Sony Ericsson K660

The K660 is a new launch from Sony Ericsson that hasn’t yet made it officially into the Indian market. But being who I am and knowing the people I do, I managed to get my paws on a prototype test piece. Of course it didn’t come with the full kit, so I can give you only a preview. Here’s what I can let you in on for now.

Design
The K660 is a good-looking candybar phone that's available in some cool colors. It has a certain good-to-hold feeling, so it’s not like other Sony Ericssons. Thankfully there’s no sticky joystick but a very easy-to-maneuver 5 way nav-pad. The buttons and keys are very well placed and easily accessible. The phone is lightweight and the 2-inch display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels is really crisp.

Features
The K660 doesn’t have any features that will make it stand out amidst other Sony Ericsson phones. It comes with regular business features like calendar, notes, schedules, stopwatch, timer etc. As for connectivity, it’s 3G-enabled with HSDPA and has a VGA camera in front for video calls. Also available are EDGE and Bluetooth with A2DP compatibility. It comes with Google Maps preinstalled.

The K660 has 32MB of internal memory and supports M2 cards for external memory. The phone, as Sony Ericsson phones go, is not too fast. Moving through menus, typing messages etc. will reveal that. The music player is not too good - it’s just way too silent to listen to unless you're in a soundproof room. It does have a fairly decent integrated FM radio. I like the new Gallery menu: it may be slow but it's definitely better-looking than the older versions.

The 2 megapixel camera is decent. If you like playing with or touching up your images, the PhotoDJ software is really handy and a lot of fun to use. As in all Sony Ericssons, this too has a VideoDJ for editing video files and a MusicDJ for creating ringtones. The games may not be too great but they are entertaining. TrackId is also available.

Battery life is quite good. With normal usage you’ll get a little over a day and a half on a single charge.

I like this phone simply because of the look-good and feel-good factors. Its functions aren't impressive or unique when compared to other Sony Ericsson phones, but the features are adequate. My first impression is: if it’s a mid-range phone, it’s great. Look for it in 2008, hopefully in the first quarter.