U600 - Style over substance? (Samsung SGH-U600)

Member Name: Lauramai26

Product:	Samsung SGH-U600
Date:	27/10/08 (139 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to navigate, simple organiser gadget

Disadvantages: Features dont deliver, a few unreliability issues

Everyone has their own favourite mobile phone make, whether it be because they like the features, understand the keypad or trust the manufacturer. Samsung is definately mine, the phones always look smart, and, as is particularly the case with the U600, fit lots of features into that compact, slick casing.

So, I think I should begin with the drawbacks, which I have concluded after having used the U600 for over a year now. I must say, I get the impression that the U600 is perhaps laden with too many gizmos in order to make it more attractive and saleable, non of which necessarily work really spectacularly well. The camera, although with a great 3.2 megapixels, seems to have a poor lens and flash, and pictures often come out blurry. The MP3 player, without an additional memory card, has woefully little space, and wears the battery out no end. The FM radio has never picked up so much as a muffled chatter.

On the plus side, the Web 'N' Walk internet, whilst painfully slow at times, is on the whole fairly efficient, and I was astounded how well it worked on a recent holiday in the French Pyrenean mountains! Furthermore, the organiser is a seriously simple and, for myself, indispensible addition, keeping my life and commitments in my bag at all times.

As for the standard features, once you have mastered Samsung's version of predictive text/keypad layout, no problems at all to speak of. And there are a multitude of ways to customize and personalize your phone with photos, colour schemes, font sizes - but then this is all to be expected from high-end modern mobiles these days.

Some further thoughts - I have had a few instances where I've had to send the phone away to be fixed. Firstly it was sold to me with what I later gathered was water damage to the screen - a dark cloud which grew and grew. I think this was also the cause of the keypad problems I had - they phone has 2 touch-screen buttons which began to work only sporadically, and at the same time the phone began to shut down when I tried to text. But I do put all of these issues down to water damage spreading, and when sent away the screen was replaced and all issues resolved, and they even upgraded my software system!

The second problem was an issue with the slider - some connections appeared to have weakened and broken resulting in no sound when slid up - not great when making a call! But this, again, was solved with no fuss at all.

So, after a years usage the phone is still like new, with non of those ongoing niggles that you learn to live with. The question is - does the phone cut it in the 2008/9 market. Well, in terms of pure style then definately, it still looks slick and sexy and is small enough to loose almost once a day! However, with the iphone setting the standard for good-looking machines with features that really deliver, I would guess that there are many phones now on the market that would outdo the U600. I would certainly look a bit further and a bit harder before you settle for this pretty looking package that ain't all its made out to be!

Summary: Nice looking, but can definately be bettered in todays market.

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