The Sony Ericsson K810i has been designed from the outset to be as much a camera as it is a mobile phone. Bearing Sony's world-famous CyberShot brand, the K810i has a host of tricks up its sleeve for taking fantastic pictures, most of which you won't see on other camera phones. Sony Ericsson's camera phones have always taken the best quality photos when compared to their competitors, thanks to Sony's long history of award-winning camera technology. With the new CyberShot range, and the K810i in particular, Sony Ericsson have raised the bar again, and we've now entered the age where camera phones are taking photos that are of a similar quality to that offered by stand-alone digital cameras just a few years ago. Better still, the K810i is also a great mobile phone. In addition to class-leading camera performance, the K810i also offers 3G and tri-band GSM, video calling, a full Web browser, MP3 player and video player . e2Save are currently offering some good deals on the K810i, including T-Mobile's Web n Walk tariff that gives you unlimited downloads for a fixed price - the phone's free, too! But before you rush out and buy one, what do you get for your money? Time for a review!

Sony Ericsson K810i Review

The first thing you notice about the K810i is its novel keypad. Although the phone comes in a standard candybar form factor, the disc-like buttons give it a distinctive edge. The screen's nice and bright too, offering 262,000 colours on a 2" TFT display, which is more than good enough for viewing your pictures.

Sony Ericsson K810i's camera

Of course, the reason you buy a K810i is because of its camera, and so it makes sense to start on this aspect of the K810i first. Key questions that need asking are:

• is it really the best in class
• does it offer any features beyond the standard camera phone
• and can a camera phone really compete with a digital camera?

Well, the short answer to these questions is: yes! The reason is because Sony has taken their CyberShot camera technology, and magically squeezed it into the dimensions of the K810i. The CyberShot is a world-famous brand in the digital camera world, and Sony were not about to tarnish it by adding it to just any camera phone. The result is a camera phone that can take pics of superb quality whether you're out and about, photographing fast moving sports action, or even just taking pictures of your friends in a dark pub or club.

The K810i camera's features

To help you do all this, the K810i offers the following features:

• 3.2 Mega pixel Cyber-shot™ camera with auto focus
• Xenon flash with red eye reduction
• Picture Blogging
• Active lens cover
• BestPic™
• Photo fix
• Illuminated Camera Icons
• Picture gallery
• Image stabilizer
• PictBridge for instant photo printing

The Xenon flash is much stronger than the standard (and useless) LED flash you get in most camera phones, letting you take good quality pictures even in low light conditions. Red eye reduction helps stop your friends looking like demons, while the image stabilizer ensures you get a rock solid photo, even when you've had so many pints you're not exactly rock solid yourself! PhotoFix and BestPic software If you do manage to take a bad photo, though, you can use the K810i's PhotoFix feature, which uses advanced algorithms to optimise the brightness and picture contrast of the photo after you've taken it. If you're taking pictures of a fast-moving object, such as you would at a sporting event, then BestPic mode takes a burst of 9 pictures in a row, letting you select the best one to use after the event has happened. And if you still doubt the quality of the camera, just take a look at the K810i from behind (left). Many phones provide the camera on the back of the phone, but how many of them actually look like a genuine digital camera? As you can see, the K810i does. Sample photos from the K810i But let's face it, it's the quality of the pictures that are the proof of a good camera-phone. So here are a few examples, so you can see for yourself just what a 3.2 megapixel CyberShot camera can achieve. Note that the first photo is taken by the K810i, while the second photo is taken by a dedicated digital camera - the Canon IXUS 70 with 7.1 megapixel sensor. As you can see, the K810i really is capable of taking photos that are comparable to a digital camera. Photo taken with a Sony Ericsson K810i: Same photo taken with a Canon IXUS 70: (First two pics, courtesy of CNet) An indoor photo taken by the K810i with its Xenon flash in use:

The K810i as a mobile phone

3G and Tri-band GSM Let's not forget the K810i's principle purpose though - it's a mobile phone! Here the K810i scores well, as it's a 3G mobile phone featuring video calling and tri-band GSM, which enables it to work in most place across the world. Quad-band GSM would have been better, but you can't have everything! One touch photo-blogging The K8190i also come with software that lets you upload your pictures to any number of web sites, including your own blog, at the touch of a button. This feature alone is worth having, as taking pictures is one thing, but you don't just want to keep them stored on your phone - you want to upload them onto your PC, or share them with your friends. Being able to take a picture of your friends in the pub, and then either send it to their phones or publish the picture on your blog at the touch of a button is a perfect way of sharing the moment - or humiliating them, depending on why you took the photo!

Other K810i features

Of course, this being a mobile phone, you'd expect it to do much more than take pictures and make calls, and the K810i doesn't disappoint. How does the following sound: Music player

• Music player and Video player
• TrackID™ (which automatically recognizes the tune you're playing)
• PlayNow™
• FM Radio with RDS

Connectivity

• Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) slot
• 128MB Memory Stick Micro™ in-box
• 64MB User Free Memory Bluetooth™ 2.0
• USB 2.0

Other features

• 17mm thin
• 2.0” QVGA 262k TFT
• Display
• Full HTML browser
• RSS Reader
• Java MIDP 2.0
• Flight Mode
• Speakerphone
• FOTA (Firmware updates over-the-air)

Things that ship with the K810i

• 128MB Memory
• Stick Micro™ (M2™)
• USB cable DCU-65
• Stereo Portable
• Handsfree HPM-62
• PC Tools & Software
• Adobe Photoshop Album
• Wrist Strap

Talk time

• Talk time: Up to 10 hours (Up to 2 hours 35 minutes for UMTS)
• Standby time: Up to 400 hours (GSM & UMTS)
• Video call (UMTS only): Up to 1 hour 30 minutes

Summary

The Sony Ericsson K810i CyberShot phone is a great camera phone that takes photos comparable to a digital camera, while offering great mobile phone features. Sony Ericsson don't go for the "throw every feature possible into a phone" approach like other manufacturers such as Nokia or Samsung. Instead, they focus on one or two key features, and implement them flawlessly. Hence, the K810i might not have mobile TV or Sat-Nav - but it does have the best camera in class coupled with a superb mobile phone. If you want a camera phone that's slim, good looking, and takes great photos in a variety of situations, the K810i should be given serious consideration.

Buy the Sony Ericsson K810i