Sony Ericsson K600i 3G Phone Review

DESPITE being a year old, the Vodafone-exclusive Sony Ericsson V800 still remains a Rolls Royce of a 3G phone. While it has its faults - the bulge may put off some punters - we were incredibly impressed by its ease of use and all-round 3G performance. Plus, of course, it looked dynamic in its shiny black armour. Even a year on this clamshell rolls with the best of 'em, with Sony Ericsson launching its own generic version, the Z800i.

The manufacturer is now hoping to build on this promise with its third 3G offering, the K600i. Returning to the more familiar territory of the candybar format, this sleek handset also comes in two other flavours, the 3-loving K608i and the Vodafone-seasoned V600i. With a few cosmetic tweaks here and there in terms of specs, all three phones are essentially identical. Like the Samsung Z500, the K600i is part of the new generation of 3G handsets that flaunt 2.5G footprints. Admittedly, it is a little taller than, say, the W800i and K750i but in terms of its other dimensions, the handset is pretty sleek. The nicely rounded edges and almost cylindrical form contributes to its stylish design.

While it cleverly fits into the minimalist design the keypad can be occasionally unresponsive. Instead of being raised, the keys sit flush to the front fascia and this can be a little annoying. Otherwise, the five-way navigation nub and the dedicated video calling and shortcut keys perched on the curved edges offer easier to negotiate operation options.

The K600i also parades some neat flourishes too. The back battery cover is simply locked into place via two switches on the side of the handset. This eradicates any fiddle when trying to lift the cover to insert the Sim card. The camera lens also has an active cover that clicks open by flicking the switch. This gives much needed protection and gives the impression of a proper digital camera.

The 1.3-megapixel camera shoots with a resolution of 1280x1024 pixels. It adopts Sony Ericsson's dual-front stance so you can turn the camera on its side and shoot in a standard camera position. The camera automatically fires up when you open the lens cover and all the picture settings can be accessed through the menu while in capture mode. The finished photos were slightly disappointing and seemed to suffer colour aberrations and soft focus regardless of the lighting environment. This seems a bit strange considering the quality of lens on the K750i and W800i. However, the quality isn't the best we've seen but it's adequate and shouldn't affect your enjoyment.

The K600i packs a front VGA-quality camera for video calling. Hit the dedicated side video call button and you are automatically faced with a preview of your mug shot to compose yourself before making the call. We made a video call to the Toshiba TS921 and the quality was decent. We're getting increasingly impressed with the video-calling standard of these newer 3G phones and the K600i is no exception.

Rather frustratingly, our K600i sample hadn't been configured to instantly access a network portal and didn't even offer an easy setting up procedure. We tried in vain to manually input the settings but this just compounded our irritation. The whole episode was a pain in the proverbial. This meant we were unable to test its streaming and download capabilities so make sure you get to see the K600i in action before making the purchase, especially if its 3G proficiency is important to you. You will find that the K608i and V600i models should be configured to its respective network portals so this really shouldn't be a problem.

We did manage to test its music player and, given Sony Ericsson's reputation with the K750i and W800i, our expectations were high. We transferred a selection of MP3 files from the PC via Bluetooth. Its playback technique was striking, delivering a handful of equaliser effects (bass, mega bass, voice and treble boost) to enhance the songs. We'd recommend the bass setting for the best all-round fidelity.

But when we checked, the K600i only had 33MB of internal memory and no expansion possibilities; it almost made the music player redundant. At a stretch you could only store about 10 songs and we haven't included the rest of your multimedia content.

So the one major glaring omission is a memory card slot. According to Sony Ericsson, the reason for its exclusion on the K600i is that it didn't want to compromise the handset's slender chassis. It also claimed that it has other models in its portfolio that handle MemoryStick Duo cards. Maybe so, but with 3G phones racking up multimedia content, emails and video messages you're going to need the extra storage.

So the lack of memory expansion has ruined what is an otherwise a cool handset. Sony Ericsson has nailed a stylish design and for a 3G phone its compact frame will attract those reticent about third-generation shenanigans. Plus, of course, its feature set - 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 3D gaming and FM radio - is more than modest. The K600i and its ilk will undoubtedly sell, but if it had been furnished with that memory card slot we could have been talking about a 3G contender. Shame.