Sony Ericsson k608i
Yesterday, I switched from Optus to 3. 3 is a 3G provider so I had to choose a 3G phone.
I decided to get the Sony Ericsson k608i. The phone user interface and icon based menu is similar to Sony Ericsson w800i and k750i. The user interface is very beautiful, very eye-candy user interface.
There are some negative comments about the keypad eventhough I think the keypad are fine. I have a problem with the joystick though because my hand is huge. Sometimes when I want to middle-click the joystick, it clicks upward/downward instead. It may take a while for me to get used to it.
Camera
Just like Nokia 6680, the 3G smart-phone. SE k608i also has two cameras. The front camera is for video calling. When you turn the phone over, it has a 1.3 megapixel camera. You can use the back camera for taking pictures and recording video. When you’re on video call you can also use the back camera to show the person you’re talking to the image you’re taking with the back camera.
The 1.3 megapixel camera does not have any zoom function, not even a digital zooming. However, zooming function is available during video calling. You can zoom both using the back and front camera.
The size of the pictures taken from the digital camera is Large (1280 x 1024), Medium (640x480), Small (160x120). The camera provide different shoot mode such as Normal, Panorama, Frames, and burst. There is also night mode.
Anyway, here’s some shots I took using the photo if you wanna know the quality:
The Logitech MX1000 mouse
Not only the web is powered by AJAX, my toilet too!
Storage
One of the biggest disadvantage of this phone is it only provide 32 MB built-in memory. Unlike the other two sony ericsson phone (k750i/w800i) you cannot extend the storage using memory stick. 32MB is enough to store the photos, but you can only store very little amount of music.
Connectivity and Synchronization
You can connect the phone to the computer using bluetooth, infrared, or supplied USB cable. I connected the phone to my PC running Windows XP via USB. You can use the Sony Ericsson File Manager from the desktop to transfer files from/to your PC. Transferring a photo sized 1.5 MB from the phone to the PC took a few minutes. You can also synchronize Microsoft Outlook contacts to the phone. However, I do not store my contacts on Microsoft Outlook. Moving on to my choice of operating system now, Mac OS X.
On Mac OS X, the Sony Ericsson k608i is unable to synchronize with Mac OS X via the USB connection. However, you can transfer files wirelessly using Bluetooth if your Mac have a bluetooth module installed. To transfer files between the Mac and the phone, a utility called Bluetooth File Exchange is available on Mac OS X.
Mobile broadband
The phone can be used as a wireless modem for your laptop computers or PDA. By connecting your 3 phone to your laptop, you can connect to the internet almost at anytime anywhere. It is very pricey though compare to normal broadband prices. You can checkout the bandwidth price from 3’s website.
Media player
The media player can play music and videos. The sound quality of the phone when listening to music is okay. The media player has equalizer with a few presets such as Bass, Mega Bass, Voice, and Treble Boost.
The quality of video playback is also good. Three offers many video download services such as movie trailers, news, adult videos, television. I haven’t tried those services, but I’ve played a small video clip included with the phone.
Just like standard mobile phones, this phone also have a radio tuner with the headset acting as the antenna. Since the phone only have built-in 32MB and there is no way to expand the storage, listening to radio is also a good option.
Checking my e-mail is very easy from the phone. It supports both the IMAP and POP3 protocol with encryption. With 3, receiving mail is free while sending an e-mail from the phone cost $0.20. A free three email account is given to every customers.
Conclusion
I love my new phone. The phone’s design is nice, it has a nice user interface with beautiful icons. The phone memory is enough for me, the phone hasn’t replaced my digital camera or the iPod. So I don’t plan on keeping a lot of photos or music in it.
1. Sphagnum 9 Nov 2005
Nice phone
2. Razorblade 9 Nov 2005
nice phone, tapi biasanya kalo hp ericsson tuh menurut gue kurang enak buat sms.. kalo elo mencet sms nya cepet, kadang2 suka lag.. jadi dulu gue suka sebel pake sony ericsson.. hehehe tapi design nya sih keren
3. ktula 9 Nov 2005
I think the K608i is actually quite Mac friendly - if you have Bluetooth. I got my phone just a day ago and i have no problem at all synchronizing with my Address Book and also using it with the Salling Clicker.
4. Gauri 15 Apr 2006
Well, you can connect your mobile to internet using handset as a modem. But if someone can help me to transfer my pictures to Mac OS 10.4.4
5. Lantianer 17 Apr 2006
Check out this, it looks like it should work. Don’t have bluetooth myself, though.
http://myk608.lasyk.net/preview/15529/-1311449046/K608-Software-Mac-BluePhoneMenu-1.2.15.html
I wish Sony Ericsson would just provide a Mac driver on their CD, so I could use the cable. I know several other people in the same position as me.
6. arrrrrrrgh 7 May 2006
i too have the k608i & very rarely use the usb, have used it 10 times, went to use it today & yup you guessed it the flimsy thin (around 1mm thick if that) usb connector plastic on the phone was broken cable always put in & taken out correctly time to get a bluetooth usb thumb receiver -_-
7. Michael 15 Jun 2006
I have this phone and it works well under OSX. It syncs nicely with Address Book and iCal using iSync.
Files can be transferred using Apple’s Bluetooth File Exchange.
BluePhoneElite works well too. Unsure if it’s possible to send emails from my mac (using three’s email account)
8. steve 21 Jun 2006
This site has scripts for using the k608i as a modem from OSX: http://www.taniwha.org.uk/
I got this working to use my powerbook to connect to the internet via the phone over bluetooth (haven’t tried usb).
9. buko 11 Jul 2006
so, does anyone send files from mac to the k608i via bluetooth? before I used a t700 and I was able to send files and browse my phone from the mac, but now it doesn’t work with the k608i. I can send the photos from the phone to the mac but not in the other way :?
10. buko 12 Jul 2006
SOOOOORRY ok, the problem was that my Blutooth File Exchange Utility file was damaged, I reinstalled and everything works good, I love my new k608i and my Powerbook too!!!! :D
11. Fabio 27 Jul 2006
I just buied a K608i, and I can’t make it work with salling clicker :-( “Salling” successfully finds the bluetooth device, but when I try to “connect” it, I receive the following message “terminal didn’t return expected data”.
Some other times, when I try to “connect” it gives a message that whas not possible tofind the device… but it did already “found” it in the previous step!!
any help? any idea?
thanks
12. mr nice ash 6 Aug 2006
were you able to connect to the internet using generic temporary bluetooth connection?
i will be glad if you can send me instructions. thanks in advance.
13. Bruce 23 Aug 2006
I find I don’t get much battery life - particularly if I wear it on my belt holster. The holster/pouch seems to touch the side buttons (or maybe the magnet triggers something). In any event, whenever I pull it out it always has the screen actived rather than being in the low power liquid crystal mode. This seems to me like a bug in the key lock/screen saver software.
14. spidamang 8 Sep 2006
Is it durable? any software bugs?
15. Jurofun 12 Sep 2006
I have this phone SE K608i and the File exchange between PC & Phone is a big problem. It freezes very often and I can only get out the batery and switch on again then!?!
It is very often but not everytime problem. I must use just cable transfers, which are without any phone firmware freezing.
I am not sure which firmware version I have, but it looks buggy by this BT file transfer problems. How to reinstall the firmware?
16. Joshua 13 Nov 2006
Yeah, have to agree that K608 is a basic yet very stable phone to have. However, I do have a problem installing themes. It seems that it never work in my K608.
Are you having the same problem too Will? The themes I tried is from,
http://gallery.mobile9.com/index.php?act=search&c=4&k=101
17. john 21 May 2007
something went wrong with my k608i. it doesn’t work anymore. if i turn it on, it just keeps on blinking, nothing is displayed on the screen. i can’t use it. what’s wrong with it? Need help please.
18. Getaneh 10 Jun 2007
It is a very interesting mobile but it has some drawbacks.1 when I tried to turn it on it doesn’t give me any signal. 2 when you also tried to charge,it shows you red like signal for a few second and disapired. I just don’t know what to do! if anyone has any idea about this please just email me!
19. Nanette from Cebu 15 Jun 2007
my SE K608i always freeze. I have to get off the battery again and again. Whats the problemof this phone. Anyone could help? Thanks….