Cell phones > Expert reviews > Sony Ericsson K790

Sony Ericsson K790 Review - Introduction & Design

Sony Ericsson K790
Published on 10/12/2006
By: Fareed Mahdi, Cell Phone Editor
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Editor Rating: 4.7
5 
4 
Sony Ericsson K790The Sony Ericsson K790/K800 gives the concept of Camera-phone a whole new meaning. The k790/k800 has a 3.2 mega pixel Cybershot camera with a Zenon Flash.  The K790/K800 comes in both maroon and black colors. There are two variants of the phone that have been released, the K790 and the K800. There are two versions of the K800, the k800i and the K800c. The K800i is meant for the international market while the K800c is meant for China Mainland market only. The K790 has three variations: the K790a, K790c and the K790i. I used the K790a in this review which is meant for North America because it has the 850 GSM Band. The K790c is for China and the K790i is meant for the international market.

There are two major differences between the K790 and the K800. The K800 has a secondary QCIF resolution camera for video calling while the K790 does not. Another difference is that the K800 has Dual Mode UMTS while the K790 has EDGE. Since the phones are made for different markets around the world it makes more sense to have them customized for that particular market. For example it would not make sense for the North American version to have a secondary camera because we do not have the video calling feature yet. The main feature of this phone is the camera, but does the Cybershot really produce good pictures? Read on to find out!!         
 
The Sony Ericsson K790/K800 is a new version of the K750. The K750 was slightly smaller in length but had the same kind of camera concept. If you think back when the Sony Ericsson T610 and T630 were released, they had the same idea in which you hold the phone sideways and the camera button is on the top right corner like a digital camera. The T630 and T610 were only VGA cameras, but now the K790/K800 produces pictures like a Sony Digital camera.

This is the first time that Sony Ericsson has released the Sony Cybershot Camera on a cell phone, the cover of the camera looks identical to that of the Cybershot digital camera. The cover of the camera is an excellent concept for because it protects the camera lens when not in use. It also slides down seamlessly when you want to take pictures quickly. Sony Ericsson has done an excellent job in designing the phone with actual camera functions. 

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Sony Ericsson K790 in-depth review - Features

The K790/K800 has all the basic features you need. The K790/K800 supports alarm clock function and you can put up to 5 different alarms at one time. Another cool thing about the alarm function is that you can listen to the radio when waking up but you need the headphones plugged in. another key features is the  calendar with appointments. The k750 was missing this feature and it is nice to see that it has now been included. Other basic...

Sony Ericsson K790 in-depth review - Display & Audio

The display of the K790/K800 is an excellent upgrade from the k750. The display is QVGA 240x 320 while the k750’s display was only 176x 220. The display is a major improvement, not only in quality but in size too. The screen is capable of displaying 256k colors and is excellent for displaying pictures, playing games, and browsing the net. The display is the same size as the S700 and W900 models. It was a wise decision to make the screen’s...

Sony Ericsson K790 in-depth review - Entertainment, Internet, Storage & Connectivity

The Sony Ericsson K790/K800 is an entertainment machine!! One aspect I liked a lot were the games included with the phone. The games preinstalled were: Tennis, mini golf and a fishing game. The tennis game was my favorite because it has an interesting feature that not many games have yet, which is multi-player via Bluetooth. With this feature you can play anyone who has a compatible Sony Ericsson phone. Since the k790 and k800 are made for...

Sony Ericsson K790 in-depth review - Conclusion

The Quality of the K790/K800 is very high-end and luxurious. The phone has a soft rubber feel to it which reminds me of the Samsung e730. The battery cover is excellent because like the k750 is fits in perfectly and seems very durable. Overall the phone is very durable, but you have to be careful of the camera lens cover. After a while the cover seems to get loose and sometimes opens while in your pocket. Overall the build quality is excellent...

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