K750i joy

Oh, happy day! I’ve previously moaned about how rubbish most mobile phones are, then exclaimed about how lovely but crashy the K750i is, and next demonstrated the camera. Since people seem to be finding each of those pages via Google, I should set the record straight:

The Sony Ericsson K750i is a terrific phone. Best I’ve ever had, etc etc.

Some specific notes:

  • If you’re having stability problems, the software update might help, but there also seem to be specific hardware problems; my replacement unit from Orange hasn’t crashed since I first turned it on, a month ago. It’s running the same software revision as my first unit.
  • Mac OS X 10.4.2 brings full iSync support, so the plist hack that sort-of worked is no longer necessary; It Just Works. Hit Software Update and enjoy, unless you haven’t bought Tiger yet, in which case – really, you’re missing a lot of good stuff.
  • The included USB cable not only charges the phone, the phone also presents itself as a camera to iPhoto. Oh, joy of quick importy goodness. Finally, a decent digital camera that just works – expect to see lots more photos here. You lucky, lucky people.
  • Bad news: Tiger crashes hard (really hard) when you yank the cable out. Oops.
  • Good news: Install this fix and everything’s fine again.
  • Salling Clicker doesn’t work yet, but it will with the next version.

By way of a quick review, I like this phone for several reasons. Yes, the camera. ‘Camera’ and ‘phone’ fit together far more coherently than do ‘phone’ and ‘music player’, in my head at least, and this camera is good. Not great, perhaps, but more than good enough for everyday use. Now I just have to remind myself that I’m carrying a camera all the time. My only real niggle about the camera is that it takes the picture about half a second after it plays the amusing synthetic shutter sound, with the result that I have rather a lot of pictures of my feet. But hey, shutter lag is one of the reasons I never bought a compact digital camera, and have been saving for a DSLR.

My earlier fears about the keypad turn out to be mostly unfounded, since the phone is not simply updated internals in a K700 case. The 750 is considerably more solid and elegant, the keys far less wobbly. They’re still too small, but they’re OK. If anything, they’re a bit stiff – this is not a good phone for prolific texters. But the phone feels robust in the way earlier Ericssons did, and some more recent ones haven’t. It doesn’t creak, for example.

My only real complaint is that it’s not a clamshell design, which I still think is The One True Phone Form-Factor. These little candy bar things are all well and good, but having to lock the keypad all the time is a pain, and frankly it’s just too small to hold comfortably, particularly when being used as a phone. I’ll have to suffer the Nathan Barley aspect of a Bluetooth headset and finally take that oh-so-modern plunge, heigh-ho.

5 thoughts on “K750i joy”

  1. Sony Ericsson K750i User Review – The Daily Grind

    The Daily Grind has a mini user review of the Sony Ericsson K750i and writes: ‘By way of a quick review, I like this phone for several reasons. Yes, the camera. ‘Camera’ and ‘phone’ fit together far more coherently…

  2. Sony Ericsson K750i

    The Sony Ericsson K750i is a triband phone (900/1800/1900 MHz) with a 2 megapixel camera, 32MB internal memory plus Memory Stick Duo card slot, Bluetooth, USB and a MP3 player and FM Radio. Get the Latest Price on the Sony…

  3. You have to tell me these things before I get my upgrade from Orange, not two months too late! … Oh yes, Gareth Jones is also sitting here being smug as his SE K750i should be arriving tomorrow. So what do I do with a Samsung D500?

  4. terrible product quality problems. broken three times (screen, joystick – and this even includes an entire phone replacement!), and the customer care policy leaves much to be desired. Recommend to beware this product. not happy experience. unless you want to spend a day every 2 months with a replacement phone, and trek back & forth to their repair centre….. ? no? – thought not.

  5. Oh. My K750’s joystick is a bit dodgy – I note with interest that the W800 and W810 revert to buttons, but it’s not clear if that’s a usability thing rather than reliability. Other than that, it’s been dropped, bashed, and generally abused for almost a year now, and it’s absolutely solid. It crashes about every two months, which makes it far and away the most stable phone I’ve ever owned.
    I’m still a huge fan. While I’m sorry to hear about your problems, you either had terrible luck, or I had excellent luck. Orange’s service has been as good as ever for me – that is, not flawless, but way above the UK average. YMMV.

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