High Hopes... But Let Down... (Sony Ericsson K600i with Contract)

Member Name: angeelu

Product:	Sony Ericsson K600i with Contract
Date:	01/11/05 (617 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 3G, Lots of features, Looks different, Easy to use

Disadvantages: Disappointing, Poor signal quality, Poor camera, Themes/Ringtones don't show off the phone

I was really excited about getting a new phone - I love new toys!

My Sony Ericsson k600i arrived and, patiently for me I let it fully charge before playing with it! I'd done some research on the internet and was looking forward to the change from my very reliable Nokia 7610 which I really liked. I was impressed with the way you could 'try' the phone virtually at www.sonyericsson.co.uk and the phone seemed what I was after. I knew it would take a bit of getting used to changing brands from Nokia, but I was willing to give it a try.

I ordered my k600i as an upgrade through Orange. It didn't cost me anything as it is on a contract. The features I describe in this review are in general specific to the phone itself, however certain features change slightly from network to network (e.g. this phone connects to 'Orange World' whereas the same phone on Vodafone would probably connect to 'Vodafone Live). Within my review I don't intend to give a 'how to' of using the phone - you can read an instruction book for that. What I do hope to do is give you an overview of the phones main features and the good and bad points that I have come across.

The phone promised me:
* Stylish looks in a silver aluminium effect case (I'm a girl - I like my phone to look nice!)
* A 1.3 megapixel camera (I regularly use the camera on my Nokia and had high expectations of the 1.3 megapixels on offer!)
* 3G capabilities (I don't know anyone with a 3G phone so wasn't fussed about this feature - would have been nice to have someone to video call just for the novelty, but not the reason I wanted this phone)
* MP3 player (again, a nice to have, but something I wasn't fussed about having as I have a Mini iPod for that!)
* Bluetooth Technology (always handy)
* Games (helps beat boredom)
* Polyphonic ringtones (I like to have a decent ring tone, though am not one of those who buys all sorts of ringtones - just a nice and not tacky one on the phone usually is fine)
* Speaker phone (I use this feature a lot on my Nokia so had high hopes for Sony's version)
* FM Radio (not sure I'd use it much but again, nice to have)

...there are plenty more features besides, most of which are standard on all phones now, such as SMS, MMS, email and others.

First Impressions
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The phone looks good. It looks sturdy, though from reading other reviews on the internet I was expecting an actual aluminium case to the phone. That's maybe naive of me, but I had read reviews on other sites commenting on the aluminium case. The casing is just plastic like most phones, but it's coated in a metallic silver paint. It fits in the hand nicely, and equally slides into the pocket nicely too. The edges at the top and bottom are cut straight which gives them a fairly sharp feel in contrast to the rest of the phone - it's not sharp as in you risk injury, but immediately on seeing the phone I could imagine holding it against your ear for long periods of time may be a little uncomfortable - not a reason not to get the phone, but something to take into consideration I think.

The phone looks neat and tidy. All the buttons are flush to the body. I'd read in places that this was fiddly, but the buttons aren't really smaller or more fiddly than any other phone I've used, owned or had a play with! Control of the menu system is achieved using the 'joystick', which as it sounds is a small stick that protrudes only a millimetre or so from the phone. It can be pushed downwards like a regular buttons (usually for selecting things) or it can be pointed left, right, up or down. It's easy to use and I quickly got a feel for it.

Using the Phone
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The phone switches on and boots up quickly, almost instantly - something I was impressed with as my Nokia (though it only takes a few seconds) feels like it's taking forever at times.

The menu system can be activated by pressing down on the joystick or using the right hand select button. The menu consists of 12 icons representing:
* Media album
* Media player
* Entertainment
* Camera
* Messages
* Orange World (or presumably whatever online facility your network has, e.g. T-Zones, Vodafone Live etc)
* Downloads
* Address Book
* Video Call
* Calls
* Organisers
* Settings
By default, the first icon that is selected is Messages, which is in the centre of the screen - handy, as it's the one that probably gets the most use! Selecting any of the icons takes you to further list style sub menus or straight to that feature.

Texting
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Using the phone for texting is easy. The predictive text, although slightly different in how it operates to Nokia phones is easy enough to get to grips with.

Making Calls
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Easy to do either by selecting whoever you want to call from your Addres book, or through the Calls menu. In the calls menu you can select callers from lists of those you've recently answered, recently dialled, or recently missed. This is a very useful feature, though one common on many phones (it works in the same way as the one on most recent Nokia phones).

My main gripe with making calls is the signal / sound quality. Sat in exactly the same place in my living room where I get a full 100% signal from Orange on my Nokia 7610 phone (as does my boyfriend on his Nokia 6310i) I get either no signal, one red bar (the weakest signal on this phone) or a fluctation up to 3 bars (about mid-strength signal). As a result of this weaker signal using this phone, the sound quality is poorer during calls. This doesn't seem to be a one off glitch in my living room - it's the same wherever I take the phone, the signal strength is considerably poorer on the k600i than on my previous Nokia.

The sharp top edge also doesn't lend itself to phone calls. Although not particularly painful, it is uncomfortable to hold against your ear in phone calls which last more than a few minutes.

The Camera
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The phone boasts a 1.3 mega pixel camera. I used the camera on my previous phones much more than I ever imagined I would. I have a decent digital camera, but it's nice to be able to capture a pic when you don't have your camera with you. My previous two phones (Nokia 7610 and Sharp GX30) both had 1 mega pixel cameras which were good quality - pictures were clear and relatively crisp and I certainly couldn't complain. My other half recently upgraded his phone to the Nokia 6230i which also has a 1.3 mega pixel camera so I had something to compare my new Sony Ericsson to.

The results... dire. The image is grainy and dull, even if using the bright light on the back of the phone when taking pictures. The quality of the picture reminded me of the early camera phones, such as an old Nokia 7210 I had which came with a camera attachment! Even when I changed the settings for the camera from normal to 'fine' there was little noticeable difference. Very, very disappointed.

On the positive side - the fact they've thought to build in a lens cover to the camera is a good point and will help prevent scratches or dirt and dust building up on the lens.

Customising the Phone
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The phone came preset with an 'Orange Theme' - lots of garish orange colours in the menu and on the background, not to my taste! Unfortunately the other 'themes' built into the phone are all as bad. Considering the phone boasts 262k colours they certainly don't make use of them in the built in themes. I cannot say whether this is the same with all networks, but it seems there are a handful of standard themes thrown in with the phone (none very inspirational), and a couple from the network provider (Orange theme and Orange Grey theme in this case).

Ring tones also leave much to be desired. On the whole they seem great for kids, but for me personally the only one I wouldn't be annoyed with after a while is the standard telephone type ring.

It seems the idea is obviously that you go online and pay to download additional ringtones / themes to customise your phone. A money making exercise.

The phone does, however, come with a few pre-installed pictures which you can find in the Media Album, Pictures folder. You can set these to be your 'wallpaper' or screensaver. There are a few half decent pictures (though not at all representational of the image quality you'll get with the poor camera on the phone). Some of the pictures on the phone are animated too, so you can have an animated wallpaper / screensaver without having to resort to the not so nice 'themes'.

Battery Life
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I can't grumble at this. As you'd imagine, with a new phone I've been playing with the features!! This usually drains the battery life pretty quickly as the camera / internet etc have all been used more than they would on an average day. The battery has stood up to my playing and the charge is going down very slowly. I like the fact that at the press of a button I can be shown the exact battery life remaining (in % figure). The two buttons on the top edge of the phone when pressed (either of them, not both at once) display the phone status screen, which gives you the date, shows which profile you are using (e.g. Normal, Silent etc), the model of the phone should you forget, your mobile number, the amount of free memory in KB and the remaining battery charge.

Conclusion
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There's so much that can be said with mobile phones that it would be boring if I covered every feature in detail, and I'd also end up sounding like the instruction manual or a spec sheet you could read at www.sonyericsson.co.uk. I feel I've touched on the main features that someone purchasing a phone would be interested in.

Unfortunately I'm disappointed with the phone, and after a few days of trying it out I'm returning it to swap for another phone. Chances are I'll be going back to something from Nokia as I've never yet felt let down by any Nokia phone I've owned.

This phone is full of features, but I feel they've concentrated on getting the features in rather than on the quality of those features. If you're interested in being able to go on about all the features your phone has and you want to be able to say you have a 3G phone, but you're not really all that bothered about using all the features, then this phone is for you. If you want a decent phone for making calls / texts, and are likely to use some of the other features such as the camera, and want to make the phone more 'you' then it's probably not for you unless you want to splash out on downloading ringtones/wallpapers and are happy to put up with the uncomfortable edge pressing into your ear. It's a shame 3G phones aren't more popular as it would have been fun to try out the 3G features (video calling), but given the camera quality I can't say I feel I've missed out on too much.

Contract prices of the phone will vary between network providers and will depend on your tariff, but I would imagine you'd expect to get the phone for free and pay anywhere from £20 upwards for your contract.

So, an easy to use phone, with fairly good looks, a durable feel and full of features, but let down by the below average camera, unsatisfactory reception quality, and a general perceived lack of attention to detail. I kind of feel like if I was younger I'd have loved this phone - but as an adult, I want quality as well as quantity...

Summary: Full of features, but most not up to standard