Design
Sony Ericsson's designers have given the K700i a modern look by combining brushed metal, silver and black on its case. The camera on the back of the phone looks somewhat like the lens of a standalone digital camera (see image gallery) and has a photo assist light and mirror for self portraits. The handset itself weighs in at 90g and measures a small 99 x 46.5 x 19.5mm.
The layout of the buttons and structure of the menu on the K700i is basically the same as that found on the T610. Directly under the screen are a two soft keys, a back and cancel key surrounding a navigation joystick (aka the navigation nipple). The transparent keys are slight larger than the T610's and are closer together. On the left side of the K700i are shortcut buttons to use the camera and adjust the volume; on the right side is a shortcut key to go online with an Internet (WAP) browser.
The K700i's 65K colour TFT screen is vibrant and Sony Ericsson has improved the menu since the T610. As you navigate to different items in the 3x3 grid, the animated icons magnify and bounce on the 176 x 220 pixel screen to highlight the feature you're on -- it's rather cute.
Features
The K700i is a tri-band capable phone that can use Bluetooth, infrared or a USB cable (not included in the box) to transfer photos, music and video to PCs, PDAs or other devices.
Photos can be taken at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels (VGA) with smaller sized options available: 320 x 240 and 160 x 120 pixels. Night mode bumps up the brightness but we found pictures taken with this feature came out a little more grainy than usual. Panaromic capture does a great job of stitching together three shots and is ideal for landscape photos. MPEG 4 videos can also be recorded at a resolution of 176 x 144 or 128 x 96 pixels. The good thing about these clips is that their length can be set to the extent of the internal memory.
The K700i has 32MB internal memory for storing photos, videos and music files. Unfortunately, there is no expansion slot for extra memory like the Sony Ericsson's upcoming P910i smart phone.
Three above average Java games come installed on the K700i. Darts and Super Real Tennis are fun 3D games that run surprisingly fast on the handset. Our favourite is RiverRaiders, in which you steer four people in a little yellow raft down rapids.
Also on the entertainment side of things is an FM radio and a media player for MP3 songs and video files. You'll need to plug in the supplied grey and silver headset in order to use the radio; apparently, it acts as the antenna.
The K700i also features a link to a service called PlayNow, which gives users access to popular music samples provided by Sony Music. Of course, this is a paid service where you can purchase songs via premium rate SMS and then use them as MP3 ringtones.
A software suite comes bundled with the K700i and features editors for MMS messages/images/sounds, sychronisation software, and an application to establish a network connection through your phone.
Performance
The loudspeaker on the K700i is generally audible and most MP3 and MIDI ring tones played come through loud and clear. We did find that some ring tones on the phone had a tendency to play softer than others but this would probably be a flaw in the music files rather than the phone itself. While there are a generous seven message alerts to choose from we'd also like the ability to assign ring tones as message alerts, purely for personalisation.
Sony Ericsson claims the K700i's battery lasts up to 15 days in standby mode and up to seven hours of talk time. We found battery life to be decent overall, averaging about four days for normal usage: making phone calls, sending messages, using the camera, listening to the odd song on radio and occasionally playing games.
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ryanryan21
02/08/2008, 10:07 PM
rating
4/10
this phone sucks balls i have had it for a long time and about every week someone tells me that i really need to get a new one, the joystick stuffs up so bad i can barely press up let alone all the other directions not even working at all, the only good thing about it is the java games allows me to play games in class but the camera is really bad compared to others, video isnt so bad if you dont move the camera while recording but very bad quality
i have dropped it at least 10 times it seems to stay in mediocre shape, now it turns itself on headset and i have to put it on loud speaker when i talk to people, but that takes about 3 minutes coz the joystick is **** this phone gives me the shits the songs i had to put on it required me to buy a usb cable seperately for a rip off amount
the key pad looks ridiculous i spit on it and i will definately smash this phone when i get a new one.
Pros: music with games
can record sound conversations while it is in my pocket
Cons: joystick just hurts because i takew so long to get to one small thing i have to use the keypad and shortcuts to get through the phone
screen is far to small and the settings are crap i barely hacve it for the alarm
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anthony27
15/06/2008, 03:10 PM
rating
5/10
ok fone but no expandle memory and joystick starts to play up after 4 months
im definatly not buying another Sony Ericsson joystick fone again
Pros: camera resolution ok
ok internal memory
great sound quality
easy to use
buttons are easy to use for texting
Cons: low quality video
no expandable memory
joystick stuffs up after a few months
short battery life
takes a while to store photos on maximum resolution
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Petal68me
14/06/2008, 08:31 PM
rating
5/10
Had this phone for a while now was ok at first then the joystick-toggle started to stuff up making things hard to use, cant scroll for long messages and phone will call out on its own from contacts when scrolling down.
Pros: camera is good
Cons: video poor, wont buy another phone with a joystick-toggle on it.
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imdreaming
27/05/2008, 09:34 PM
rating
9/10
Had it for 18months now and has never let me down, except for the joystick.
Been through the wash once and in the shower twice. Still works fine except when trying to connect DCU-11 cable.
Pros: Easy to use.
Bluetooth
Infared
Great sound quality
Cons: No expandable memory
Joystick is terrible after about 6months.
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motorola w220
13/05/2008, 11:15 PM
rating
6/10
Good mobile with good features. I like this mobile for its camera and cheapness. Battery timing is good. Memory is not enough for me.
Pros: Stylish hand set.
Makes shine in silver color.
Battery timing is good.
Cons: Expansion slot has not so this make problem for me.
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karthic
30/10/2007, 06:13 PM
rating
5/10
ok...kind of phone
Pros: look
Cons: worst joystick
no memory slot
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harry
10/08/2007, 03:02 PM
rating
3/10
it is a bad fone with nothing so special regarding other sony ericsson mobiles.
Pros: only pros is that the transffered data is automatically saved in the corresponding folder
Cons: joy stick is WORST,no card slot,bad camera results.
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anomynous
12/04/2007, 10:56 AM
rating
2/10
it started out to be a great phone but soon changed after droppin it a few times
Pros: lots of in-nuilt memory
Cons: joy stick stops working
suddenly turns off
phone keeps vibrating sometimes even after turning it off
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roman, mrts
05/01/2007, 06:20 PM
rating
10/10
Perfect Phone if u want 2 keep it simple and Cool ! it does all the functions required for a good phone
Cons: Well only 41 mb
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Cristal Tipps
02/01/2007, 03:15 PM
rating
4/10
Worst phone I've ever had, I won't be switching from a Nokia again that's for sure.
Pros: The 'send to many' feature is better than a Nokia's and I quite like the darts game.
Cons: Some ringtones I Bluetooth cannot be used as a tone, some texts sent never appear, the phone is quite bulky, the charger is temperamental (sp), camera is rubbish and the plastic flap thing over the charger socket on the phone is cheap and nasty.
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