Sony Ericsson K610i Review

Overall Rating

Light, Good Styling, Well Made, Easy Operating System, Good Quality Camera, Good Reception and Call Quality and Easy Texting System.

No camera light or cover, No radio or Infra-red.

Please bear in mind that the handset I'm reviewing here is the version on the '3' network here in the UK so a standard Sony Ericsson handset may have some differences to the O/S and software!
Having spent many hours using the K600 and 608i handsets, (which were basically the same phone) the arrival of the K610 should provide a much needed boost to SE's workhorse range. The first thing that struck me about the 610 (apart from its good looks) is how much lighter than the K608 it is and how well it sat in my hand. The body of the phone is plastic, but in true SE style it is beautifully put together and feels a 'quality' piece of kit. The keypad is easy to use for dialling and texting and there is a welcome change in the new centre 'D-Pad' which replaces the tiresome joystick for navigating around the phones menu's. In fact the whole 'button pushing' experience is a lot better on this new phone. As to the display, it is not up to the standard of the K750's TFT display and doesn't have the depth of colour, but to be honest that's just me being picky. In daily use it does the job perfectly well. The K610's operating system will be well familiar to anybody who has used a SE handset in the last 3 years so nothing new there. Some of the older Sony's suffered a bit from 'typing lag' when texting but I can't say I've found that with the 610 so far. On the downside, this phone doesn't have an FM radio built-in so if you go jogging on a morning with Terry Wogan then you'll have to dig out that old Walkman! You can listen to your own music on the K610's music player and the included (with 3G) 64Mb M2 memory card (which is hot swappable) gives you a fair amount of space to store your favourite toons for a couple of times around the park! The back of the K610 has an un-protected lens 2 megapixel fixed focus camera which for daily use is quite sufficient and gives more than acceptable results. Just don't go scrapping the phone back along any walls or all your pictures will have a frosty look! Oh, and If you fancy taking any snaps down at the disco, forget it, the K610 doesn't have a camera light. Lets be honest if you want fancy stuff and better quality photo's then have a look at the K750i or the new K800i which is basically a camera with a mobile phone built in. Also missing form the K610 is infra-red, BUT there is a well capable bluetooth facility so I suppose you pays your money etc. Personally I don't find much use for infra-red these days but some will argue otherwise.
So there you have it! In my opinion the K610 will sell like hot cakes due to its looks and user friendly features. Even allowing for its shortcomings I wouldn't like to go back to the K600 or 608 having tried the 610...but see what you think!