Sony Ericsson K530i

What's in a name? People who know Sony Ericsson devices well might see the "K530" designation and assume that this is going to be a fairly standard midrange phone. However, the Sony Ericsson K530i is quite surprising - this is a lightweight 3G phone with a 176x220 pixel display, 2 megapixel camera and expandable memory. Plus, the K530i is the first Sony Ericsson handset to work with the HGE-100 GPS Enabler (you can read more here).

Weighing just 92 grams and coming in at 14mm thick, the K530i is certainly lighter and slimmer than most 3G handsets. At the same time the K530i doesn't skimp on the specifications - in addition to everything that we've already mentioned, it has stereo Bluetooth, an FM radio, video calling, a multimedia player, email client and web browser.

There are a few compromises - in particular the camera doesn't have a flash and appears to lack autofocus. Internal memory is a little limited at 16MB so you really will rely on the Memory Stick Micro slot.. but remember that the K500 series has always offered good value in the past and this is likely to be the case with the K530i. The screen is a little limited compared to the QVGA displays often found on 3G phones too.

One thing that the Sony Ericsson K530i does have it style - it borrows the typically understated styling from many other Sony Ericsson devices to create a device that is smart but not overly showy. It's the type of device that would be equally suited for personal or business use.