. Facing you will be the screen, now acting as the camera display. It just feels like any other compact digital camera, and that's the way it should be. Brilliant.

Sitting on (continued next page)