Design
Sony Ericsson's V630i is a 3G phone exclusive to Vodafone. Only available in black, the V630i won't win any style awards, though we wouldn't call it an ugly duckling either. We think it's a clean, easy to use handset that will appeal to a broad-range of users.
Weighing in at 91 grams it just scrapes in under the K610i's weight. It's a reasonably compact, pocket-friendly handset, too, with dimensions of 102 by 46 by 17 millimetres.
The V630i looks a lot like the K610. The size, layout and overall look of the phone mirrors its sibling, with the black-and-charcoal finish differentiating it from the K610i's white, silver and red casing.
The phone sports a bright, 176 by 220 pixel screen that supports up to 256K colours. It sits above the menu buttons which glow orange when pressed. The side-mounted volume rocker and music button, and rear speaker also accent the phone in orange.
Features
The V630i has plenty of features, though most are pretty standard in any 3G phone today.
A 2-megapixel camera is included, which is accessed via the side-mounted camera button which flips the screen on it's side for a landscape view, to take photos. The panorama function was a good addition, allowing you to merge three photos taken side-by-side into one panoramic photo. Photos can be sent via MMS, Bluetooth or, alternatively, the included mobile blogger application allows you to upload photos to a Blogger.com account.
QuadraPop and WPT Tennis are pre-installed games, as well as several demos, including Tetris, Pac-Man, Ridge Racer and Extreme Air Snowboarding.
On the connectivity side of things, the V630i has Bluetooth, GPRS, and tri-band support. The USB mass storage feature lets you drag-and-drop files straight from your PC. E-mail support is also included.
The NetFront browser is built-in for Web access, which works fine on Vodafone Live but doesn't suit regular sized Web pages that aren't designed for mobile screens. Any Web page with too much content will become a burden to scroll through. A RSS reader lets you keep up-to-date with your favourite RSS feeds.
In addition to being a phone, Sony Ericsson is pushing the V630i as a music device. As such, an integrated MP3 player is included as well as a stereo headset. The main menu button and left-and-right navigational buttons double as play/stop and forward and back buttons respectively, when playing tracks. As such they are marked with corresponding icons.
Performance
The camera does a reasonable job when adequate light is available. Photos taken in bright lighting conditions looked fine, but picture quality suffered in low light, resulting in grainy photos. Surprisingly no flash -- LED or otherwise -- is provided. A Xenon flash like the K800i would have been welcome addition.
Sound quality was decent during calls, but was a bit hard to hear in loud places, even at maximum volume. The on-board loudspeaker works well when you need your hands free (or when playing music) though, as expected, it sounds a bit tinny.
On a few occasions, connection errors were experienced when trying to make an outgoing call, where the phone thought we were holding down a button, requiring a restart to fix the problem. As the V630i has a music-theme to it, a stereo headset is provided which is comfortable and adequate for music playback and making calls.
Our phone came with generous 256MB Sony Memory Stick Micro (M2) which, according to Sony Ericsson, can hold up to 230 songs. However, you're only able to fit around 60-70 average length songs on the card. It was fine for our use, though music fans may want to upgrade to a larger size (maximum support is 4GB, but that capacity is not yet available in Australia).
The menu worked well and was pretty intuitive. It was responsive and wasn't sluggish like some previous Sony Ericsson handsets.
The V630i doesn't have any particular features that standout. At $449, it's a general all-round phone that should suit most users' needs.
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fruko1980
29/07/2008, 04:06 PM
rating
9/10
Excellent walkman phone! Plenty of memory. Good sound quality both with or without headphones.
Pros: Lots of memory, 3G, quick access to your music files, excellent sound quality.
Cons: Earphone cable is not durable. Sound was lost in one ear so I had to replace the earphones.
No FM Radio!
Battery life could be better.
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pfvilhena
18/05/2008, 08:15 PM
rating
10/10
The perfect phone, although the 3 speakers are a bit bizarre...
Pros: User-friendly, very functional
Cons: 1 in 3? What's te point of 3 speakers if only 1 works?
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nokia 6101
14/05/2008, 12:29 AM
rating
8/10
Good 3g mobile phone. I like its great results of digital snaps which shooted with this mobile. Expandable memory is great for me because i am a photographer so this phone is best for me.
Pros: Stylish body with good color.
Expandable memory.
Good camera results.
Cons: Nothing.
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Kaz
12/05/2008, 10:22 PM
rating
8/10
I've had this phone for nearly two years now and maybe will be upgrading to the K850i although the reviews for that are a bit off for my liking. The three speakers on this phone did work in the beginning but then blew and only one works now. It randomly switches off and on and sometimes when I get picture msgs from certain people it sends through two and when I check the 2nd one it comes up with a distorted screen.
Although it's old I'd still tell other people to buy it it's lasted longer than I thought!
Pros: Expandable memory
Good sound
Pretty good camera for those random pic moments
Easy menu functions
Cons: Distorted screen
Speakers blow in first week of owning it
Switches itself off and on
Scratches on screen easy
Needs better camera
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Handset junkie
09/02/2008, 12:43 AM
rating
3/10
V630i is not a phone i would buy again. It is bulky does not connect to pc. There is nothing good about the handset.
Pros: Tkhe is not positive i could say about he V630i
Cons: Speakers would not be any better then other phones. Certainly is not woth €129. Wont be buying Sony Eirsson again. rating 1
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cowgalangel78
04/02/2008, 04:39 PM
rating
5/10
after just a year my fone will not allow me to answer calls can do everything else but cannot answer calls waste of money and the camera is .... (carnt say that word) NOT WORTH IT
Pros: music
Cons: little buttons and stopped working
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cvcnfv
27/01/2008, 08:18 AM
rating
10/10
havent got but getting twoz realy good
Pros: look good easy to work 50 or more songs
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osama
28/10/2007, 03:29 AM
rating
10/10
Wow & Wow & nothing less
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hooda
24/07/2007, 06:46 AM
rating
9/10
its a nice fon i have eva seen
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planinc
11/07/2007, 02:10 AM
rating
8/10
Hello! I'm from Slovenia and i bought the v630i not long ago..I wanna know only if anybody knows if there is a possibility to make all three speakers work? Please for an answer.
Pros: -3G
-2MP camera
-MP3, MP4, M4A, 3GPP, AMR, MIDI, iMelody, eMelody, WMA, WMV, Wav, Real®8
-Videocall
Cons: -No inbuild flash
-Crappy Demo Games
-the mobile video is very small=176x220 pixels
-only one speaker out of three works
See ya!
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