Sony Ericsson K610i

By Jeremy Roche, CNET.com.au
Sep 25, 2006

Available in white, red or silver, Sony Ericsson's K610i is designed for mass market appeal with its small 102 by 45 by 17 mm dimensions and good looks. Tipping the scales at a mere 92 grams, it's possibly the lightest 3G-capable handset we've seen, 6 grams lighter than Samsung's slender Z510 flip phone.

Design (continued...)
Sony Ericsson has replaced the tiny navigation joystick found on earlier models such as the K750i with a small four-way directional keypad with a selection key in the middle. We're quite fond of this swap as, unlike the joystick, it is next to impossible to accidentally hit the wrong direction. We've also heard from some Sony Ericsson users that the joysticks tended to lose sensitivity over time.

The K610i's numerical keypad is small but comfortable to use, with equally sized and shaped buttons. Its bright screen supports up to 262K colours and acts as a landscape-oriented viewfinder when taking photos. Below the display are six shortcut keys with functions including Internet, call log, menu, back and cancel. On the flanks are launch keys for camera, volume and music.

Features
As a mid-range 3G phone, the K610i isn't exactly brimming with features, although it does have a handful of fun applications and useful tools.

On the imaging and entertainment side, there's a 2-megapixel camera for stills and videos and an MP3 player with a loudspeaker for music. Unlike Sony Ericsson's Walkman-branded phones, no headphones come with the K610i. Two time-filler Java games come pre-installed: a Tetris-like puzzle game called QuadraPop and a graphic-rich 3D tennis game, which allows you to play against a partner over Bluetooth. The K610i allows you to download extra content to customise the phone, such as themes, ringtones, message alert tones, games and applications through the Fun & Downloads section of Sony Ericsson's Web site, which is accessible from the phone's browser.

Business and productivity features include the NetFront browser--the same one on Sony Ericsson's baby Walkman, the W300i--for rendering HTML, xHTML and WAP pages on its 4.8-cm, 176-by-220-pixel screen. Another way to stay on top of your favorite news sites and blogs is with the K610i's RSS reader. Tucked away in the Messaging menu, the reader allows you to subscribe to valid RSS feeds and receive updates directly to the phone, either periodically or when you choose to check for new content.

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