Sony Ericsson have released the K850, the latest high-end Cybershot handset.

Packing a beefy 5 megapixel camera with 16x zoom and Xenon flash, the K850 weighs in at 118 grams, ever so slightly more than the earlier K800 and K810 devices. Available in Luminous Green or Velvet Blue, the phone has a 2.2inch 262k colour screen, 40mb internal memory and an M2 slot, with a 512MB stick thrown in for good measure.

Although initially sounding similar to the earlier K series handsets, the K850 does come with a few key improvements. First, the phone is the first to include an automatic lens cap, activated by pressing the camera button. It also comes with a new image manipulation program, Photo Fix, to automatically improve light balance on pictures. Sony Ericsson has also said that while in photo mode, only camera shortcut buttons will be illuminated on the main keyboard, as opposed to all buttons being lit all of the time.

K850 Specs
- 102 x 48 x 17 mm
- Weight: 118g / 4.2oz
- Size: 2.2 inches
- Networks: K850i (UMTS/HSDPA 3.6Mbps 850/1900/2100-GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900)
- Screen: 262,144 color TFT
- Video: capture/playback at 30fps, QVGA (240x320) resolutions
- Resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
- Phone memory: Up to 40 MB
- Memory card support: Memory Stick Micro M2 and micro SD (512MB M2 bundled)
- Talk time GSM/UMTS: Up to 9 hrs/3 hrs 30 min
- Standby time GSM/UMTS: Up to 400 hrs/350 hrs
- Video call time (K850): Up to 3 hrs 20 min
- SAR Value - 1.14 W/kg
- Colours:
Luminous Green
Velvet Blue

Camera
-Auto focus
-BestPic(tm)
-5-megapixel
-Digital zoom 16x
-Image stabiliser
-Picture blogging
-Red-eye reduction
-Video record
-Video stabiliser
-Xenon flash


K850i Firmware

R1EA031

Improvements / Changes
- General User Interface performance improvements.
- Notable performance improvements with the Media Centre User Interface.
- Improved sound quality from Media Player
- Key response menu added in Settings -> Sounds & alerts, allowing the selection of sound or vibrate when pressing the touch sensitive buttons.
- The ability to select HSDPA as your preferred communications protocol has been added to Menu Settings -> Mobile Networks -> GSM/3G networks
- The Video Player's audio synchronisation / stuttering issues are still present, but have a different profile to previous firmwares.

Bug fixes
- Fixes battery longevity issues introduced in R1DA038
- Equaliser now remembers custom settings.
- The zoom buttons no longer change the volume when zooming into a picture if you are listening to music in the background.
- Fixes for Bluetooth compatibility on certain devices, e.g. Audi & Mercedes car bluetooth modules & the SE Bluetooth watch.
- Prevent some boot issues due to Java Script errors.

Performance
- JBenchmark 3D HQ: 445
- JBenchmark 3D LQ: 431
- JBenchmark 2: 932
- JBenchmark 1: 6103

Software versions:
EROM: 1200-4341
LCD: 200712121
Camera: 3.7
Videocall camera: 3.0
Content: PA17
Java: 8.2
Text: BB

R1CA037

Improvements / Changes
- H is displayed instead of 3G when connected via HSDPA
- The Media player speed has been increased when dealing with many entries.
- Phone UI speed has been increased.

Bug fixes
- Improved / fixed flash synchronization, preventing photos taken in dark conditions from coming out as very dark or black.
- Prevent some boot issues due to Java Script errors.

Bugs
- Shuffle functionality in the Media Player repeats the same track until you manually skip to the next.

Performance
- JBenchmark 3D HQ: 96
- JBenchmark 3D LQ: 199
- JBenchmark 2: 926
- JBenchmark 1: 5913

Software versions:
EROM: R6A008
LCD: 200708241
Camera: 2.9
Videocall camera: 3.0
Content: PA13
Java: 8.0
Text: AC

R1CA029
- First release

Bugs
- The flash doesn't always sync with the image capture, leaving dark or black photos in night conditions.
- Manual equaliser settings are not remembered when exiting and then returning to the media player.
- Play/Pause and FF/RW controls on HPM-82 do not work
- FF/RW controls on DS-980 skip tracks, but cannot be used to FF/RW (Note that the Play/Pause button does work with DS-980)
- Trying to continue music playback, after phoning out using the DS-980, fails.
- Phone can crash when using HPM-82
- Phone can crash whilst in standby mode, requiring a hard reboot (taking the battery out)
- Corruption of the file system can occur affecting photos, applications etc
- Alarms only produce three beeps on some phones rather than play the selected ringtone.
- Some Video playback is out of sync with the sound
- USB photo transfer can lead to duplicated pictures / removal of other pictures present on the phone
- Video is of lower quality than the K800
- Occasional second or so delay between the vibration of an incomming text/call and screen illumination.
- Audiobook functionaility cannot be accessed
- If the phone goes into standby whilst viewing photos, resuming the phone isn't possible unless you exit this mode.
- When you connect the phone via the usb cable, You cant see the ringtone folder
- Phone doesnt support some Mp4 files and doesnt support some jpeg photos.
- On some phones the shutter ocasionally fails to open when taking a photo
- Not all symbols are possible to enter in the email client settings, e.g. not allowing you from adding a : for gmail addresses.
- The zoom buttons both zoom into a picture and change the volume if you are listening to music whilst browsing pictures.
- On some phones, the volume keys do not respond, requiring a reboot to restore functionaility.
- On some phones, adding a birthday to a contact does not give you a chance to add it to the Calendar.

>*<<*<* to check your firmware version or check it via phone's Update Service under software version.

<Tips : how to update your K850i's firmware>
i) Go to http://www.sonyericsson.com (choose region)
ii) Go to their Support link and then search for a software named "Sony Ericsson Update Service"
iii) Once completed download, run and install software (software will auto update itself to current version if it's not)
iv) Follow the simple instructions provided by SEUS (Sony Ericsson Update Service).

alternatively you can try choosing FOTA (firmware over the air) update from your phone but not suggested cause it's too expensive.

<------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

K850 Related Links/Softwares
~Version 1 Thread~
KD Player
50 Java GAMES [password : mechodownload] (credits to Ryuk3n)


K850 Userbars









Sony Ericsson K850i User List !

LUMINOUS GREEN
dragna - AP RM1720 + 512MB M2
Kaiserreich - AP RM1700 + 512MB M2
zekrycortez - AP RM 1900 + 2GB M2
DeathBringer - Ori RM2299 + 4GB M2
Mojim - AP RM1480
AndyChan - AP RM1550 + 2GB M2
wenxuan85 - AP RM1500 + 2GB M2
sayming - AP - RM1500
Snuffykl - AP - RM1500
waynejw - Ori 2nd Hand - RM1250 + 1GB + 512MB M2
edkiasu - AP - RM1430 + 2GB M2
Nub! - AP - RM1410 + 512mb M2
-Shinjiz- - AP - RM???? + 512MB M2
Sealsmaster - AP - RM1375 + 512MB M2
shinjun - AP - RM1150 + 2GB M2
StevenD3557 - AP - RM1330 + 512MB M2
Raiko - AP - RM1330 + 512MB M2
Neocable - Ori - RM1690 + 4GB M2
G-Izzat - Ori - RM1600 + 512MB M2
Callmelesbie - AP - RM1200 + 2GB M2

VELVET BLUE
Harmeet15 - AP RM2090 + 512MB M2
Revamperz - AP RM1840 + 1024MB M2
BlackHowling - AP RM1700 + 512MB M2
Kusa - AP RM1900 + 2GB M2
ali86 - AP RM1760
nd_4ever - AP RM1480 + 2GB M2
aladdin - xxx xxx + xxx
Xphossis - AP RM1365 + 512MB M2
SonicSpyro - AP - RM 1385 - 256MB M2
QiQio - AP - RM1780 + 512MB M2
Speedy~ - AP - RM1390 + 512MB M2
chOOOk - Ori - SGD652/RM1500 512MB M2
ken_zie - AP - RM 1380 + 512MB M2
kahyeec - AP - RM1080 2nd Hand + 512MB M2
jannatun- AP - RM1360 + 512MB M2
SaltyBean - AP - RM1520 + 1GB M2
sidewinderz - AP - RM1370 + 512MB M2
darkterra - AP - RM1350 + 512mb M2
schmeichel7 - AP - RM1225 + 512MB M2
eng98 - AP - RM1270 + 2GB MicroSD
Aishiteru^Suki - AP - RM1340 + 1GB M2
Lipyueng - AP - RM1230 + 2GB M2
Ver - AP - RM1245 + 2GB m2

44 users & growing, REPORT YOURSELVES!!



This post has been edited by dragna: Apr 15 2008, 04:59 PM

Screen protector that covers the viewable area is good enough. It won't come out anyway unless they purposely put fingernails to try to take it out.

gratz..phone hvn out already ver 2

This post has been edited by ybtan: Nov 4 2007, 11:02 AM

aiyaa.. he tot someone asked to open ma. anyways congratz on v2

but oso cant simply start lidat..where's other info?so much less than ver 1..

hehe..spam here~ anyway..we have 1 user only?

so far yess...
hopefully after raya, more ppl wud get the phone n contribute 2 for the betterment of the phone n thread...

hope price drop once N95 8GB released...but some forum criticized this model...

why is tat?
wats wrong with tis model?

welcome to V2. but summarised la the essay and be a bit creative, make the first post more interesting. no one is going to read that long essay anyway.

---

Added on October 14, 2007, 7:47 pmthe picture produced is not as impressive as n95. high noise, prone to over expose.

This post has been edited by youngkies: Oct 14 2007, 07:47 PM

err.. the camera does have cover or not?

its like those real cameras'...auto shut...shutter

here is a blow by blow, detailed review comparing the K850 to N95...

http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_k850...-review-162.php


for a phone that come one year later than N95, it is a shame that Sony Ericsson fail to maintain its superiority in its camphone capability. then again, for diehard SE fans, any new Cybershot phone is a good phone and no amount of reviews are going to change their minds. it is just like that crippled piece of shat of an IPHONE... except for its beautiful Internet browser, everything else about that phone are old and outdated by today's mobile phone technology and yet, there are droves of brainwashed morons, more commonly known as fanboys, buying it just because of the HYPE
and because it is from APPLE.

don't get me wrong. I am a proud owner of the K800 and have it for nearly one year and had never regretted buying it and its excellent camera have proven handy to me on my many outings and overseas trips and I will continue to buy SE phones if it continue to release good quality products. But as it stands out, I am left wondering why the fark do I wait one whole year for this phone when I could have bought the N95 months ago.. this is a shame

This post has been edited by sanook: Oct 14 2007, 09:05 PM

whao, already got one K850i user, more reviews pls..

That review has been posted lots of time and I feel it isn't that accurate as it uses prototype K850i. Besides, it uses poster to snap the photo as comparison. I feel that the review should use real photo instead of poster to make a review.

Anyway, SE will update the firmware and it should fix everything.

Sony Ericsson should consider using high quality optics like Carl Zeiss.

One thing major advantage of having good optics/lense is colour reproduction and sharpness.

This is very apprarent as I've experienced in phones such as the N73 ME, N93 and testing with N95.

Most obvious is the absence of purple-fringing/abberations in the N93 (Carl Zeiss optics) while the problem happens a lot on the K800i/K810i due to poor lense.

lol true true, at first i tried to read and then stop when i scroll down

Theres not much to chat coz too little users now.,.

the green one look cool man. I wonder when will I got the chance to get it.

'man man lei lor' haha. So expensive now, don't expect numbers to grow immediately.

I wonder will SE invent touch screen, Walkman & 5 megapixel camera in one phone.

and to think Sony uses Carl Zeiss Optics on their cameras.

got already lah.sans the 5mp camera la.it'll be the W960

i dont believe anyone who said it is plasticky cheap its made from best materials and it is excellent from everything and until now no disadvantages for me really talk about it dont make people hate it go on se!!!!!
K850i is best in Music ..bcoz its a SONY !

K850i best in Camera obviously bcoz its a SONY !

OMG! SONY SONY SONY

---

Added on October 15, 2007, 1:11 amagree, wait for improvement though firmware haiz

This post has been edited by iCHiH: Oct 15 2007, 01:11 AM

hey...
any k850i user...
the phone is better than n95?

Wow...V2 oledi... but so far oni 1 user!!


nice try...

yap....the guy did say no memory is included!!


ic...but is it have memory card included?
i think so far renee have the lowest price tag!!

because it is not even a week old in the market.

just wait for another couple of weeks/months...save a lot money

1 user, v2 thread already.... sort like too much hype

anyway, IMHO, not all problems regarding the k850 camera is fixable via firmware. sometimes, it's hardware limitation. sensor size, lens quality etc

thinkin to throw away my n73
go back to SE
get a k850i
but it would be around xmas
or jan, my bday
haha
still long to go
can't wait to get 1
but no$$$

indeed. but don't spoil the hope of people here. some people like to dream, so let them be.

it seems my comment about the downside of fanboyism have been lost on people like you. you buy something and assume it is immediately good JUST BECAUSE it is from a particular company? I guess you would buy a piece of poo that comes from Sony CEO just because there is a label on it called SONY...

so far there is only 1 reported user in this forum.

aiyoh.. no need argue with fanboy, save your energy. "They" already brain-washed. XD

argueing and making fun of them is not the same thing...

Even i wouldn't say SE K-series best in Music.. , Camera probably la..

branded mah...

Which memory type is better (i.e faster access time, load time etc) between Sony's M2 and Micro SD?

This phone would have been great if two things were added:

WiFi like in Sony Ericsson W960
VGA video recording quality

Then it would be surely the best!

16 million color screen isn't that important when you consider the battery life of this phone in comparison to the average Nokia phone!



This post has been edited by hanissyazwan: Oct 15 2007, 05:00 PM

after using the k800, n95 and now tis...
i hv a scary feeling that the k850 may nt be on the top of the 3 phones...
4 me, it wud be N95, K800 n then k850..
im still hving a slight hope tat the firmware upgrade can at least put it above its predecessor...
oni can pray...

Sorry to spoil the party somewhat, but don't the n82 will have wifi or some sort. I have some disposable income as of now and the k850i does look juicy but would n82 be worth to wait?

I don't know much about the HP market but how would the price of the k850i b in one month and 2 month's time, would the graph be steep, how does the history of the k800i looked like anyways, in terms of pricing.

nickname - ap/ori - price + package - color

din see tis earlier

harmeet15-ap rm2090 full package with 512 blue

Ordered 3 units in now.. Waiting for it to reach my hands..

i bought a k800 when it was launched..n back then, i bought a ap set including 1gb for abt rm1.3k..
now a new ap is arn rm830...but without any card

so u c, in a year plus...it came down abt 400 smting...
so, i tink its kinda ok for a years' fall in hp value...

for k850, i see the price going down to rm1.8 ~ 1.5k in tat period

correct me if im wrong

The price will definitely drops, but not a lot until further K-series is to be launched.

kan bah teh...

wah.i managed to make the simulation K850i hang

guys...
i have n95, k800 and k850 in my hse for the time being...
i've take a pic each with those phones...
here is a noob's photo comparison

its da last 3 pics

comparison

I Have Compared The 3 Pictures.. Seriously I Think There's Something Wrong With The N95 Pic That You Took.. I Guess I Will Not Be The Only One That Will Be Saying This...

wats wrong bro?

Actually for better comparison's, u use 3 different phone model taking the same shots and post.. easier to compare than random shots.

yah if you take pics with the 3 phones side by side, will be better to compare.

dun mind me askin about the photos... which is from which phone ?...

sure, i'll try 2 do tat n put da pics up. thx for suggestions...

if u are viewing da picture at da website i upload them on, u can see at da side...
they mention which camera used 2 take da pic...

if can, oso try take something tat in
- high color contrust (like flowers)
- macro
- night landscape

How's the phone so far, harmeet? Good? Better than N95 or K800?

well, hard 2 say la bro

i like the k850 2 much 2 criticize abt it..
but at da end of da day, n95 cud be better compared in terms of function..
but da design n look, k850 is fantastic...
no complaints..

i think k800 drops not too bad compared to n73 ler.

Not to sure now about dropping to rm1800 after that short period (4 month).
I just visited my friend who works at sg wang and he said after the original set launches the ap would definately drop to rm1950~1999, not much of a big drop compared to the T650i after it's original set launched.

hmm.. now cant say or conclude anything yet, everything have to wait till Ori set out oredy then can say drop till how much lor.

For the design, think K810i is better.

K810 better ka..? I like k850 more..

I prefer the K850i better

K850i's design is funky and cool.

The K800i and K810i has pretty boring/standard designs.

This post has been edited by shockk: Oct 15 2007, 11:30 PM

Should I buy the red K810 or wait for the K850,eh?

Whats your budget?

harmeet : mind to post pictures taken by k850i?

Not 5 MGP la...

Camera 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus, video(QVGA 15fps), flash; secondary VGA

information taken at www.gsmarena.com ...

my test shots





k850i overexposed the pic and the pic is not that detailed as captured by n95 , when cropped @ 100% from my shots, as shown previously from other review websites so far

looked back at the first 2 pics, n95 captured the lights reflection off the floor well, whereby k850i didn't

all pics are snapped in auto settings

just my 2cents will post few of close up shots done on k850i by n95 later lol

If for the K810, I can afford it.
For the K850, I can afford if I wait for a few more months. That is if the original price is around RM20XX.

Heard so many complaining about the K850 camera.

---

Added on October 16, 2007, 12:50 amGood god. That pic is really taken with the K850?

You should really adjust the white balance and ISO.

This post has been edited by G-Izzat: Oct 16 2007, 12:52 AM

8431 : try daylight setting and see if the picture improves. also set to low ISO.

p/s : never see K850i before, just a suggestion

the k850 picture quality quite bad leh

wah V2 oready.....do we hav an owner list yet ?

IMHO, k850 has a way more cooler n better design n look..
its more sleek n eye catching

red k810 wud really look hot n smthing rare in market. n k850 isnt much better than k810...so if u cant wait, just go 4 da k810..

i hv uploaded afew...check da previous page..

i tink u hv 2 adjust da light settings...

We already do. Harmeet is the first person to own it.

Current driver for K850i seems not really good but I believe in future new firmware will update the camera and it should perform and manage to snap a very decent photos

i totally hope for tat...
any idea when 2 expect a firmware update?

Looks like SE is still stubborn and sticking to their stupid high compression algorithm for photos, which is the main downfall of the K800i/K810i.

As an example, this is very apparent when the file size of the original photograph is much smaller than it should be.
In the K800i/K810i, photos never go above 1MB, or even near it. Whereas phones like N73/N93/903SH all have photo files going above 1MB (sometimes even up to 1.4/1.5MB) normally.

In conclusion, high compression = smaller file size = less detail = bad photo quality.

This post has been edited by shockk: Oct 16 2007, 01:38 AM

one thing about SE camera is that they are able to produce picture that closer to the real stuff
Compared to SE, nokia produces image that looks pleasant but its different than the real stuff. Damn! how should i put it, i hope u guys understand wat im trying to tell. lol

You're right. That is one advantage (or disadvantage) of SE. But that only relates to colour accuracy.

And colour accuracy is nowhere as important as photographic detail which SE lacks, and this is a major disadvantage SE has.

Nobody actually know when. It could be real soon and sometimes it takes month to have a new release of firmware. So, just have your phone always check it thru SEUS.

How are people to judge that a new K850 compared to a N95 which has gone through so many firmware update? Simple minded >.>

In 1 year later when K850 can be modded....see which is better


Just like head to head N73 and K800i now definately K800 wins with modded accoustic and camera driver

mate, do u understand wat is pic snapped wif auto settings? lol
both n95 n k850i snapped in auto.

unit is not mine, so cannot play around wif it much lol.
well, the thing is, i set all to auto. so out of cam experience, n95 did better.

light settings? what light settings?
what i shown was to a normal user, do u know wat to set how 2 set etc?
for a normal user what u would do is take out ur cam and start to snap rite?
that's what i did, snapped using auto for both.

actually the exif is still intact inside those photos, k850i@1/10",ISO 200, while n95@/1/17", ISO 160... differs not that much imo.
if i were to tweak the WB, ISO, then i wud do the same for the n95 also rite? what i wanted 2 show was jz a fair comparsion using the auto settings which most typical users will use IMO.

sorry lo if my pics turns out noob for all of u guys le..hope others can provide better pics le.

just my 2cents.

I know what it means,thanks.
I'm only advising you to manually change the white balance and all that.

Guys,
do you think we can get a direct comparison between the new release of K850 with any others 5MP camera phone?
Stability? photo quality? quality? functionality?
What else?

This post has been edited by bhorng: Oct 16 2007, 11:48 AM

price, battery, stylist

mate, no offense, i din meant to say u dun know about it, but pls reread my post, so why should i change the WB and all that? my test was2 show the results based on auto settings.

thx for the advice tho lol.

cheers.

since when did those farking modded acoustic and camera driver actually create any SIGNIFICANT differences in the quality of the phone.. at best, they are only slightly better in exposure and colour accuracy or loudness in sound... I don;t think I have ever seen anyone who have ever proudly proclaim that a phone become SIGNIFICANTLY better than another phone after some farking firmware update and modded driver...
firmware update and modded driver correct some design flaws in the software of the phone, speed up processing but they cannot change or transform a phone to do something a phone and its component is not originally capable of...
I have both the K800 in its original state and in a state after the latest firmware upgrade and driver modded.. all I notice is the camera responding faster and the farking volume of the audio being louder but the quality of the audio itself remain unchanged. it is like driving more power to unrealistically boost the volume, making the audio cracked up and clipped. only ignorant moron would consider that as an improvement..

unless you can quote a clear cut, solid example of a phone such as K800 SUDDENLY BECOMING SUPERIOR or BETTER THAN ITS ORIGINAL STATE after a firmware update or modded driver installation, I would just regard your statement as crap spouting from an addled brainwashed fanboy...

yo sanook, chill mate!