I had been searching for a good phone which crammed all the available features (except PDA functionality, which I do not need) into a nifty package. I had zoomed in on two models, the Motorala v3i and the Sony Ericsson K750i, when I heard that two new models were on the way from Sony (K550i) and Nokia (6300). After a lot of time surfing the net, reading up on their features and a few hours in the shop badgering the salesman to demonstrate a particular feature, I settled on the 550i. The initial purchase decision was based on the following facts, comparing only the 6300 and the K550i:-While the 6300 is touted as slim phone, the 550i is only 1mm thicker. It is also cheaper by Rs.500 in Kerala (but the memory is more expensive). It looks a lot more beautiful (to my eyes) and its camera produces a better picture. It also sounds better than the Nokia, especially with the ear phones on while listening to music.
On the downside, the TFT screen has 252K colors as opposed to the Nokia’s brilliant screen with 16 million colors. Features It is essentially a re-packaged 750i and comes with a quad-band capability and is EDGE and GPRS enabled. What’s missing is 3G, but you are unlikely to need it unless you plan to travel to Japan and use your phone there. The additional features are 2MP camera, a good music player and FM radio. The phone utilises Memory Stick Micro M2 cards for expandable memory. 512MB cost me Rs. 1250!UsabilityThe phone has an icon based menu system with submenus and this fairly intuitive and user friendly even for die-hard Nokia fans (which I was, till two weeks ago). The screen is well lit as is the keypad. However, in bright sunlight, the screen fades and becomes invisible unless you shield it with your hands. If you use the music player, radio etc extensively, you will have to recharge the batteries everyday.The cybershot camera comes on as soon as you flip the lens cover. Built in basic photo editing helps to enhance you pictures, prior to blogging them directly on to the net, using your internet connection. The picture quality is ecxcellent, and the phone even supports night time shooting. You can also use the camera to shoot videos and view them on the incorporated video player. Uploading songs is a breeze once you install the Discman program (included in the CD) to your PC. This program supports drag and drop functionality. The quality of the music output, though better than most phones, is not as great as on the W series.
But then these are dedicated music phones, while the 550i is a dedicated camera phone. There is a dedicated key for the music player and another to browse the internet. To use the FM radio, you have to connect the handsfree, which is used as the antenna. Reception is quite good, but static can be very irritating if you are near the end of the station’s range. Bluetooth and IRDA connectivity is supported, which is a boon if you want to communicate with older phones. There is an incredibly powerful flashlight, which unfortunately cannot be used with a single click. It is however pretty useful in a power failure. You can set mp3 songs or mp3 ringtones as the ringtone for the phone. All standard features such as calender, organiser, speed dialling etc are included. A particularly nice feature is the voice dailling.
I have only one serious grouse with the phone-the keypad. While the thin keys look cool, they are a pain to use while sending a long SMS. If you are a serious SMS-er, look for another model!! For a general user, this is not too bad, since you will be using the more user friendly navigation and menu keys for most tasks.