Sony Ericsson K550i - Camera And Connectivity Rolled Into One

Sony Ericsson mobile phones are never good all-rounders. They tend to focus on one specific feature, usually the music or picture capabilities, and neglect the rest. They have been known to release the odd exception though. That being said, it’s time to meet the newest member of the family! Meet the Sony Ericsson K550i - the newest addition to the highly popular Cybershot range.

The Sony Ericsson K550i is extremely attractive with a touch of class that few phones seem to pull off effectively. It is slim and light at 95g but just seems to exude and air of professionalism that belies its size. The screen is in proportion at 1.9 inches and doesn’t overwhelm the handset at all. It displays 262,000 colours and has a clarity that its competitors would be proud of.

The K550i keypad is well spaced and makes texting a pleasure as well as allowing easier navigation of the menus. Speaking of which, they are well laid out and less confusing than some other Sony Ericsson phones.

The K550i offers a Walkman quality music player, a Cybershot quality camera and all the connectivity that you could ever wish for in a handset. USB, Bluetooth, WAP, EDGE, GPRS and an A2DP profile that allows wireless music streaming to a Bluetooth headset. In short, there is nothing you would ever wish to do that isn’t supported by this handset!

The camera is 2MP with auto focus built in to enhance your picture taking experience. The images have a clarity that will cut glass and can be taken in a range of settings and styles, such as negative and sepia. The PhotoDJ included as part of the package is easy to use and can remove red-eye or edit the pictures however you command it to!

The sound quality of the K550i multimedia player is extremely high on both video and music files. However, if MP3 music files are played out loud then the quality suffers to a certain degree. As this was designed to be a camera phone rather than a music phone, it is no surprise that there is a slight niggle in there somewhere, but considering that it isn’t meant to be a music phone, there is absolutely no reason to complain.

As it turns out, the Sony Ericsson K550i is an exception to the general rule because it is so fundamentally good in every given area. It is hard to pick fault with. In fact, you’ll have to look really hard to even find something marginally worse than every other feature. The phone as a whole is excellent - easy to use, entertaining and has great call functionality. You couldn’t ask for anything more!

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