Mobile phone review (5-/-0/2008)
Towards the end of last year, I upgraded my cellphone from a Sony Ericsson K800i to the Sony Ericsson K850i. I use "upgrade" in the loosest sense, as there is very little about this phone that is superior to the previous model. In fact, there are a lot of things about it that are worse.
I'll start with the positive - the screen is a little bigger, and the camera has been upgraded to 5 Megapixels. The phone also loses the lens-cover "hump" of the K800i, so it's a little more aesthetically pleasing. In terms of plusses, that's pretty much it.
The phone has a bunch of other new features that are poorly imagined, or implemented. For example, there is no joystick for navigation. Rather, there is a square, four-sided directional pad around the 2 and 5 buttons. While it is fine to use for menu navigation, it makes playing any of the games extremely difficult. Also, there are three "touch-screen" buttons which are also used for menu navigation. Except, they're not partcularly sensitive, so occasionally, I'll be unable to unlock my phone, or answer a phone call. A lot of the software available for the phone (including the excellent Opera Mini web browser) haven't adapted the new three-button navigation system, so often there won't be a icon to denote the use of the middle touch-button. While on a phone call, the touch buttons become overly sensitive, and I often finish a call only to find that I have composed a text message, and chosen a recipient. All with my face.
The games bundle included with my phone (I'm on an o2 contract, your mileage may vary) is restricted to Tennis, Marble Madness, and an assortment of demos. The tennis game is identical to the version on the previous model phone, so the only new full game is Marble Madness, which uses the phone's built-in accelerometer to control gameplay. It's an OK game, with terrible graphics and slow frame-rate, but the innovative controls make up for some of its flaws. The accelerometer is the last significant new feature, and its use is limited to the aforementioned game, and in the media viewer application, which lets you watch the movies and pictures on your phone. The K850i stuggles to support the feature, with the rotation slow to respond, and jerky in doing so.
It's fair to say I don't really like this phone, and had I not lost my old one, I'd probably use my K800i over the K850i.
