Sony Ericsson K330

Editor's Review of the K330

With a total weight of 75 grams and having the full measurements of 100 x 45 x 12 millimetres, the Sony Ericsson K330 is a compact communication device that exudes the solid bar style. It is clad in a black casing with metallic accents of green or gold that gives it either a gracefully stylish effect or a smartly elegant flair. This mobile phone is part of Sony Ericsson's handsets that make up the popular K-series, such as the Sony Ericsson K630i, the Sony Ericsson K660i, as well as the Sony Ericsson K770i.

This handset is equipped with a colour TFT screen that measures approximately 43.18 millimetres. This display screen exhibits picture wallpapers, photos, graphics and images in 65,000 colours at 128 x 160 pixels. Giving it a distinct personality is its selection of ringtones in MP3 and polyphonic formats that users can assign as sound alerts for this handset's messages, calls and other features.

A dual band mobile phone, this handset works on GSM 900 and GSM 1800 network bands. It allows users to navigate the World Wide Web and access their favourite Web sites on the Internet using the pre-installed XHTML WAP browser. For users who want to share or transfer files with compatible gadgets such as laptops, mobile phones, personal computers and printers, the Sony Ericsson K330 is equipped with Bluetooth support. This connectivity option allows file transfers or data sharing between the compatible devices that are at 10 metres apart at most. This handset is also equipped with GPRS technology, which ensures that data transfers and Internet access are of speedier rates.

The Sony Ericsson K330 offers SMS or text messaging complete with Predictive Text Input, as well as MMS or multimedia messaging service. However, this mobile phone goes beyond offering just the typical handset services. It is also a handy everyday mate with its set of organiser features. It comes with a phone book which stores up to 1,000 contacts.

To assist users in their busy schedules, this handset has features that aid in planning or scheduling and computations, such as a calendar, an alarm clock, a stopwatch, a timer and a calculator. It also offers a pre-installed torch that offers utmost convenience. It also comes with a vibrating alert option to keep users alerted of messages or calls that simply cannot be missed even during meetings or conferences and in certain areas where sound alerts are being discouraged. Taking and making calls become easier with this handset's built-in speaker phone. More notably, the Sony Ericsson K330 is equipped with a health mate feature that allows weight-watching users to strictly keep track of their weight and calorie information.

Users who enjoy taking pictures practically any time and anywhere will appreciate the built-in VGA camera of this mobile phone. This integrated device also functions as a video recording gadget. It also plays video clips on its TFT screen and supports most widely accepted video formats. Music entertainment facilities also keep the fun in this handset. It comes with a music player that supports popular audio formats. For an alternative listening experience, users may enjoy music and gain news and information from its built-in FM and AM radio features, which has RDS support to allow users to receive weather, news and other information from radio stations and read them on the handset's display screen. To complete its entertainment facet, this mobile phone also transforms into a virtual playing zone for gamers. It comes with embedded games in Java. It also supports games that may be downloaded from Internet sources.

This mobile phone enables the users to store still photos, video footages, contact details and other data of up to 10 Megabytes. Users will enjoy talking with their contacts using this handset for 7 hours. With a fully charged battery, it is capable of staying at a 300-hour standby mode.

Users have criticised this handset for its poor-performing loudspeaker and non-expandable storage capacity. Its lack of support for Wi-Fi and GPS technologies has also made this mobile phone non-appealing to some observers, while average-performing camera disappointed some users. Nevertheless, the basic functionalities and user-friendly messaging, calls and camera features make the Sony Ericsson K330 a must-have for both practical and fun-focused users.