Camera Phone Reviews

Sony Ericsson K550/K550im Cyber-shot Phone

Sony Ericsson K550/K550im press release excerpts

the K550 Cyber-shot™ phone delivers the benefits of the Cyber-shot™ phone in a compact (14mm thin) form factor that places ease-of-use at its heart. Equipped with a 2.0 megapixel camera with auto focus plus LED photo light and active lens cover, the K550 helps ensure that you’re always ready to shoot and share the best possible images. Add to this Bluetooth™ technology and Picture blogging and you have a camera phone that takes the complexity out of sharing quality images with friends and family.

As a distinct variant of the K550, the K550im is the first Cyber-shot™ phone to support i-mode™, the operator service that gives direct access to a huge range of multimedia content and email.

Even if you are new to camera phone photography or the Cyber-shot™ phone menu, the new K550 is designed to be an intuitive integration of highly-specified digital camera with a mobile phone. Simply by sliding open the lens cover, the camera is activated and the Cyber-shot™ menu appears in the phone’s screen, which at 1.9” serves as a clear viewfinder.

And, once an image has been captured, sharing it can be done in a number of ways, each one a simple process; Picture blogging again makes it simple to send images to a blog site; support for Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) allows the user to transfer images easily between compatible devices and Bluetooth™ 2.0 provides for simple sharing with other phones and Bluetooth-equipped devices. If a user wishes to print out their latest holiday pictures, PictBridge makes it possible to print directly via USB (provided in-box) from the K550 to a compatible printer; cutting out the computer and the complexity.

As the first Cyber-shot™ phone to support i-mode™, the K550im (distinct from the standard K550) gives the user access to a world of Internet content and email at the touch of a button. Following on from the popular K610im model, the K550im delivers a rich experience for handling imail, browsing the Internet and viewing content; all with the superior imaging capabilities synonymous with Cyber-shot™ phones.

Available in Jet Black or Pearl White, the K550 Cyber-shot™ phone is guaranteed to stand out from the crowd. A Quad-Band EDGE device launching in selected markets from Q1 2007.

Sony Ericsson K550/K550im Reviews

Trusted Reviews reviews the Sony Ericsson K550i and writes, "Image quality is pretty good especially for photos taken outdoors. The sunflower was photographed using the phone’s macro mode setting and the yellow is quite a true reproduction. The purples on the other flower photo aren’t quite up to the same standard. The lighter coloured flower is a deeper bluish purple in the real world, but this photo shows that the K550i can capture a reasonably good level of detail. ... The K550i delivers much that is familiar in Sony Ericsson’s handset range. It is in many respects an average mobile phone, though. The camera can be bettered and the screen is small. Still, if you need long battery life it could well make your shortlist."

3G reviews the Sony Ericsson K550i and writes, "You’re no doubt sniffing around the K550i for the camera and, while you don’t get the Photo Fix or BestPic photographic trickery of fellow Cyber-shooters, the phone still retains the brand’s quality camera control. The active sliding lens cover is a tad sticky, but is sturdy protection and fires up the camera. It shoots in a 1632x1224-pixel resolution and is comparable to the W810i and K750i for picture quality. The auto-focus works well, but sadly, the flash isn’t a proper automatic Xenon job like the K800i/K810i, but is an LED light that needs manual activating. It’s pretty crude, but you must expect some sacrifices lower down the rung. ... We can understand where Sony Ericsson has positioned the K550i, but right now, it’s too close to the K800i on prepay to represent a bargain Nevertheless, it’s still one of the most user-friendly and feature-packed mid-range camera phones out there."