THE REAL PICTURE

Till a couple of years ago, owning a VGA camera phone meant you were in the select crowd. Today, 2-megapixel camera phones are a dime a dozen, and if you want to stand out, you need a 5-megapixel handset. After all, it’s the age of multi-tasking and a mobile set has to be much more than just a phone: it should be a portable music player, computer, camera and more. Trying to live up to such expectations, LG and Sony Ericsson have come out with two high-end phones for those seeking pure entertainment: KU990 Viewty and the Cyber-shot series K850i.

DESIGN
Considering that it’s a clash of two power-packed titans, the Sony Ericsson K850i just doesn’t look like a high-end phone. The company has retained the conventional candy bar design which does not do justice to the phone, but start using it, and you will be floored. This could become a sale-point problem, because many people buy a handset based on its looks. Slim phones is the latest trend and how it has skipped the Sony Ericsson design team is inexplicable.
What’s impressive about the 118 gm K850i is that it has a 2.2-inch screen that has a mirrored layer—it helps view it better even in direct sunlight. But the display of the phone is dark. The TFT display is covered by a protective plastic cover to avoid scratches. The handset comes with three sensor-touch controls at the base of the screen, a first in the Cyber-shot series. This functions like any PDA touchscreen, only with a locational limitation, but there is no point in touching the rest of the screen and covering it with fingerprints. The keypad is, however, a tad uncomfortable. The small square buttons are responsive but prick your fingers. The keys have white-light illumination which does look good but also reminds us of Nokia’s entry-level white-light phone.

The LG Viewty is all about touchscreen. Many may see it as a rip-off of the Apple iPhone, but we shall simply call it cutting-edge technology. Similar to the LG Prada and, of course, the iPhone, the Viewty has a 3-inch touchscreen with three buttons to receive and end calls, and a correction key. One problem here: the keys are not as responsive as they should be, making it more a pushscreen than a touchscreen. The KU990 is very light at 112 gm and doesn’t look or feel plasticky. The touchscreen may be prone to scratches, but it’s the best-looking 5-megapixel camera phone yet. Unlike the iPhone, the Viewty comes with a stylus which saves it from fingerprints and scratches. What can be frustrating is that the stylus dangles from the side of the phone like a cheap accessory. The tried and tested stylus slot which makes it handy and hides the messy appendages would have been better.

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