I’ve just got a Sony Ericsson K800i. My first ever non-nokia phone. Could have got a N73. But I didn’t.
Why? The K800i was good looking. The camera design appealed. The screen and icons seemed luscious. And people said it was easy to use and they were happy with it.
I had a moment of trepidation when I got it home. What have I done?! (That’s the power of brand loyalty coming from years of good user experience with Nokia).
But I’ve been using it for the afternoon and I’m very happy. Maybe because in many respects it’s a Nokia clone anyway, just with better looks. Or maybe an N73 would have been WAY better but I’ll never know now! Or maybe, just maybe, it’s a good phone.
Two interesting things:
1. I couldn’t work out how to open the memory stick slot. I Googled and found that others also struggled. (Several “I know this is a silly question but…” postings). Answer: stick your fingernail under the flap and pull until you’re sure it will snap. And then the door pops open.
2. It’s not very self confident. It keeps asking me to confirm things instead of just doing. Like when you prepare an SMS – it double checks before actually sending it. And once it’s sent it asks you to click “ok” to acknowledge the dialog box. Hmm. I think Alan Cooper might accuse it of not being “self confident” and Jef Raskin might have accused it of wasting information.