Eyeing the young

GIZMO GALLERY

Sony Ericsson's Cybershot and Walkman series are the new rage.

Sony Ericsson is increasingly adding phones that cater to the youth. Camera and music "" the two most-used features on the mobile "" have become the prime focus for the company through its Cybershot and Walkman series.

Take the case of Sony Ericsson K810i Cybershot which is virtually the same as the earlier K800i. It is slimmer, and its keypad buttons have a new design, though not much of an improvement over the old keypad design.

Its photographic capabilities are indeed the best among the currently available camera phones (excluding the Nokia N93 and possibly the N95 smartphones).

The camera is 3.2 megapixels with autofocus (to enable the images to be sharper), a powerful xenon flash (better than the weak LCD flashes used on most phones), high quality optics and a 16x digital zoom.

Sony Ericsson has packed a new feature called Photo fix that adjusts the light balance, brightness and contrast of the image. Retailing at Rs 17,110, it offers an obvious upgrade for Cybershot patrons or those who take photography a tad seriously.

Its internal memory is a reasonable 64 MB (enough for around 16 music tracks), so one has to rely heavily on the 2GB memory stick micro card bundled. One of the quirks of Sony Ericsson is that the SIM-card is used only in case of emergency. Its SIM contacts are not displayed in the general list.

When compared to Nokia N95, which has a 5-megapixel camera, the Cybershot loses some of its sheen or when compared with aesthetically good looking phones like LG Chocolate.

Experimenting with design, Sony Ericsson's W580i is a slider that can impress you at first glance. Highlighted by orange accents, the W580i is illuminated in the dark with light effects along the side that change as users navigate the Walkman music player.

TrackID, Sony Ericsson's popular music identifier software, allows recording a few seconds of any song through the external microphone. The W580i also features Advanced Audio Distribution Profile that enables one to wirelessly stream music to a compatible pair of Bluetooth headphones.

The W580i includes a built-in pedometer and a fitness menu, designed to track running and walking stats. At Rs 13,995, it is not too steep a price to pay for such bells and whistles.

The W580i ships with a 1GB memory stick micro (upgradable) to store about 470 full-length music tracks, as the 12 MB of internal memory is horribly insufficient.

A 2-megapixel camera on the rear does not include autofocus or a flash, but it does have a 2.5x digital zoom.

Although not suitable for any sort of serious photography, the W580i camera should be enough to keep users happy for the odd photos. Disc2Phone music management software and USB cable included in the box allow for easy transfer of music to and from a PC.

Going by the Sony Ericsson W850i's popularity, it can be concluded that the W580i will have an audience of its own, besides being a worthy upgrade over the W810i.