Got me a new cellphone. Sony Ericsson k790a.
I've been wanting a decent camera phone, and this is the first one they've managed to make. I've already posted some pics from it. It's not a high end camera, but it is as good as any disposable camera I've ever owned, so it's ideal for the type of snaps that most people take, and the cellphone format means I'll actually carry it, and get the snapshots that I always wish I had a camera for.
So, that's why I bought it. Here's the review at the one day point.
Phone
There's very few things a phone needs to do. Ring, Dial, Communicate. Rings are a very sore point for me with this phone. Rogers has crippled the phone from using mp3's transferred to the phone by USB or Bluetooth. They expect me to actually buy songs from them to use as ringtones. I'll spend 100$ to unbrand it before I do that. Also, this ring has SE's famously low volume for rings. It does have a decent vibrate, and it allows midi ringtones to be drag and dropped, so I'm not to irate.
As far as dialling, the k790a has a phenomenally good array of call management tools. It just works.
As far as in-call goes, clarity is good in terms of microphone pickup both in quiet times, and in loud restaurant situations. I've yet to be in a situation where I couldn't hear while using it as a phone. I haven't tried either the speakerphone or the included handsfree headphones/mike. I may update the review later once I've tried them.
Camera
The camera works well if you're hoping to get a decent camera for quick snapshots. 3.2 Megapixels is the headline they're using to sell it, but after getting this phone, I gave away a 5 megapixel camera that had nowhere near the image quality. The flash rocks. The killer app though is the shoot 9 pick one rapid picture taking feature. I've found that it rocks for portraits, 'cause you miss the blink no matter what.
The camera isn't to hot in low light situations, 'cause it tries to fill things in with the flash. Not too useful when taking streetscapes in low light, like this shot from this morning. It did light up my breath rather well though...
Close up, the flash fills rather well, as this picture of my little pupply shows:
It's useless for jewellery, as this picture of my watch shows. The glare is unreal!
Extras
On top of being a camera and a phone, this is also a decent mp3 player. It came with a gig of removable memory. It was advertised as coming with a decent RSS reader, but apparently Rogers crippled that too. The video camera suck ass, but it does exist. It's got a built in FM tuner that works with the included headphones as an antenna.
Summary
Like all cellphones, it's an environmental nightmare, made in China, and a consumer product. Seriously bad mojo. That has to be acknowledged.
Having said that, most of us carry at least one. If you're looking for a new one for whatever reason, I can recommend this one if you're willing to put up with some foibles, and don't mind the form factor. I like SE's candy bar factor, and Moto's flip's, and this is an upgrade to my old T637 that is getting passed on down the seniority chain. It's significantly bigger than my old phone. This is the first time I've traded for a bigger phone. Interesting.
This was part of a package of upgrading for the company. Two people had broken their phones, and there was a new hire, so I needed three phones. The other two phones were Samsungs. They seem to have a lock on the low end. The frustrating part of this upgrade was the complete lack of simple cell phones. I wanted one of the phones to be completely basic. There is no such animal available form Rogers.
I wanted this sucker:
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