Samsung D600 Review
Phone rating:
The Samsung D600 is an upgraded version of the highly-rated D500 and was voted Handset Of The Year at the Mobile Choice Awards 2005.
The D600 is very similar in appearance to the D500, sharing the same slide-up form, but there are some subtle changes to the design. The phone is thinner, but slightly longer and wider. The keypad layout is basically the same, but with some small styling differences. The D600 is available in a choice of black and grey colours.
The slide-up form factor has proven to be very popular. Like a clamshell, it enables a large screen to be placed within a compact phone design, and it has an advantage over a clamshell in that many of the phone's features are conveniently available on the front face. A gentle push will make the slide mechanism open and close automatically, giving access to the keypad below. This design has now been in use long enough to dispel any initial concerns about its durability.
The Samsung D500 was at the cutting edge of phone technology when it was launched at the end of 2004, but that was nearly a year ago, so what's new in the D600? First of all the camera has been uprated from 1.3 megapixels to 2 megapixels, making the D600 the best camera phone after the Sony Ericsson K750i. The camera can take print-quality images and comes with a powerful 4x digital zoom, an LED flashlight, a choice of shooting modes and an image editor. There is also a high quality (by phone standards) video camera. A useful innovation is a TV-out connection, so you can view your recorded videos directly on a TV! The D600 also supports PicBridge for direct printing of images to compatible printers.
The screen has also been upgraded and enlarged, with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, 262k colours and stunning clarity. Again, this puts the D600 well ahead of most competitors, matched only by the the Sharp GX30i and Sony Ericsson S700i.
The phone comes with an MP3 player, which now supports MP3, AAC and AAC+ formats. The MP3 player supports 3D sound technology from stereo loudspeakers. MP3 clips can also be used as ringtones as an alternative to the 64-voice polyphonic MIDI ringtones that come supplied. MP3 ringtones offer the highest quality audio possible.
The phone makes use of the same voice clarity technology used in the D500. The phone automatically senses the volume of the background noise and will increase the volume and clarity of the incoming call to make it more audible. In addition there is an integrated handsfree speakerphone.
The D600 is Samsung's best offering to date when it comes to connectivity. As well as full Bluetooth support for wireless headsets and data transfer, there is support for a USB cable connection to a PC. A Bluetooth stereo headset and Bluetooth car kit are available from Samsung. As mentioned previously, TV Out and PicBridge are also supported. The D600 is also Samsung's first quad-band phone, making it truly a world phone.
The D600 can handle most kinds of messaging, including SMS, EMS, MMS and email. It incorporates a new PicselViewer which enables office documents to be viewed. The formats supported are Excel, Word, Powerpoint and HTML documents. The TV Out feature can be used to display documents on a TV screen if desired.
The memory available is 81 Mbytes - enough to store 60 minutes of video or up to 20 MP3 tracks. In addition the memory can be expanded using a TransFlash™ card, making the storage capacity of the D600 as good as any other phone on the market.
Are there any problems with the D600? Well, nothing major, but some small things that could be improved ... the PC software supplied isn't the most user-friendly, you can't change the default message tones, and there's no option to have vibration and ringtone simultaneously. OK, these are minor quibbles and shouldn't put anyone off buying this amazing phone! You can read the user reviews below for "real world" comments, but what stands out is that there are no major issues with this phone, and it comes quite close to perfection!
In summary, The D600 brings the hugely popular D500 up to date, upgrading its already impressive specification to market-leading standards. The Samsung D600 is as good as any non-3G phone currently available. Whilst it doesn't have the Symbian applications of a Nokia smartphone, nor the auto-focus ability of the Sony Ericsson K750i, it's arguably the best all-round performer and is destined to dominate the mobile market in 2005/2006 just like the D500 did in 2004/2005. The D900 is the replacement for this phone and is highly recommended.
On PAYG the Carphone Warehouse currently have the D600 for £119.95.
Features of the Samsung D600 include:
- 2 megapixel camera (1600 x 1200 pixels) with flash and digital zoom x4
- Video recording & messaging (352 x 288 pixels) with video light
- 262,144 colour TFT LCD display (240 x 320 pixels)
- Music player (MP3/AAC/AAC+)
- Java™ games (3 embedded games - Forgotten Warrior, Freekick, ArchAngel)
- Ringtones: 64-voice polyphonic and MP3
- Connectivity: Bluetooth™, USB, SyncML, TV output, PicBridge
- Integrated handsfree speakerphone
- Messaging : SMS (with learning T9), EMS, MMS
- E-Mail client (POP3, IMAP4, SMTP) / vCard / vCalendar
- Wallpaper & screensaver
- Personal organiser functions
- Phonebook (max 1000 entries)
- Caller ID (Text/Photo/Video)
- Memory: 81 Mbytes + TransFlash™ card
- WAP 2.0, GPRS class 10
- Quad Band (GSM 850 + 900 + 1800 + 1900 MHz)
- Size: 96 x 47 x 21.5 mm
- Weight: 103g
- Talktime: up to 7 hours
- Battery standby: up to 300 hours