Practical
Embedded Java

Tools:
Sony Ericsson K850i


A practical engineering approach to using embedded Java in real-world applications.


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The Sony Ericsson K850i was one of the JavaOne 2008 show devices.


The Camera, er, I mean, the Phone

The K850 is more like a camera with a phone added than the other way round. And it has support for an unbelievable list of JSRs.

The good:

  • Decent color display
  • MP3 Player
  • Good high-res still camera with autofocus and macro support, so on short trips I don't need to bring a separate camera.
  • Decent video camera with astonishingly good image quality as long as digital zoom is not used. This camera lens (same as the still camera) faces away from the keypad.
  • A second, lower res webcam for video call use (how's that for overkill). This camera faces the keypad.
  • mini-SD card slot
  • Superb Java support
  • Stable operation - much better than my newest version Razr
The not-so-good (it's hard to nit-pick this phone, so consider these things which make it less than perfect, rather than real problems):
  • Bigger and klunkier than say a Motorola Razr
  • Not a flip phone so it doesn't just fold to protect itself. So it needs a case to avoid scratching the LCD or (even worse) the camera lens window. You won't ever want to just toss it in a pocket and go.
  • Digital zoom on video camera is all but worthless at more than 2X.
  • No support for video quality settings. At high digital zoom the images degrade significantly.
  • No custom white balance for the camera.
  • non-trivial setup with T-Mobile if you want to use the phone as a Bluetooth modem, or even want to be able to receive complex graphical messages such as the ones Delta Airlines suddenly started sending me.
  • The three soft keys just under the display are sometimes not sensed by my fingers and need multiple presses to be sensed





 


 
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