My boyfriend and I went to SM Megamall to look for a new mobile phone for me, or him, or whoever wins the argument on who should use the new phone. We both have the same preferences on phones like the brand and design and luckily, we both like Sony Ericsson phones. Nokia is very popular in Philippines but Nokia designs are kind of boring and almost everyone uses Nokia.
So since we both locked down to Sony Ericsson, it is time to set the budget for the new purchase. We both agreed that the range should be well between Php10k-Php15k, a reasonable budget if we are going to buy a feature-packed phone. The budget set for the new SE phone covers a few good models so we know that we are going to have a lot choices with the budget that we set.
Now we are off to Googling for models. I already have a black Sony Ericsson W850i walkman phone (notice the ‘W’) so know that Sony Ericsson is a reliable brand. After hours of net surfing for prices of some models, we, or rather he, have narrowed down the choices to three phones: SE K800i, SE K810i and SE K850i, and though I was not really a part of the search and choose part, I have the privilege of being part of the decision making process - we both know who is the boss here 
. To give you a preview, it will be a K800i vs K810i vs K850i comparison.
The first choice is the K810i, a 3.2 Megapixel camera phone and a sleek one I must say. The first thing I noticed was the tiny keypad which is composed of tiny circles instead of the more common oblong or square buttons. With his big fingers, I doubt that he can write text messages as fast as he normally does. On the other hand, I have long and slender fingers so it fits me (Hah!) so I guess this phone is fine by me. It has a camera, video call support, text/mms messaging capabilities and supports Memory Stick Micro (M2) for up to 2GB. 2GB storage is not bad for pictures and music, considering that it IS a phone and not a digital camera. It is also lightweight which is a big factor for me and it has got a good grip when you hold it in your hands. The screen is also fine, but I can’t tell yet how it looks when you are standing under bright hot summer sun. All in all, SE K810i works for me and my budget.
The next choice is K800i, a lower version of the K810i model, which basically has the same features, except K800i does not support video call. Since one basic phone feature is lacking, the price is a couple grand cheaper than its newer version. But if you are not really a video call junkie, you can get away with the basic features and save a few bucks. When we are in Megamall, K800i seems like the best choice, even if it is not the one we first liked. I haven’t touched the video call feature of my W850i phone in months so I guess it is not really a downside.
The last choice is the K850i, a super cool looking phone, not to mention that it is a 5-Megapixel camera phone. It has video call support, text/MMS messaging, MP3/FM radio and can support up to 4Gb of Memory Stick Micro, which is handy when 2Gb is not enough for all the music and pictures. The darkside is this phone costs a little more than the former mentioned phones in exchange for those neat features.
In the end, we are considering K800i which is a bang-for-the-buck basic phone but if we can get hold of a more moolahs then it is K850i. If you want to take a look at side by side comparisons of these three phones, visit the Sony Ericsson official website.
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Nice post and nice SE unit with great features……
k800i support video calls
That’s funny. The SE official site says that K800i does not support video calls. Are there any updates particular to this model?
If that is the case, then we might choose K800i over K810i
i have read that k850i can support up to 8gb. its the same as the n95 8gb with 5megapixel cam and its much cheaper than n95 8gb. i guess in the next few months i could say good bye for my w810i and hello k850i boooyah! ^^
nice post.
hi. sorry for that the comment is a bit late, i just wanted to add some things. i have had k800 for over two years already, and although i do have fancier phones, i still am very much fond of using my k800. k810 is basically just an update to the case design of the k800. all other hardwares are the same as with k800, as an online friend of mine who is a mobile phone technician informed me. you can get the very same upgraded firmware of k810 with k800 as well. and also, i use my k800 to video call my wife an average of two to three times a day, so i am pretty much sure it supports video call. last month i have decided to buy an upgrade to my k800 and was eyeing the 5mp camphones– k850, lg viewty, n95, and one from samsung that i forgot the model. i ended up with viewty after test driving all 4 of them. well, samsung just came up with omnia, which is 8mp; and se and lg are about to launch their own 8mp camphones as well. still, i stick with my trusty k800 simply because i only require the following from a phone– a decent mp3 player/fm, a decent camera to take random shots with (and i say k800 does pretty well on this part), and at least 3g connection for fast mobile internet surfing. i don’t need extras such as gps, wifi, and touchscreen that otherwise would take up precious processing speed.
Interesting post! The things we can do with phones now is just amazing. The K850 is good, but now with all the touch phones, I think I will need to trade up…