It's not by chance that we mentioned T650i, as this model became the prototype for the new Cyber-Shot, which was earlier known as Victoria. Moreover, these models are almost identical except some details like camera cover in K770i. Even the back cover taken from the one model would fit the other, the camera module is the same for the both, etc. Well, there is nothing strange in it – common features are typical of most of the production under that brand, it’s an old tradition of extending the model line by launching incarnations of the same model in different customer segments. The strategy put into practice with the appearance of K750i and W800i has done its best – because it grants the possibility of selling the same phone in different casings and with different bundling, the rest of the differences isn't that important.

After K750i and W800i there weren’t any 'twin' devices in the SE portfolio for a long period of time. Walkman and Cyber-shot model lines were cleanly divided by their characteristics (in the era of K800i and W850i). Later a coupla of twin devices appeared once more – S500i and W800i were the case. They are similar in functionality, form-factor and other characteristics, the difference primarily consists in the positioning, color and the sales package contents. Really there is nothing innovative in such a step, the same goes to the T650i and K770i couple. And even so, officially K770i has no precursors. Today the К790i and 800i are considered flagship models, as sales start the flagship title will pass to K850i. But SE themselves see K770i becoming a compromise between functionality and design. K810i can be described as a designer product oriented strictly at the men, while K770i is unisex and more thin, it would be more becoming to both sexes. The price policies provides for an initial price of $400 at maximum, K790i used to cost $500 on its release date.

	Sony Ericsson K770i specifications
Communications:	GSM 850/900/1800/1900 + UMTS 2100, GPRS
Storage:	16 Mb available to the user Memory Stick Micro (M2), up to 4 Gb M2 card, 512 Mb capacity
Screen:	1,9" , QVGA (240х320), 262K
Communications:	USB2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, A2DP supported
Camera:	2 Mp (up to 2048x2536)
Battery:	BST-38, 930 mAh capacity up to 420 minutes of talk time up to 300 hours of standby
Dimensions:	105 x 47 x 14.5 mm
Weight:	95 г
Estimated price:	€300-350

Sony Ericsson offer a traditionally rich bundling for their products. For instance, W910i is distributed with a Bluetooth stereo headset and the P1 package includes a GPS module. We could make a lot of other examples, and SE K770i is not an exception. The package includes:

• Battery (BST-38)
• Charger
• Car charger 12V CLA
• USB synchro/charging cable
• Wire headset (HPM-62)
• 512 Mb Memory Stick Micro (M2) card (M2)
• Software disk
• User manual

Among the most pleasant things we’d check the car charger, which is a rarity for a usual phone sales package. Also the high capacity memory card is a great surprise – it’s even better than the one shipped with the flagship K790i and K800i models. These additions are really very useful for a cameraphone.

Design and Ergonomics

The classic form-factor is typical for most Sony Ericsson models. Moreover, all SE Cyber-shot models are candy bars. K770i isn't an exception either. On the whole, the new model closely resembles T650i, obviously not its neighbors from the image phone line. The casing is made entirely from plastic. The material is of a high quality, the surface coating is quite good as well. The material leaves a positive impression. K770I looks very worthy, though the metal of T650i is undoubtedly more impressive. 3 colour solutions are available - Truffle Brown, Sandy Beige and Ultra Violet. The first variant is the most popular, so we were testing this one.

An advantageous improvement over K790i\K800i and K810i is the significantly narrower casing, which makes the device lie comfortably in the hand. The model, anyway, isn’t the market leader in this parameter. More thin cameraphones, also sporting a 3 Mp resolution with autofocus from already exist in the Samsung portfolio. Like its width, the overall dimensions and the weight are well balanced, what makes the ergonomics a winning aspect of K770i. The keyboard is more comfortable than in T650i especially because of the larger size of buttons. The horizontal segmentation use a better implementation – it’s easy to make a stray keystroke when typing blind. The backlighting is really nice – it’s implemented in 2 color modes – white and blue, depending on the currently used application.

On the back surface there are two LED lights which provide some light effects. That looks interesting and is important for an image phone. Following the desing of K810, the keys are marked with camera function symbols, found in both vertical rows of buttons and backlit with the blue light that is activated in the camera mode. Here we can see the following icons: zoom, timer, night mode, shooting mode, focus, scenes and the flashlight. The latter, by the way, is a usual diode, not xenon one. Two rocker buttons are found on the both sides of it – one of them controls the camera cover. It’s not the most practical solution so far – the mechanism is very delicate and can be easily broken.

K770i built quality is quite good yet not ideal. There's no play between the parts, but the device squeaks if you squeeze the casing, the back side of the cover gradually grows scratched and shabby. Unlike T650i the is no case included in the sales package. As for rhe consdtructive elements, everything is similar to its premium relative. Sony Ericsson have traditionally put the interface socket on the left side. It is also used for plugging the wire headset which only further complicates the usage. One more uncomfortable moment – there is no hot swapping support for the memory card. There is no need in taking off the battery if you want to replace or insert the memory card, but you have to remove the back cover anyway. The latter procedure is not as trivial as it seems because of the inconvenient latch just slightly sticking out from the casing surface. Though everything except these problems is OK – the rest is quite traditional : the power button is at the top, the volume controls are on the right edge and a bit lower is the camera button.

The presence of the lens guard is something of a seemingly low importance, yet in fact it keeps a lot of trouble away. In T650i it’s implemented in such a way that the area around the lens sticks out a bit, so the protective glass accumulates grease and scratches over time. Though the camera module could be easily placed entirely inside the casing without any protruding parts – proved by Samsung. Also the T650i model has a slight gap between the lens and the cover, which leads to greasing. That's not the best solution by Sony Ericsson so far. Both problems were fixed in K770i – the improvements based on the customer feedback are obvious. The extreme pursuit of mobility also means certain inconveniences while sliding aside the lens guard – the tactile friction is minimal and the part doesn't stick out above the case level at all. The one-touch sliding mechanism will grow loose over time, leading to obvious problems. Yet this doesn’t deny the necessity of a lens guard, for example, we dropped the phone for several times down into the wet grass (as a test). The same operation was performed with T650i. The last one got water inside the casing so we had to disassemble the case to get it dry. K770i didn’t get such problem.

Let's compare to K800i and T650i:

In quite a predictable manner, the back cover of a K770i easily fits a T650i and that works vice versa also (see the photos). The assembly is identical, illustrating relations between the two devices once more – these are twins put into different casings. K770i is a few millimeters wider, the T650i camera module sticks out above the surface for a several millimeters as well. Looking from this point, it seems a bit curious how the developer uses the Cyber-shot brand for this product - in practice, this one is just as much of a camera phone as the T650i is.

Comparison with T650i is available in the Sony Ericsson T650i review.

Communications

Like in K800i and the majority of other 3G-models there is the 3G support and the secondary VGA camera for video calls. But there are no twin analogs to the K790i model known to exist, so the EDGE support is outboard. However this is already fixed in K850i – the device supports both profiles.

IRDA is absent in this model, but it offers a Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR module. We had no complaints about it, the stereo headset also worked fine for us. SE A2DP implementation is the best on the market. Also the following data exchange profiles are supported:

• Basic Imaging
• Dial-up Networking
• File Transfer
• Generic Access
• Generic Object Exchange
• Handsfree
• Headset
• HID
• JSR-82 Java API
• Object Push
• Personal Area Networking
• Serial Port
• Synchronization
• SyncML OBEX binding
• Audio/Video Remote Control
• Phonebook Access

The wire connection is implemented using the traditional interface. A USB 2.0 support is stated by the manufacturer, but in reality the data exchange speed is much lower. The only hope is that for newer firmware versions that would possibly fix this. The three traditional connection types are supported: Modem Connection, Mass Storage and PictBridge are supported.

The required mode can be selected in the corresponding menu. In our tests, Mass Storage connection functioned correctly, both storage segments (internal phone memory and memory card) were showing up properly.

Synchronization using the Ericsson PC Suite application is also possible. It can be found on the bundled CD. The only disappointing thing is the left-hand slot placement.

The integrated FM-tuner supporting track recognition through TrackID service is also in. RDS is supported, the autosave function is available, the bookmark list is enough to store 20 favorite radio stations. The application interface is comfortable and pleasant. The received signal quality is high. The sound volume level while using the wire headset is quite fair (a bit less than in Nokia phones) and simply excellent while using the Bluetooth headset (higher than in Nokia phones)

Storage

Sony Ericsson K770i possesses some 16 Mb of integrated memory. M2 expansion cards can be used to extend the amount of storage space, but there is no possibility for hot swapping – it’s necessary to remove the battery cover in order to reach the card slot. A 256-Mb card comes bundled with the phone.

Screen

Sony Ericsson K770i is supplied with a TFT QVGA display (320x240), what’s quite typical of class of devices, but the screen size is disappointing – just a mere 1.9’. The color palette is disappointing as well – only 262k colors as compared to the 16 millions that Nokia phones handle.

Let's compare K800i to T650i:

T650i / K770i / K800i

In fact the picture is very nice – sporting full contrast, brightness and rich in colors. Not brilliant yet very good. The viewing angles are excellent. The display behaves in a nice way when exposed to the direct sunlight thanks to its mirror backing - the screen information remains perfectly legible.

User Interface

Like the majority of Sony Ericsson devices, K770i is based off the A100 platform. The new A200 is reserved for the flagship models exclusively to help them appear standing out against the even background of the less advanced options. Similar to Nokia S40 this is the most powerful solution found on the European market. The phone can be personalized using numerous themes. Besides the picture from the theme, any picture or photo can be used as a desktop wallpaper. Any SVF animation can be used as a screensaver. During standny the screen is informative enough, the top line contains indicators showing the signal level, battery charge, message and call notifications, Bluetooth status and so on. Even the screen clock appearance can me customized, which can be defined in screen settings.

The main menu looks in the traditional way of most SE products: a total of four rows of bright, neat looking animated icons which can be optionally replaced with a fascinating flash-theme with a lot of customizable aspects including the icon order, size, animation, color and so on. Moving the selection from one icon to another is accompanied with a slight vibration if the selected them has this feature turned on. Five themes come preinstalled on the device. The twelve icons make up the main menu:

• PlayNow
• Internet
• Entertainment
• Cyber-shot
• Messaging
• Music player
• File manager
• Contacts
• Alarms
• Calls
• Organizer
• Settings

The menu can be navigated through by pressing the numeric buttons in a desired sequence, each key corresponding to a menu item with the same number that should be activated. Besides the vertically arranged menu items, some menus contain horizontal sub-tabs, e.g. the File manager of Call log menus, such tabs can be opened or minimized by pressing the navigation button left or right.

The menu is easy to understand and comfortable, the only shortcoming is the lack of possibility to change the order of items, sorting them to your liking, though such manufacturers as Nokia and Motorola have been making use of such functionality for quite a while by now. For example let’s look at the icon which launches the PlayNow service, used for downloading music tracks and ringtones. It’s difficult to guess how justified is the placenebt of this shortcut in the quick launch menu, but it’s obvious that most of the customers would prefer to replace this button with something else - for example, the profiles menu or FM tuner application. K700i also possesses a 'quick' menu with 4 bookmarks, which can be called by pressing the button to the right from the navigation key:

The first one lists all the events: reminders, calls and messages. The second one shows the list of currently running applications, in fact it’s a task manager that allows switching between currently running Java tasks. This, for instance, allows playing your favorite game and talking to people over ICQ at the same time with no need to interrupt either process. This feature is one of the cornerstones of the platform. The third tab of the quick menu stores user shortcuts. The fourth is for keeping bookmarks and links to frequently used resources.

Call service

The address book can store up to 1000 records, up to 5 numbers per record. Upon adding a new number it’s necessary to specify the type of the number, each following number cannot duplicate the type of the previous one, so it’s impossible to create, for example, 2 mobile numbers. It isn’t necessary to open the contact record to look through the contactee's all numbers – the numbers can be browsed through while pressing the navigation key sideways. If there are several numbers in each entry, it’s possible to select the main one.

In addition, it’s possible to add an E-Mail address, IM-Number, www-address, mail address, birth date. The last one can be synchronized with organizer, so you will never forget about your beloved grandmothers birthday, because the phone will remind you to buy her a present. Also a contact can be given an associated short note.

Contact records can be distributed between various user groups however you can’t distinguish a group by giving it a unique icon or ringtone – which for sure is a sad thing. Though that doesn’t keep you from giving unique ringtone and icon to each individual record – you can even select one of your voice records for that.

Traditionally, the main list displays contacts either from the phone memory or from the SIM-card, but cannot show the both types in a single list. It’s not comfortable at all. But the possibility of making backups of the whole phonebook which are then placed to the memory card is, on the other hand, a great plus. Unfortunately, there is no support for blacklisting (like in Samsung phones, for example) so it's necessary to install а third party application to block them undesired calls.

The number of voice marks you can leave for further usage with the voice dial option is limited to 40 – that’s an outdated system they’re using, no changes can be traced from the days of T610i, we wouldn’t say it’s too comfortable (well, telling the truth, it in fact isn’t). Motorola phones for instance sport a much better realization of this feature.

PhotoID and VideoID services are well-implemented, the image used as the call icon is large enough. The font in which the phone numbers are displayed during dialup is big enough to see from a distance. Numeric keys from 2 to 9 can be used as quick dial shortcuts, the only thing you need is to associate a phone number with a particular keypad button.

The call log shares a common SE design – received, dialed and missed calls are shown on the same list, each call type distinguished with a corresponding icon, but you can also switch between separate logs for each specific call type by pressing the navigation button left and right.

Messaging

Sony Ericsson are known for the efficiency of the messaging system they’re putting in their phones – up to 1000 SMS can be stored in the user memory (plus the SIM card SMS storage), the MMS service also enjoys on the best implementations ever. Besides you can read RSS feeds, just specify the address and title of the feed and you’re done, no specific settings are required for that. Messages can be categorized, but seemingly no other differences from the traditional messaging system widely found with other SE devices. Upon creating a new message the user is prompted to select one of the following types: Text message, Picture message, Voice message or E-mail.

A fast symbol line prompts when to expect the needed symbol while you’re typing - s very helpful aid to those who seldom compose messages. The maximum message length is limited to 1900, up to eight lines of text fall into the field of view simultaneously. The Copy & Paste function is a very helpful addition that allows either for the whole text or for selected fragments of it to be copied. Besides a limited number of Nokia models, no analogous functionality is known to exist on the market. The function can be called through the context menu, then you have to mark the beginning and the ending of the fragment you want to select. Additional messaging features include T9 input, emoticons, chat support.

You can select one of the 7 stock signals for the incoming message sound or choose a custom audio file. Options include the so-called ‘reading notice’ – if activated, the recipient of the message will be asked for a acknowledgement that the message was read that he can confirm – it really makes sense for messages of extreme urgency when it’s vital to know that the message was read by the recipient.

The E-Mail client is not bad yet it could use a little bit more functionality. Attachments are supported, they can be saved to ROM no matter if it can be correctly recognized by the application. There’s no support for viewing Office files. E-mail messages can be sorted by size, date and time or by the content of the message itself.

Three font sizes are available for the messages: small, medium and large. The message can be displayed in fullscreen mode, the copy/paste functionality is supported.

The following encodings are supported:

OTA	Yes
Push email protocols	POP3 и IMAP4 IMAP Idle (расширения IMAP4Rev1) OMA Email Notification 1.0
Security	SSL/TLS, POPS/IMAPS и STARTTLS
Remote controls	OMA Client Provisioning и Nokia Smart Messaging
HTML mail	Yes (tagless)
Inline images	Yes
Message Management	The latest 50 message headers or size limit
ESMTP	Yes
Background delivery	Yes

We'd like to cast the spotlight at the MMS service functions, since those enjoy a really great implementation on the A100 platrform. All typed of multimedia content can be attached to the message from a number of sources: File Manager, Phonebook, Calendar, Tasklist, Note, Browser (vBookmars), and photos for attaching can also be taken right from the camera application without saving them to the ROM. The following media formats are supported :

As we see, everything is quite all right for a casual phone. The photo or the picture in the message can keep their original size, or automatically scaled down to 640х480, 320х240 or 120х160. It’s possible to turn on the message autoload system, delivery and read report, to select the creation mode (with limitations or warnings), this option concerns the message size.

PIM

The calendar supports viewing by month or week, in the latter case the days are divided into a hourly schedule each, also you can quickly skip to a specified year, day and month. It’s possible to specify the type of event, duration, place and alert. A reminder can start playing even if the phone is switched off as long as the corresponding option is checked. Events can be automatically repeated at a specified interval, and also any event can be set to expire after a certain period of time.

A meeting can be set for any date. It’s possible to specify the subject, the start time and the duration, the reminder interval and a short description. The tasklist suffers from a rather poor implementation with just a couple of event types available: a task or a phone call.

The Birthday field can be synchronized with the PIM, so you would never forget about your beloved grandmother's birthday because the phone is bound to remind you about that. The reminder can be set to play in advance, exact on the date of the event, or at any custom interval you want.

The alarm clock can be set to be activated only once or on a scheduled basis. There are a total of 5 independently configured alarm clocks available, so it’s even possible wake up the dead. Any audio file can be used as a ringtone.

The reminders, timer, stopwatch and calculator are quite standard. The password manager application is used for keeping all sorts of user passwords.

Sony Ericsson products keep traditionally strong positions in this area, including format compatibility. The K770i model supports quite a number of audio formats: MP4 (AAC, AAC+, eAAC+), MP3 (up to 192 kb/s officially, though out tests revealed practical compatibility with higher bitrates), M4A, 3GPP (AAC, AMR), AMR-NB, AMR-WB, WAV, G-MIDI, RealAudio 8, eMelody, iMelody, RHZ, XMF, WMA, and video: MP4 (MPEG4+AAC/AMR), 3GPP (MPEG4/H.263/H.264+3gp/AAC/AMR), RealVideo 8, WMV ASF, graphics: JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG, SVG, WBMP. All the more or less common formats are supported.

A 1st generation player is used in K770i, we didn't notice any changes since K750i. It's quite a simple solution yet still sufficient and up to modern-day standards (while K850i utilizes a 3rd generation player). The player can work in the background, there's the support for sorting and playlists, equalizers, playback order customization. The equalizer has five bands, there's an option to tweak the saved presets to your liking - yet there's no way to save the changes permanently. All in all, the player interface is quite standard, it's a bit less appealing in terms of usability and visual appearance as compared to the latest 3rd generation players in numerous latest Nokia and Samsung phones.

The player controls are very easy to use, the options include auto repeat, random order playback, sorting by performer, genre, enhanced stereo (turning on that function didn't give us an impression of the sound quality getting any better, though). Progressive rewinding is fully supported. The info about the currently playing song are shown on the phone screen. There's no support for selectable themes, which looks as a kind of failure as compared to the latest Nokias. The headset is quite a trivial piece, its quaolity is rather average, it only provides for an acceptable audio quality and little more. The accessory possesses only the single 'Respond' button, there are no extra player controls like Rewind, Pause/Play or anything like that. The sound volume during mp3 playback is enough for most environments, yet in some really noisy places the maximum volume might seem a little bit too low. We consider it a noticeable fault since very few competitive solutions suffer from that. The overall audio quality doesn't seem to reach the ideal. In general, the latest Nokias are comparable in audio quality and player ergonomics while Samsung products cleanly beat the competitors in terms of sound quality and volume. Let's note though that A2DP support in the model we're reviewing doesn't fall under the previous statements - the Bluetooth playback is nearly brilliant in all parameters.

There's a PhotoDJ graphics editor coming along with the rest of the applications. You can do primitive actions and apply simple effects to photos in it. Frames, effects, cliparts, resizing - quite a bit of functionality.

A sound and a video editor are present as well - named accordingly VideoDJ and MusicDJ. The're much simpler than the previous one - only the most basic functions are available.

The phone sports an integrated FM tuner. The radio module enjoys a better sound volume than the mp3 player no matter if you use a headset or the exterior speaker - the sound is equally loud. RDS and auto search are supported.

The voice recorder application can be used during phone talks, but you have to engage the menu to activate it prior to each talk to be recorded. The free memory size is the only limitation to a record's length.

In addition to all the multimedia applications mentioned above, the phone also sports a number of preinstalled applications including a decent web browser powered by the SmartFit technology (that allows to rearrange and resize page elements so a regular page would fit the small screen, which is achieved by turning it into a single column of text). The options inlcude Save Picture, Change View Aspect and Zoom. Well, if you are in a real need of extensive web browsing, you'd rather want the OperaMini browser instead.

A remote control application comes along as well, however you have to install the required software available from the bundled software disk to your PC as well. The games that ship along with the phone are FotoQuestFishing and Solitaire 4 Pack.

A rather simple file manager offering only a basic functionality is part of the phone's software platform. Curiosly, much to the contrary of the phonebook, it allows for separate categorized listing of ROM and card-stored files in addition to the all-embracing file listing mode.

The software installation process is a very simple procedure - the only thing you need is to send the .jar distributive to the phone over Bluetooh. Similar to the rest of Sony Ericsson products utilizing the A100 software platform, there's a possibility to run a number of Java applications simultaneously, i.e. multitasking. The number of simultaneously run application can be very impressive - the virtual Java machine is powerful enough to handle them all. A running application can be minimezed to the background, it will be still running. The list of running applications is shown in the corresponding tab in the Activity menu - where the user can terminate running ones, switch between them and so on - the implementation is very user friendly.

Settings

Five tabs with settings are traditionally present:

The first tab is used for selecting a profile (Normal, Meeting, In car, Outdoors, Handsfree, Home, Office) - there's no way to a custom user profile though the existing ones can be edited.

The same menu is utilized for setting the time and date, language, updating software and voice control configuration.

You have to make your own voice marks in order to use voice control, there's no such functionality that is now found with the latest generation of Nokia and Motorola handsers. The voice response is also possible, the contectee's name can be pronounced automatically upon receiveng an incoming call, the 'magic word' function is available as well - a voice command that enable voice control over additional accessories when they're plugged in - a mini headset or the car speakerphone..

The incoming message reminder can be configured in this meny (two options - pop-up window or a notice in the event menu); the actions associated with the different directions of the navigation button or the joystick are customizable here as well. The same menu item includes the Settings Wizard, the security management options and a feature that allows to reset all the user settings to their default values.

The flight mode option is accessible from the same menu, though the device won't work if you remove the SIM card entirely, which is a somewhat shallow approach to this function as compared to Nokia, for instance.

The second tab is used for selecting the ringtone, setting the volume, also it includes a selectable fade-in effect for the ringtone sound, customizable keypad sounds, light effects and so on.

The third tab allows to choose a theme or an independent wallpaper, a welcome phrase, the standby splash screen, its brightness (100% by default) and the size of the screen clock (large or small).

The fourth tab hosts the list of Call service options (Speed Dial, Time & Cost, Show / Hide My No.), the on-open slider function - respond upon opening / release connection on closing. The last tab stands for Bluetooth and USB settings, a whole set of synchronization options are available, the Web connection options are also available here.

Performance

As usual, Java functionality sports a brilliant implementation in Sony Ericsson products and this one is clearly no exception. The K770i model supports 3D profiles, Java midlets can be sent over Bluetooth, the performance is pleasantly high. The test results are close to those of T650i, the differences are almost negligible, that's why we combined the results of both in a single record. Sony Ericsson K790i/K800i/K810i displayed only a slight advantage over the model in question:

	Java Performance
Model	Sony Ericsson T650i/K770i	Sony Ericsson K790i/K800i/K810i
Jbenchmark 1.0.1 Score	7137	7491
Text	2243	2333
2D Shapes	1749	1995
3D Shapes	830	823
Fill Rate	584	598
Animation	1731	1742
Jbenchmark 2.0.1 Score	1252	638
Image Manipulations	416	395
Text	769	716
Sprites	600	622
3D Transform	770	37
User Interface	20781	16108
Jbenchmark 3D HQ	176	177
Jbenchmark 3D LQ	319	321
Triangles ps	34391	34095
Jbenchmark HD Gaming Score	5 (0.2 fps)	91 (3.0 fps)
Smooth triangles	44369	44190
Fill rate, KTexels	55	1107

Battery Life

The novelty gadget is powered by a BST-38 battery with a capacity of 930 mAh. The manufacturer claims 540 minutes of talk time and 400 hours of standby. Over the course of our tests the device was doing quite well, nearly identical to the T650i model, yet K800i won the race:

	Battery Life
Model	Sony Ericsson T650i/K770i	Sony Ericsson K790i/K800i/K810i
Moderate duty cycle	2.5 суток	3 суток
Multimedia Cycle, video (3GP)	4:02	6:06
Multimedia Cycle, audio (MP3)	18:40	20:31

The camera used in K770i is none of a revolution both for the market on the whole and Sony Ericsson in particular, who already have the K850i model supplied with a high quality 5 Mpix module. But within its market segment the model looks rather decent - along with T650i and K810i, this one is one of the few cell phones combining a lightweight and stylish build with fair imaging capabilities.

The camera resolution is 3,2 Mpix, it comes with a flashlight and auto-focusing function. The maximum photo resolution is 2048x2536, video resolution - 176x144. Just above the screen the secondary VGA cam used in video calls is positioned.

The settings are as follows:

Photo Shooting

Shoot modes	Normal, Panorama, Frames
Scenes	Auto, Twilight landscape, Twilight portrait, Landscape, Portrait, Beach/Snow, Sports, Document
Picture size	3 MP (2048x1536) MP (1632x1224) MP (1280x960) VGA (640x480)
Focus	Auto, Macro, Infinite
Light	Off, Auto
Self-timer	3, 5, 10
Effects	Off, Black & white, Negative, Sepia, Solarize
White balance	Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent
Metering mode	Normal, Spot
Picture quality	Normal, Fine
Shutter sounds	On, Off
Turn on time and date	Adds a timestamp to the photo
Reset file number	Yes
Save to memory	Phone memory / memory card

Video shooting

Shoot modes	Normal, Panorama, Frames
Video size	QCIF (176x144)
Night mode	Yes
Focus	Auto, Macro, Infinite
Turn on/off microphone	Off, Auto
Reset file number	The same as in photo mode
Effects	Off, Black & white, Negative, Sepia, Solarize
White balance	Auto
Metering mode	Normal, Spot
Save to memory	Phone memory / memory card

The videocalls can use two available resolutions - QCIF (176x144) and SQCIF (128x96). The zoom as digital and has a 2x ratio (the main camera has a 3x zoom). The Night Mode and Brightness settings are supported. The White Balance has the only available option - Auto.

Samples of shooting at maximum quality:

Obviously, the camera module of K770i, quite on the contrary to its impressive theoretical characteristics, isn't the most powerful one available on the market now, - we must admit that the quality of implementation is rather average, - so the majority of competitive products get an upper hand in the competition over it. For instance, the color rendition is a bit unnatural, in most cases the macro shooting mode doesn't produce any decent pictures. Sometimes the white balance setting fails to set the right levels. The JPEG compression quality doesn't add any noise to the picture though - the quality of implementation for this feature is very fine. The prolonged exposure periods are quite a questionable matter, but on the other hand this minimzes the noise even in poorly lit environments. The flashlight, as we have already noted out, is a simple LED light and not a xenon one like the Cyber-shot flagships. So you'd better not be counting on any decent nighttime shot quality. The same goes to video - 176x144 and 15 fps look quite archaic for a modern day phone, and twice as shameful for a Cyber-shot device. Let's compare it to T650i and K800i at all the quality settings maxed out:

T650i / K770i / K800i

T650i / K770i / K800i

A stylish addon to the Cyber-shot line that was given the K770i index appears to be a very intriguing offering. That's an image-accented version of the bestseller K800i model, which is still among the best sold phones of its class - even today! But upon a closer look we discovered that the model actually is a beefed up clone of T650i and seems to possess purely formal relations to its foster father K800i. That's quite disappointing, especially when the time comes to speak about the camera. The marketing forecast for K770i, as wee see it, isn't an unclouded one - a model 150 euro more expensive than K800i and nearly equal in price with the T650i on the day of release can hardly battle to each and every competitive device, to put it mildly. The sales will start in the first days of november. The rest of likely competitors by other brends includes the more affordable Samsung E590 and Nokia 6500 Slide. We'd rather advice Sony Ericsson to revise their price policy or the demand for K770i will be close to the level of commercial failure, it risks being consumed by the shadow of the more balanced and functional K800i sold at an even lower price.

SMAPE's opinion

Sony Ericsson K770i is an interesting sequel to K800i actually based off the T650 hardware platform. The model is remarkable for its looks and in particular the slim case - even a bit unusually slim for a regular Cyber-shot phone. At the same time the novelty utilizes a camera worse than the one used in K800i, and the image accent is felt stronger in T650. So this model appears to be the golden mean between the two - yet too mean to win a vast audience of compromise lovers.

+ Appealing design
+ An ergonomics that clearly deserves lots of positive epithets
+ A fairly long battery life
+ A powerful software platform
+ 3G support
- Short screen diagonal
- Lack of EDGE support
- Lack of the IrDA
- Mediocre video quality

Author: Dmitry Ryabinin, dm@smape.com

SMAPE.com

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