In March 2005, SE announced this camera phone, and I mentioned it in my article. This week, I finally got a chance to test this phone, and I must say it has exceeded my expectations. Usually, my experience with SE phones got better with each new phone model. From the beginnings of super-slim auto-flip T28, to the first GPRS phone T39, the first colour-screen phone T68, the revolutionary PDA-phone P800, and the new-interface T610. Although Z1010 was rather a disappointment, it had its fair share of goodness. K750i brings another leap in mobile technology and design.

Although still a 2G phone, and personally I felt it didn't really look great in black, I fell in love with the silver o­ne. The entire design is so camera-like, that if you were to place it face-down o­n the table, people would have sworn it's a digital camera. I am thoroughly impressed with the auto-focus, which simply works. The 2-megapixel image resolution is fantastic with good lighting. Using the built-in photo light, the moment you press the shutter, the light will brighten to capture the image. The colour screen is so good that you can really see the sharpness of what you focus. It also made the photographed images look fabulous. See sample shots here ->  1    2.

The interface has also undergone revamp. While the menu layout is similar to k700, it is now more sleek with menu animation, which I find unnecessary and drains the processing power. If o­nly there is a way to turn the menu animation off. I'm glad the k750i includes a customised shortcut menu, bringing back the good old days of T68. Despite the animation, there is radically-reduced lag time, even for SMS.

The speaker volume is also good. I had a rude shock when the phone rang at top volume to a rock tune. k750i also has the ability to customise your SMS tone - finally. There are also a few multimedia add-ons like VideoDJ and PhotoDJ.

Note that k750i uses a brand new connecting port which means it's not compatible with legacy Ericsson accessories like charger, earpiece.

With so much to offer, I am giving k750i a highly recommended rating. The o­nly thing that's stopping me to buy is the lack of 3G. I'd figure that if I were to buy this phone, I would need to change within 3-6 months to some upcoming 3G phones. Having said that, I have to declare that k750i is closer to phone-digicam integration than any other models currently in the market.