I have been using the K750i for almost 2 years now. My immediate opinion about the phone would be, this is still one of the best phones available in the market. I had read reviews from various sites before selecting the K750i, my next immediate choice was the Nokia 6630, but the K750i was a clear winner.
Features: You speak of a feature and its available in the K750i below are a few that caught my eye.
1. 2 MPX Camera with Flash.
2. MP3,MP4 player with equalizers.
3. Memory stick slot.
4. Blue tooth/Infrared.
5. Dedicated buttons for music player/camera.
6. More than 1 hour video clip recording.
Camera: This is something the K750i is best at. The 2 mpx camera is perfect for any kind of pictures. I have a Cannon Powershot 7mpx, no comparisons but the K750i camera stands firm on its place. Supports multiple modes like the still photo and the video mode, and multiple quality modes like the fine and superfine modes. Something exceptional to mention about the camera is the inbuilt LED flash which pretty much serves the purpose while taking pictures in the dark, though it has a limited range it definitely makes the difference. One more thing that justifies the K750i’s design is the camera cover, i used mobile phones before and spoilt a few lacking a camera cover. This is not the case with the K750i. To know what the K750i camera is capable of visit http://www.flickr.com/cameras/sonyericsson/k750i/
Music Player: One word to describe the K750i music player is "Awesome". Works perfect, custom setting with the equalizers is great add on. Mega bass works great for people who like bass for others you always have an option to turn it off.
Memory Card: K750i comes with an add on 64MB card which can be used with the provided memory slot. On first looks the memory stick slot cover looks fragile, I have turned and twisted it in all possible ways in these 2yrs and it is still intact. Data can be moved from and to the memory stick comfortably using the provided data cable. The memory card can be used with any computer operating on XP+ environments without installing any drivers which works great for people travel buffs.
Layout: The space available on the K750i body is used till the last bit to make it more usable. Dedicated buttons for music player can be used to pause and play music without unlocking the phone, while in music mode the up down button on the right hand side of the phone [which is used to zoom in out pictures while in camera mode] can be used to reduce and increase volume, holding down the up down button moves to the next track while playing MP3’s and moves to the next radio station while listening to FM. Dedicated photo button is a great add on as moving the camera shutter down activates it and one can take pictures without unlocking the phone. Keypad though looks delicate on first looks works perfect for a long time. "Joystick" i will come to it in the cons section. Camera shutter can become a pain at times while using the infrared as the phone moves a lot when on plain surface.
Sound reception: Sound reception is at par with other phones in the market, nothing bad or exceptional about it. But again while on call when turned to speaker, the volume is pretty low from what it performs while in Mp3 or Radio mode. I have not been able to find out why, but it does work that way. Not really a concern as we all know that speakers drain battery life and are used only when necessary.
Games/Utilities: Free utilities like messengers, browsers can be downloaded. K750i also has a remote function which can be used to control presentations or media player on a computer easily, further you can also use your K750i to control your computer desktop via phone through a few utilities available over the internet. All these utilities are jar files and can be easily downloaded and installed on the phone. Best places to find all the goodies are http://www.myk750.lasyk.net/ or http://www.getjar.com/software/Sony-Ericsson/K750
Cables and earphones: One thing to notice about the cables and the earphones is that all of them are pretty long in length, most of us find greater length useful but it becomes a hindrance especially with the earphones. Cables work fine and are pretty durable. The earphones could have been of better quality though. With quality i don’t mean the music quality, These earphones produce some great bass and music, but the cables are pretty low in quality and break off soon if used constantly, mine went bad in first 3 months. New sets are available at a cost of around 800-1200.
Add ons: Sony Ericsson site talks about add ons for the K750i and there are a few good ones like the add on flash which should be a great add on for photo buffs. Also the earphones that come with the W550 are a great combination with the K750i.
One more thing to consider is that there is a lot of help available for the K750i. There are user forums and sites which talk bout tweaking it. I have experimented a few myself, see my post on dismantaling a K750i
This was all good about the phone now the bad.
Joystick: The worst thing that could happen to a K750i is the joystick. No reasons explained no reasons found, but there have been too many complaints about the joystick, might be dirt, water, or regular use. But the joystick is guaranteed to fail on you in a couple of months of regular use. You can get the joystick replaced if under warranty or by paying a cost of around Rs 500 otherwise at any of the SE service centers. My joystick has gone bad for almost 4 months now, thanks to my adventures with my K750i i cant get it replaced, but that doesn’t kill the phone. I am still able to play music, videos, radio, skip songs, change channels, take pictures, videos, zoom pictures, delete pictures, view slide show, Use the blue tooth/infrared to send/receive files, select multiple files and manipulate them, do all the basic operations that a phone is supposed to do. All this with a handicapped phone without an operational joystick. So even if the phone joystick turns bad as did mine, the phone doesn’t die and can be used.
Battery Life: This has always been a point of concern in the SE mobile phones, and same is with the K750i, but a simple tweak can help you here, the K750i allows you to set the screen brightness and setting it on low reduces the drain. I have been able to play FM/MP3’s on 8-10% battery charge for more than an hour. But yes if you are constantly on the phone and talk for hours this would be a concern.
The video player is a bit crappy and skips frames if the Mp4 files are not of the said specs.
Conclusion: The phone is a definite worth for your money, best phone available if you are a street photographer, also a great option for music fans. The phone has all you can ask for from a mid ranged phone just pray that the joystick doesn’t go bad on you.
