Almost decided on a k550i - still need a little help

[corporalnanners]

Hey all!

I've been reading an inordinate amount of posts on SE phones, but I think I've got it narrowed down to the k550i flashed to w610i. However, I'm a little worried about people's complaints on (music) audio quality, reception, and screen quality. The problem is, it's kind of hard to judge the comments as the people commenting have used tons of phones or have multiple ones available to judge by; it seems they might be a bit hypersensitive. So, I keep hearing that these attributes are 'worse', but are they actually bad? Or are they just not as good, but the phone is still bomb ***? I really want to make sure, as I'll have to buy whatever phone sight unseen (and I can't afford to blow $200 just to have more years of dropped calls and crappy unfun).

Further, since music quality is a big deal, is there any way to improve the k550i's quality like there is the w810i? And can a regular BT earpiece be used for music, or does it have to be a2dp headphones.

On another note, does anyone know where can I get a high quality case (like a Vaja) and what accessories would you recommend. I'd like to get some nice stuff, but most of what I'm finding is eBay junk.

Lastly, to put things in perspective and give you a laugh, I'm sure I'll be blown away when I actually have it in my hands as I've been using an i205 on Nextel for the past few years. (And I'm a geek, wtf)

Sorry to ask a bunch of questions, but this place has made me OCD and hyper-paranoid about buying something I barely use. You are bad people.

[mrweiser]

I say go for it. All of the maybe's that you say you have are not issues at all if you ask me. I'm not sure on the single bluetooth headset deal, but it sounds excellent with the HBH-DS980's. It's like listening to all of my old music for the first time. Amazingly enough I like the keypad and I have huge hands. I've had the phone for about three months with not one single complaint so far. The camera is not quite as good as the W810i, but it is still very usable. The screen is not quite as bright either, but I like the font better. Don't let the screen thing deter you though as I was kind of worried about it myself. It is still an excellent display and you can even see it in direct sunlight. Welcome to HOFO: your new disease.

[yangster258]

If music quality is that big of a deal, then just get the W610, since that's what it's made for. The only difference is the Cybershot brand and the lens cover, which isn't really a big deal if music is important.

I do have a K550 myself and I think it's a great phone for the mid-low end class. The only other phone I've ever had was a RAZR V3, so you can tell how much I love this phone compared to that one.

[onlySE]

THe k550 is an old model now.. why not go for something newer coming out? just wait a bit..

[MuchMe]

The K550 and W610 is not that old, only released this year. Around half a year now. The W610 is the K550's Walkman twin, and the camera quality, is the same believe it or not. Personally, I liked the looks of the K550, and also wanted the W610's features so I simply flashed it. Search on this topic. I say definitely go for it, haven't had any dropped calls, and the music quality is fairly good. Its just that you don't get the earphones that come with the W610 when you buy the K550.
Go for it!

[bigb252]

The K550 and W610 is not that old, only released this year. Around half a year now. The W610 is the K550's Walkman twin, and the camera quality, is the same believe it or not. Personally, I liked the looks of the K550, and also wanted the W610's features so I simply flashed it. Search on this topic. I say definitely go for it, haven't had any dropped calls, and the music quality is fairly good. Its just that you don't get the earphones that come with the W610 when you buy the K550.
Go for it!

Agreed. I like the K550's look and lens cover, but Walkman 2.0 and flash menus influenced me to flash it to a W610i.

Trust me, the reception quality is very good but some say you have to be careful how you hold the phone, mainly because the antenna is located in the bottom of the phone (honestly, no problems here).

The screen is great! You probably won't notice the difference between regular TFT and TFD displays unless they are side-by-side, showing the same exact image. The K550i's display may look a little lighter than the W810i side-by-side.

I currently use a Moto HT820 A2DP headset and the quality is okay, but I like the quality of the HPM-70 headphones (those included with most W series phones). If only they had no wires, like A2DP headsets. To answer your question, yes, only BT A2DP headsets can stream music [unlike the Moto H700, for example].

Overall, I think you will be very happy with this phone, but be aware that SE don't offer the lock code protection I see on Motos (locking your address book for example, settings, etc). SE currently only offers the lock protection only when the phone is started, so that may or may not be a problem for you.

I got my K550i, flashed it to W610i
Bought a 2GB M2
Bought a pair of HPM-70 headphones from Amazon ($8) - genuine

-I hope I didn't make things worse

[jsm1985]

I've had the K550i for about a month now, and I think that it's the best phone I've had......having come from a long history of Nokia phones. All this talk about the screen being not as bright as others makes me think, is something 'wrong' with my phone? I've had mine next to a w810i and at 100% brightness, it's about 3 times brighter! I normally have it set at 70% to get a little more juice out of the battery...

I don't use it as a music device (I have a 8GB iPod nano for that), so the built in 75 MB is more than enough for photos/ringtones. This phone rocks for SMS storage, I have over 400 msgs in my inbox at the moment. Battery life is great (especially for talk times), reception is EXCELLENT (on par with Nokia 6230b, or better).

I've had no issues with the antenna being at the bottom of the handset... I haven't had one dropped call since I've had the phone...

The only thing i've bought is a Screen protector from Clarivue.com, keep the phone in a pocket with nothing else and you don't need a case.

[darkninja]

Its a great phone at a really good price right now. It nice and thin but not too skinny as to fragile. I think you will be very happy with it. SE's walkman 2.0 is a wonderful music app. Plus it looks like it will be one of (if not the) last walkman phones to have an auto-focus camera. Now all you have to decide on is the color .

[corporalnanners]

All this good feedback has cleared things up, I'm definitely picking this up before the end of the month. onlySE, I originally wanted to pick up the k810i when it comes out, but the k550i seems to fit my needs at a much lower price point (it's a pretty safe bet that the k850i won't be shocking anyone with its low, low prices). There's still a chance I won't even use it that much anyways, but judgments based on my current usage would be erroneous:


But I think the k550i will be kick ***. And you're right, darkninja, now I'll just agonize over the color for a couple of weeks before I can get away from Nextel.

Thanks for all the advice!

[corporalnanners]

I don't know if anyone is interested or if it's common knowledge, but there at least one headset, the Jabra 8010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk5EdPSUKlk) .