So I recently picked up the Sony Ericsson K550i, and I'm going to share my first impressions. Overall its a nice mid-range solution with only subtle changes to the w810/w800/k750 formula; namely an RSS reader in the messaging menu (which now gives update notifications just like email or text messages), browser based email, which makes it easier to download, and of course, the slimmer package.

Design:
A decent looking candybar, probably more suited to the no frills business user, rather than a purely entertainment oriented device. The model I have came in jet-black, cut also comes in all white. I really enjoy the navigation design, as joysticks tend to put me off a bit. A small metalic d-pad, as well as ideally placed soft-keys. I like the "browser button" placement over the "walkman" one typical of that line. After all, one can achive the same funtion by simply pressing the "play/pause" key.

The keypad however is.. well.. I can't quite decide if I like it or hate it. No doubt, it is ugly as sin. This slightly unappealling feature may have been compensated for through increased functionality; but I think its still too early too tell. I've always believed that having space between keys was essential to identifying them without looking; but without a way of distinguishing them (usually by means of a portion of the "5" key raised above the rest of them) from the others, one still has to look at the keys to get an idea of what they are typing.

This difference does exist on the k550, but its so minor that it may as well not be there. I will say that the space between the keys is sufficient to be able to ascertain their position via touch if needed; although the occasional quick glance may be necessary.


Display:
176x220 px TFD (not the usual TFT). This is supposed to save battery life, although it still seems as quick as the w810. The display isn't as clear as earlier models (thanks to TFD), and other than reduced price, I can really see no benefit to using it.

TX/RX:
850/900/1800/1900 (Quad band)
GPRS
EDGE
Reception is of course exceptional, which is to be expected of Sony Ericsson. Data transmission is relatively quick, although I didn't have a chance to try EDGE, as E-Plus, my current NSP, only offers UMTS, in the way of 3g data. (I will say however, that while in France, I did pick up an EDGE network on my W810, albeit at exceptionally high roaming rates, and there wasn't much of a difference in speed, as far as I could tell).

Memory:
The phone comes with about 75Mb of internal memory, which can of course can be upgraded to 2 extra gigs with the new memory stick micro format. Compare that with the 20Mb of on board memory of the w810.

Imaging:
The k550i comes with a 2 megapixel auto-focus camera, which has become standard fair at this price range. Picture quality seems to be on par with previous versions (w800/w810/k750), although in order to accomidate the slimmer body, a smaller cmos sensor was used. I'm not a professional photographer, and the picture quality of both solutions seems the same to me.





















W810





















K550

Multimedia:
So far the Mp3 play back is more than adequate for the casual user. The external speaker is loud enough, albeit somewhat scratchy. The handset only comes with one game; puzzle slider. After adding Galaxy On Fire however, it was obvious that the device could handle 3d rendering without trouble (in fact, it seemed to be smoother than the w810 in this regard).

Conclusion:
All in all, a nice little handset from SE, with some subtle improvements over previous models in this segment. I should also mention that the zoom function no longer functions while in 2 MP mode. A minor drawback, but I think that its compensated for by other improvements. If your looking for an inexpensive "all-in-one" handset, than the k550 is probably for you. If you want to upgrade from legacy k750/w800/w810 models, you might do well to hold out for something better, unless you have some disposable income, or are just bored (like me).

Today, I'm going to give a mini review of Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn herd3. I know that its not really "reviewable", as this is only touted as "alpha", but I've been using it as my ONLY OS for about a week, and I think its safe to give my impressions (besides no one reads my blogs anyways).

So, first off, the install: I originally dove into ubuntu feisty herd 2. Herd 2 did not love my notebook (Dell XPS M1210, 1.83 GHZ core duo, 100 Gb HD, 1 GB ram). Gnome kept crashing, I couldn't connect to the internet, and I just had a bad experience. I then switched back to edgy, and things went pretty smooth; that is until I ran into the transparency bug (http://linuxfud.wordpress.com/2006/09/29/ubuntu-crashes-on-start-and-returns-to-the-login-screen/)
. This happened with both predictability and frequency, so I tried kubuntu. Very nice. Coming over from windows, KDE was very easy to use and quick. I liked it a lot, and even upgraded to the feisty version.

Over time however, I found KDE to be bloated with apps I didn't even know operate, let alone utilize. Additionally, I began to yearn for all of the new features suggested in the gnome version (namely the notebook support, and the automatic prompt for third party plugins and codecs). I decided to give feisty another try, this time herd 3.

What ever was breaking my box in herd 2, seemed to be fixed in herd 3 (now herd 4). Everything works (what I've tested anyways). Its rock solid, and I even have beryl running. Its fairly quick, and I now have no complaints. Even though I get the free "upgrade" to vista, I'm pretty sure that I've left windows for good. I don't have to worry about security any more (although if ubuntu ever does take off like we all hope, this might generate incentive for hackers to start focusing more on linux, but I doubt it). And what's spyware?

Bottom line: Feisty Rocks on the M1210!

Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) on XPS M1210
So, in my attempt at ultimate mobility, I purchased the M1210. Its little, fast and it has a lot of power. At work I heard a lot of good things about Ubuntu, so I thought I'd give it a spin. What a pain in the ass.
First, I don't recommend ever using the "latest alpha release" of any thing. Not having a clue, and wanting the latest and greatest, that's exactly what I did. Ubuntu 7.04a Feisty Fawn. It was completely unstable, and crashed consistently. I have to say, that my first impression of Ubuntu wasn't too good..
Needless to say, after consulting with colleagues, I decided to use Edgy Eft, which I already had a copy of. Unfortunately, there were a few things that I didn't take into account when I installed it on this system; namely Dell Media Direct.
You see, the M1210 ship with a media playing software which is embedded on the hard drive, and cannot be overwritten. This much I knew in advance. What I didn't know was that when I installed FF, it had attempted to overwrite it anyways, making it unintelligible to any OS I had. When I did the Feisty install, I really didn't care about overwriting windows, as the system was still new, and I already have a copy of Vista on the way (its part of the "express upgrade").
Later, when I tried to install Edgy, it would hang about half way through. Then I tried to reinstall windows (which saw my hard drive as empty) and that didn't work either. I began to panic. My Hard drive was brand new, and I had already murdered it! Eventually I figured it out, and hopefully my pain can be avoided.

Firstly, the hard drive needs to be "prepared" by the MD CD. The CD basically helps you partition your drive, and labels its self to be recognized by other OS's. I allocated 60Gb to Windows, and left 30 in an unformatted partition (the last 10 was for MD). After preparing the HD, I plopped in the Windows install, added the necessary drivers (from another CD conveniently supplied by Dell), and finally I got my computer functional again. Next was Edgy. I was a little reluctant, after having just recovered a serious hard drive failure. But I was still hearing how "Great" Ubuntu was, and finally I took another plunge.
The first thing I did was use the Live CD, and tried to get the wireless working. In Feisty it was a no go, but at the time I was using WPA, and again after talking to friends, I switched to WEP, and it worked. So on to the install. At first I wanted to do the partitioning manually, to try and avoid overwriting everything again. But it wouldn't recognize the "root" directory I had selected, so I opted to "use all available unused space".
And now, finally, I write this from Ubuntu. So far mostly everything works, except I had to tweak the screen resolution by using synaptics package manager to download and install 915resolution. Then in the terminal I typed:

sudo 915resolution 5c 1280 800.

Now everything is clear as crystal. Then there was the sound issue. Sound worked out of the box, but as soon as I plugged in the headphones, it died. I'm still not sure exactly what I did to fix it, but now the speakers work again, and the middle headphone jack works (the m1210 has two).
I've installed Beryl, and enabled coasting on my mouse pad, as well as tweaked firefox not to advance forward and backward with horizontal scrolling. I'm still tweaking here and there, and I have to say that Ubuntu is definitely more hands on than windows. But so far, I think that the lack of spyware and virus threats is worth it.
I hope this was usefull to someone, as I just spent an hour throwing it together.