I'm a marine biology student, a waitress, and a nutty 21-year-old girl. I have a mild obsession wi...
I'm a marine biology student, a waitress, and a nutty 21-year-old girl. I have a mild obsession with sparkly things, country music and the colour pink. I also have a considerable addiction to caffeine. And that's me in a nutshell... :)
Member since:08.04.2007
Reviews:11
Members who trust:4
Now I'll be the first to admit, I'm generally fairly behind when it comes to mobile phones - the U600 is the first 'top of the range' phone I've ever owned. And now I've got to say, I can now understand what all the "Oh my phone's a U897-A9NT-YU3 model B" type people get so utterly excited about! The U600 is an absolute gem of a mobile phone in my opinion - sleek, attractive and extremely user-friendly. Also, functions and usefulness aside, it's just downright fun to use!
Firstly, the basics. Obviously it fits the basic criteria of a mobile phone: it makes calls and sends text messages. Now if that's all you want from a mobile phone, this phone probably isn't for you. If however, you want lots of extra featres to play around with, read on!
It boasts an impressive assortment of programs and applications; including an mp3 player. A former devoted iPod fan, I've now come round to the idea of having an mp3 player on my mobile - the mp3 player on the U600 is extremely easy to use, particularly if you're already familiar with Windows Media Player.
The sound quality is exceptional, I'd expected it to be somewhat 'tinny' but it's really impressive. There's also an FM radio, again with good sound quality, which can help keep you occupied on the way to work.
The other feature I really need to praise to the skies is the camera. It's 3.2x, has autofocus, and you can adjust the settings quite considerably. It takes black and white photographs, amongst other things. I've got to say, the image quality is second to none, especially when transferred to the computer. Obviously it's not quite a digital camera, but it's not a bad substitute by any means! I've now stopped taking my digital camera out on nights out - it just takes up important lipstick space in my handbag now that I've got such a good camera on my mobile phone! There's also a video capture function, and again the quality is exceptional. It records image and sound, perfect for making clips of anything - particularly embarrassing drunken singalongs and the like!! When photos and videos are uploaded to the computer, they're extremely clear - in some photos you can't tell the difference between a photograph from this camera and a photograph from a digital camera. It really is exceptional!
The other functions the U600 can boast includes a calender, alarms and games - nothing out of the ordinary there. However there's also a voice recorder function, Bluetooth, an image editor for the photographs you've taken on your phone, and a world clock (minor aside here - you can have more than one time on your desktop, which I'm guessing would be quite useful if you frequently do business with people abroad and need to check the time difference at-a-glance). There's also a calculator (always handy) and a converter between currency, temperature, area, weight, volume and length. (I've found this feature particularly useful, being a science student at University and being quite hopeless at maths, particularly conversions!) There's also a timer, stopwatch and memo function. You can also access the internet, and it's surprisingly quick to load webapges, run searches and the like.
So basically, as you've probably gathered, there's more than enough on this phone to keep you occupied playing with your new toy for awhile! But how easy is it to use?
Well overall the phone is fairly easy to navigate, particularly once you've mastered the keys and shortcuts. The touch-sensitive buttons do take some getting used to, but after a few days you quickly get the hang of it. It's a highly customiseable phone; the menus, sounds and overall feel of the phone can be adapted to your preferences. You can set your own sounds/mp3s as a ringtone or message tone, which I'm aware is nothing new to most people, but I love it!
Now, I can praise this phone all day, but there are some negatives which I've noticed using this mobile - nothing's perfect, after all!!
The battery life is nothing exceptional. If you make a lot of calls, you will have to charge this phone once every two days or so. Personally I don't mind, but compared with the battery life of some other mobiles out there, I know the battery life of the U600 isn't great. Also, listening to the FM radio can be quite draining on the battery.
If you're planning on taking a lot of photos or having more than roughly ten mp3s on your mobile, you will unfortunately need to purchase an additional memory card. They're not overly expensive, however it's definitely a negative since this phone has the capacity to have an amazing mp3 player, but you can only really use it to its full potential if you buy the memory card.
This phone can be fiddly to use, until you've got the hang of it. I realise any new mobile takes some getting used to - however during the days I was adapting to the new handset I managed to accidentaly ring around five people and delete endless text messages I was typing by hitting the wrong button. Extremely frustrating!!!
The U600 is extremely small and slim, which is obviously a plus point, but can also be viewed as a negative. It's easier to lose and I'm worried it could be more fragile than perhaps the old, brick-like mobile phones!!
The only other negative points I need to mention are that the camera takes a few additional seconds to take a photograph, and you do have to hold it steady - the quality is entirely worth it, though. Also, the sounds that come preloaded onto the mobile phone (for message tones, ringtones and alarm calls) really aren't very good. They're tinny, bland and to be quite frank you're much better off loading a few of your favourite songs onto the phone and using them instead.
At the moment, this phone retails for around £200. Considering this is an excellent phone, and all the features, the price tag is understandable - but it is a lot of money to pay if you just want a mobile phone.
The mobile phone comes attractively packaged in a Samsung box and it includes the handset and battery, a USB cable to connect to the computer, software in order to manage your media files and transfer items to/from the phone, a mobile phone charger, headphones for your mobile phone and a user's manual.
Overall - this phone is, in my opinion, brilliant. The quality is so high, the positives far outweigh the negatives, and the applications are useful and fun to use. So far it's been extremely reliable and has impressed all my friends and colleagues - and let's be honest, these days that's half the point of a mobile phone. I can't recommend this compact, attractive mobile phone enough!
Hope this review was useful!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
amazing review..
i own the u600...
i think one thing that is a bit wrong is the reliabilty..
has yours frozen at all...
anyway...
i rated exceptional...
philglen 02.08.2007 21:39
Very Good review. I already own a Samsung D900, and after reading your review will now buy the U600. Thanks a lot!
Take advantage of the innovative features and well thought-out applications which makes more
this premium mobile phone so amazing. With quad band, you can be reached almost everywhere. Features: Network Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) /GPRS DimensionsSlider, 103.5 x 51 x 12.9 mm /93 grams Digital Music Formats MP3 / AAC / AAC+ / AAC+(e) Memory70MB User Memory / External Memory : microSD Bluetooth Yes The Samsung U600 Ultra Edition 10.9?s high-quality 3.2-megapixel camera has auto focus and macro function ensure sharp photos and excellent picture quality. The 2.2? 262,144 TFT display, which shows the world in a new light with its nearly true-to-life picture presentation. Rediscover multimedia and record up to an hour?s worth of videos in MPEG4 format. Send them to friends using the packet video service. Or send your pictures straight to a compatible printer using PictBridge mobile printing for immediate high-quality prints. Turn the world upside down while working with this mobile phone on aplane in offline mode. Synchronise your emails in MS Office or take a look at your documents using the file viewer. Use the Business Card Recognition function to quickly store new contacts. If you need more storage space, the microsSD? slot allows you to connect an external memory card for up to 512 MB. Business is only business if you are well equipped. The feature rich U600 plays multiple audio formats including MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, and WMA. Utilise the U600's Bluetooth capabilities with a wireless stereo headset, allowing you to remotely control your music player, or transfer your music at lightning fast speeds using USB 2.0. Either way, it?s all music to your ears. In the Box Handset AC adaptor Battery USB Cable Wired Headphones CD and Manual
Take advantage of the innovative features and well thought-out applications which makes more
this premium mobile phone so amazing. With quad band, you can be reached almost everywhere. Features: Network Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) /GPRS DimensionsSlider, 103.5 x 51 x 12.9 mm /93 grams Digital Music Formats MP3 / AAC / AAC+ / AAC+(e) Memory70MB User Memory / External Memory : microSD Bluetooth Yes The Samsung U600 Ultra Edition 10.9?s high-quality 3.2-megapixel camera has auto focus and macro function ensure sharp photos and excellent picture quality. The 2.2? 262,144 TFT display, which shows the world in a new light with its nearly true-to-life picture presentation. Rediscover multimedia and record up to an hour?s worth of videos in MPEG4 format. Send them to friends using the packet video service. Or send your pictures straight to a compatible printer using PictBridge mobile printing for immediate high-quality prints. Turn the world upside down while working with this mobile phone on a plane in offline mode. Synchronise your emails in MS Office or take a look at your documents using the file viewer. Use the Business Card Recognition function to quickly store new contacts. If you need more storage space, the microsSD? slot allows you to connect an external memory card for up to 512 MB. Business is only business if you are well equipped. The feature rich U600 plays multiple audio formats including MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, and WMA. Utilise the U600's Bluetooth capabilities with a wireless stereo headset, allowing you to remotely control your music player, or transfer your music at lightning fast speeds using USB 2.0. Either way, it?s all music to your ears. In the Box Handset AC adaptor Battery USB Cable Wired Headphones CD and Manual
The Samsung U600 is part of the premium Ultra Edition range, at 11.9mm slim the U600 truly more
is a feat of mobile engineering Platform EDGE GPRS Class 10 Quad Band (GSM 850+900+1800+1900 MHz) WAP 2.0 Java MIDP 2.0 The highest SAR value for this model was 0.484 W / kg Black Chr(38) white UI Size 81 g 103.2 x 49.3 x 10.9 mm Display 262,144 colours 240 x 320 pixel QVGA TFT LCD 2.22 User Interface Black Chr(38) white UI Camera 3.2 Megapixel Digital Zoom (x4) LED Flash Autofocus Fullsize portrait / landscape view Single- / Multi- / Mosaic shot White Balance/ ISO Video Video player Video recorder (MPEG4, H.263, AAC) Music Chr(38) Sound 64 Polyphonic Ringtone MP3 Ringtone MP3-Player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, WMA) Digital power amp (ICE power® Technology by Bang Chr(38) Olufsen) Music library WM DRM / MTP OMA DRM 2.0 Business Chr(38) Office Document viewer Mobile printing Offline Mode (Flight mode) Voice memo Voicemail Messaging SMS EMS MMS Predictive Text Input T9 Email (POP3 / SMTP / IMAP4 / SSL / TLS) vCard / vCalendar SOS messaging Connectivity Bluetooth 2.0 SyncML USB 2.0 TV-out (PAL / NTSC) Personal Information Management Calendar To do list Scheduler Clock Worldtime Alarm Timer Stopwatch Calculator Converter Short cut Call Functions Speakerphone Text / Photo / Video Caller ID Dialed / missed / received calls Call forwarding / barring / waiting / holding CLIP / CLIR Call time / Call costs Memory 60 MB User memory 200 SMS 1,000 Phone book entries microSD external memory (up to 2 GB) Special Features OPUS (Optimized Power Usage Solution) Smart UI / Smart Search / Smart Messaging / Smart LCD uMenu / uGo / uTrack Battery
Jul 11th, 2007
exceptional by (28%):
very helpful by (72%):
