Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot K800i 3G phone

Posted by T3 Online on Tue 30 Oct 2007

Sony Ericsson ushers in a new era of compact, 3G camera-music-phones.

The first Sony Ericsson handset to carry Cyber-shot branding, this 3G phone has a 3.2-megapixel camera with auto-focus lens and a real flash instead of the usual weedy LED "torch".

Turn it on its side and slide the lens cover down to enter Cyber-shot mode, and this feels pretty much like a camera. Only digital zooming's on offer (up to a pixellated 16x), but the two-inch screen is very effective, even in low light.

Snaps have punchy colours and lots of detail, although they inevitably can't match a "proper" camera's. The flash is excellent, and there are a good selection of scene modes, red-eye reduction and BestPic, a very handy system that displays four pictures of your subject before you press the button (somehow) and four afterwards, letting you save the best ones.

There's also a superb music player, boasting all the features of the top Walkman phones apart from Mega Bass. Add an adaptor and a decent pair of earphones and Arctic Monkeys not only Look Good on the Dancefloor but sound bostin' too. You'll need a M2 memory stick as there's only 64MB on board. A 1GB one will set you back about £50.

Sony-Ericsson's familiar candybar design is augmented by a pinhole camera above the screen for video calling. Other cool features include an RSS reader for news headlines, one-touch "moblogging" for sharing snaps online and A2DP for pristine stereo via Bluetooth.

This is the best snapper-phone we've seen so far - perfect for capturing those boozy moments. When you add the fact that it's also an unusually stylish 3Ger and a Shuffle-trouncing MP3 player, you have a great all-round gadget.