Digital Trends

Sony Ericsson K790a January 16th, 2007 | by Stewart Wolpin

Features and Design

We admit to having a bit of prejudice against candy bar phones. Exposed to the elements, the two-inch, 240 x 320 pixel screen can be easily scratched; exposed to the contents of a bag or pocket, buttons will be pushed. Yes, you can lock the phone, but the two-key combo required for gaining access to the phone (“*” and then the soft "unlock" button) is the opposite of intuitive. And once you activate the auto lock feature (if you're able to find it; it's under “Security,” then “General” in the phone settings menu), the phone requires unlocking after a few minutes of non-use.

However, if you don't consider constantly having to unlock your phone a bother, we'll just move on as if nothing had happened.

Rather than the usual square LCD, the K790's 1-1/4 x 1-5/8 inch screen is more radically oblong, handy for both viewing long menu lists and as a wider viewfinder for the digital camera. Thanks to Sony's Scalable Vector Graphics software, both images and text are rendered smoother, crisper, cleaner, and more readable than we've seen on any screen, which is fortunate, because the phone’s web text is the smallest we've ever seen (even smaller then the text you squint to read in classified ads).

The screen length makes the 4.1-ounce K790 a bit longer (4.1 x 1.8 x 0.9 inches) and leaves little room for the cramped keypad and navigation array. One compromise for the lack of key real estate is the absence of dedicated "send" and "end" keys. When "dialing" a number (we really need to find a more precise euphemism for entering a phone number in this touch-tone age), the "send" command is a soft key; ditto for the "end" key when you're in mid-call. While functional, this does take a bit of getting used to. There's also no "home" key; holding the "back" key for a couple of seconds brings you back home. There is a dedicated "c" key, however, which seems to act only as a rarely-needed “delete” key.

There are two tiny direct function keys on either side of the navigation array: one for web access and a tiled page icon key that brings up tabbed function and application lists. A small recessed joystick makes menu navigation simple.

While cramped, each row of the K790's alphanumeric keypad is angled oh-so-subtly, rather than flat, allowing more accurate number and letter punching.

Camera ergonomics are exemplary. Turn the cell horizontally, push down the lens cover on the back, and the camera is activated. There's a self-portrait mirror and a Xenon flash around the Carl Zeiss lens. Both the standard soft keys become camera options, and two small keys on what is now the left of the screen, bracketing the earpiece, become two more soft keys. In shooting mode, for instance, the bottom key lets you toggle between shooting modes. The joystick lets you toggle between still and 15 fps video mode. On the top right, falling conveniently just below your index finger, is the shutter release. On the top left is a toggle that controls volume during voice calls and becomes the smooth variable 16x digital zoom for the camera function (both unique attributes in a cell cam). You also get a BestPic burst mode, a picture blogging mode, and PictBridge for direct-to-printer USB hard copies.

Our only complaint about the camera ergonomics is the lens protector. It can't be locked in place, so it can accidentally slide up, activating the camera; this could result in a dead battery and lovely photos of your loose change.

The joystick and soft keys ably do the work of dedicated music transport controls found on other music phones. Surprisingly, there's no standard headphone jack, and we've been unable to locate an accessory stereo headphone with the K790's proprietary jack. This means you'll have to buy a stereo Bluetooth headset for personal music listing.

Sony has included a raft of phone, multimedia, and internet features in the K790, including 900/1800/1900 EDGE/GPRS worldwide GSM connectivity, a Memory Stick Micro card slot (which some may consider a drawback, since these cards are not as ubiquitous or inexpensive as micro or miniSD cards), an FM radio, a Java for game play, stereo Bluetooth for music listening, its MusicDJ and VideoDJ sampling software, push POP3/IMAP4/SMTP e-mail, and the standard text messaging. There's also the usual cell phone app suspects: alarm clock, calculator, calendar, and timer. Inside is 64 MB of memory, in case you don't pick up a Micro Memory Stick.

Image Courtesy of Sony Ericsson