Sony Ericsson K500

Discontinued
17th July 2004

The Sony Ericsson K500 series is a set of relatively low-cost bar-style phones that are designed to be fun to use. In fact, we've already seen the K500 series in the guise of the Vodafone-branded F500i handset announced a couple of weeks ago. Left to right, these handsets are the K500i/K500c, K506c, K508i/K508c and F500i.

The "c" models are all designed for use on the Chinese mainland, and this gives an indication of how much Sony Ericsson wants a share of this rapidly growing marketplace. The "i" models are non-Chinese international versions. The K500i is the handset that will be sold in Europe. Apart from the Chinese/Non-Chinese split, the different models are only really distinguishable by a slightly different case.

The K500 series, like the F500i are all competent but unremarkable phones in technology terms. They have 128x160 pixel 1.9 inch displays, VGA-resolution camera, 12Mb internal memory, Java support for games and a joystick. But while not being terribly advanced, the K500 shows good targetting of this particular market niche. They are very light though, just 80 grams, and have an impressive maximum talk time of 8 hours.

Also, the Sony Ericsson K500 series feature USB and infra-red connectivity, SyncML support for PC synchronisation, MP3 audio, QuickShare, MMS, tri-band GRPS, WAP and a web browser, email support and a set of PIM (personal information management) functions. We have to say that although the K500 isn't the most whizz-bang hi-tech phone we've ever seen, with a feature set like that, we'd be perfectly happy to carry one about.

The K500 series measure 102x46x14mm and weighs 80 grams. Talktime is up to 8 hours with up to 12 days standby. Available sometime in the third quarter of 2004.