Equipped with every possible current connectivity features, an autofocus 2 megapixel camera, a second video calls camera, a conventional keypad and a QWERTY keyboard, Memory Stick slot, FM radio with RDS, the latest Symbian 9.1 OS, and last, but not least with a large 2.76″ TFT touchscreen with a QVGA (240×320 pixels) resolution it surely made the news for many impatiently waiting fans when it finally hit the market. The handset has a lot to offer, our job is to see if it’s got what it takes to become a bestseller among the sophisticated smartphones which are now offered on the mobile market.

The design of the P990i incorporates a conventional numeric keypad which can be flipped open or removed to reveal the full QWERTY alphanumeric keypad beneath. In addition to key-based data entry, the p990i has a touch-sensitive screen with a stylus to operate an onscreen virtual keyboard. Most users seem to prefer this to the real keyboard. The phone also has support for handwriting recognition. The 3-way jog dial can be used for scrolling and selecting and most phone functions can be accessed without opening the flip.

The P990i uses the Symbian 9.1 operating system, making it into a powerful multi-tasking device. Sony Ericsson intended the P990i to be a genuine mobile office, and the device really does come close. An advanced contacts and calendar application is incorporated, which can be wirelessly synchronised using WiFi/Bluetooth. With every conceivable type of connectivity included (3G, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, USB, infrared and Fast Port) you can connect to any other device and use the phone as a high-speed wireless modem to connect your laptop to the internet. The USB connection supports mass storage and drag and drop functionality.

The screen itself is a gem. 240 x 320 pixels of clarity and brightness, and it is shown off to good effect nowhere better than the Web browser, which lets you flick the screen into landscape format to get the best view of sites. Oh, and you get a docking cradle as well as PC synching software, the former being something of a rarity these days.

What all this adds up to is a handset which has a huge amount going for it in software terms, but which is a bit of a let down when you come to actually live with it. Fans of the series will hunker down with the manual and discover the beauty within. Newcomers to smart phones might prefer something that is a bit easier to get to grips with.

The efforts of phone manufacturers to cram more and more pixels into the lenses of the built-in cameras is nothing short of relentless. Samsung has hit 10-megapixels with its SCH-B600 phone, but that is of course no more than a technology statement and is only available in Korea anyway. Here in the UK, the best we can get right now is 3.2 million courtesy of Sony Ericsson’s K800i, the first SE phone to carry the Cyber-shot branding.

At 3.2 megapixels, the K800i’s camera has the highest resolution available at the time of writing (August 2006), but its the quality of the optics that really determines the quality of a camera, and the K800i doesn’t disappoint. With autofocus and a real xenon flash (most camera phones have a weaker LCD flash that leads to poor exposure and red-eye), the K800i is a real digital camera, not just a toy. Picture quality is very impressive indeed, and is a match for many dedicated digital cameras. The K800i comes with a novel feature called BestPic™. BestPic takes nine pictures at a time, enabling you to choose the best. There’s also a picture stabiliser, helping to eliminate camera shake. Naturally the K800i supports direct printing on PictBridge compatible printers, so you don’t need a computer in order to print your pictures.

There’s also a video camera, which also makes use of the picture stabiliser, helping to avoid shaky videos. It’s not the best video camera around however, which is disappointing given the outstanding quality of the still camera. A video editor is included, so that you can edit videos on the phone. A second video camera is used for 3G video calling.

Features:

While the flagship feature of the K800i is its 3.2-megapixel camera, Sony Ericsson has rounded out its imaging capabilities with an exceptional short-range Xenon flash, not the pitiful LED types we see so often on mobile phones. A Cyber-shot feature onboard is BestPic, which is a shooting mode that takes 9 photos in quick succession, displays thumbnails of resulting images, and lets you choose the best picture to save to memory.

After taking a photo, you also have the option of uploading it directly to the Web (no PC needed) to a Blogger.com account. Alternatively you can save it, delete it, send it in an multimedia message (MMS) to a friend or edit it in PhotoDJ.

The Sony Ericsson K600i is a 3G phone offering the full range of 3G services, including video calling, video and audio streaming and high speed internet access. It’s a well-specified 3G phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera, 262k colour screen, Bluetooth wireless connectivity and bonus features such as an FM radio.

The K600i is available in an aluminium silver casing. It’s a smart looking phone, although the keypad and joystick can be quite fiddly to use. Looking at it, you’d never even guess that it was a 3G phone, as it’s compact and super-slim, with classic good looks.

The camera is excellent, incorporating a photo light and a 4x digital zoom. The video recorder is also of high quality, and the VideoDJ™ application lets you combine video clips and add music and sound effects to make your own videos. The display is a large 262k colour screen and once again is of excellent quality. The phone comes with a media player (MP3 and videos), a sound recorder and an FM radio. You can compose your own polyphonic ringtones or download tones via 3G.

The K600i is a capable business phone. In addition to the full range of messaging options, including email, there are extra features such as multitasking, an excellent phonebook, a built-in speakerphone and voice commands.

Battery life is excellent for a 3G phone, and switching to 2G will give even greater performance.

The phone’s memory stands at 33 Mbytes, which is adequate, but an extra memory card would have been the icing on the cake and would have made the phone even more useful.

The main downside is the fiddly keypad. The audio quality is also not up to Sony Ericsson’s usual quality. However, all things considered, it’s a good 3G phone and one that should appeal even to those not necessarily interested in the advanced 3G functionality. The Sony Ericsson K608i is the same phone, but is available on the 3 network. The Sony Ericsson V600i is very similar, except that it has an improved keypad, and is available on Vodafone.

Features of the Sony Ericsson K600i include:

• 1.3 megapixel camera with picture editor, photo light and 4x digital zoom
• Video camera & sound recorder
• Display: 176 x 220 pixels, 262,144 colours
• 3G video calling
• MP3 player
• FM radio
• Speakerphone
• Polyphonic ringtones
• MusicDJ™ (MIDI ringtone composer)
• Voice commands
• Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS, email
• Java games (downloadable & embedded – Vijay Singh Pro Golf 2005)
• Wallpaper & screensavers
• Picture phonebook
• Personal organiser functions
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB, Infrared, SyncML
• WAP 2.0, GPRS, HSCSD
• Memory: 33 Mbytes
• Vibration alert
• Triband + 3G (UMTS)
• Size: 104 x 45 x 19 mm
• Weight: 100g
• Talktime: 8 hours (2G), 2 hours (3G)
• Video calling: 1.67 hours
• Battery standby: 370 hours (2G), 290 hours (3G)

Arguably the best of the Walkman phones, the W810i has everything you need in a music player phone: Sony’s award-winning Walkman music player with enough memory to store 20 full-length audio CD’s, a built-in FM radio, and a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus. In our opinion this is a phone that cannot be faulted.Sony Ericsson answers that question with the Walkman phone series that can load up a lot more tracks than Motorola’s iTunes phones. And the latest Walkman phone in the US, the Sony Ericsson W810i can handle even more than the previous Walkman model the W600i. The W810i package includes a 512MB Memory Stick Duo card and is compatible with cards up to 2 GB. It has great phone reception, a bright and colorful 1.9” LCD, integrated Bluetooth 2.0 and an FM radio. The slimmed-down candy bar body is much smaller, more mainstream and more attractive than the W600i. And it’s got a 2 megapixel camera that takes even better photos than the Sony Ericsson S710a and comes close to the Nokia N90 on occasion.The Sony Ericsson W810i is a quad band GSM world phone with GPRS for data and EDGE support. It’s available unlocked directly from Sony Ericsson’s web site and Cingular is now offering it.

The W810i is designed to be an outstanding music player phone, and it succeeds. The media player supports both MP3 and AAC formats and audio quality is superb. Mega Bass™ enhances bass frequencies for a better overall music experience. There’s loads of memory for storing music, as the W810i comes bundled with a 512 Mbyte Memory Stick PRO Duo™ – enough to store up to 20 full-length audio CD’s. The memory stick is expandable to 1 Gbyte. Software for ripping CD’s is supplied. In addition to the MP3 player there’s an FM radio with RDS. A quality headset is included in the sales package, and the W810i can also be connected to an external speaker system via an optional cable.On the imaging side, the W810i has the same 2-megapixel camera as the W800i. This features autofocus, for sharper images, a 4x digital zoom, camera light and a video recorder. It’s one of the best camera phones available, and has an outstanding screen to accompany it.Connectivity is excellent too, with support for all types of external connections: Bluetooth, USB, Infra-red, Fast port plus fast internet connectivity using EDGE.

The Sony Ericsson P1i combines business with pleasure in one stylish, compact package. Mobile efficiency that keeps you in touch – and fits in your pocket.

If you want to quickly access the Internet, you can do that by simply using the @ button placed on the right side of the smartphone. On the same right side, you can also notice the M2 slot card and the camera button. On top of the phone, there’s an Infrared port and the Power button, while on the bottom of the device it’s the universal port used for charging the device or for simply attaching the headset. Upside the big display, you can see that P1i features a secondary camera, which is used for videocalls, and the in-call speaker. The 3.2 Megapixel camera placed on the back of the phone features flash, autofocus and macro mode. The compound used looks very stylish and doesn’t catch fingerprints. The smartphone’s sizes (106 x 55 x 17 mm) are well balanced and make it perfectly fit for almost any hand or pocket. It’s not even too heavy and weighs around 124 grams (including battery). Overall, in terms of design, Sony Ericsson’s P1i is a success and a big improvement compared to its older P910i or P990i predecessors.

Staying connected is staying efficient. The Sony Ericsson P1i gives you always-on access to your company email, calendar and contacts. No matter where you go. Bring your office on the road. 3G gives you the speed you need. And you have full office applications on your phone – view and edit documents on the go. When you unwind after work, the Sony Ericsson P1i stays on duty. Listen to music. Snap a picture with the 3.2 megapixel camera. Or just relax with a game.

Sony Ericsson did not include a full QWERTY keyboard on the P1i, but instead put all the letters and numbers in 20 keys. Most of these keys rock left or right to serve as different letters. For example, the top left key is used for both the Q and W letters. Rocking it left will get you the former, while rocking right will type the latter. The center portion of the keypad has numbers in red laid out just like a regular numeric keypad for use in the phone application and when filling out fields where numbers should be entered.

Camera
* Auto focus
* Camera – 3.2-megapixel
* Digital zoom – 3x
* Photo light
* Video record

Music
* Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
* Media Player
* MegaBass™
* Music tones
* PlayNow™
* TrackID™

Messaging
* Email:
* MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
* Predictive text input
* SMS long (Text Messaging)
* Sound recorder

Connectivity
* Bluetooth™ technology
* Infrared port
* Modem
* Synchronisation PC
* USB mass storage
* USB support
* WLAN