Play that funky music (Samsung SGH-X600)

Member Name: Brown_eyes1984

Product:	Samsung SGH-X600
Date:	20/07/04 (3019 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots of features, great range of ringtones, rotating camera

Disadvantages: manual could be more helpful, sim card not included, no changeable covers

Over the years I wouldn't say I've been that lucky. In fact if anything, I've always said that I'm completely unlucky and cursed since birth lol. However this all changed when I was introduced to a competition site around 3 months ago where I have since won a makeover, some cinema tickets and.. da da da.... A SAMSUNG X600!

Yep you heard me right... I won a mobile phone! So I thought it was only fair that I write here, and tell you all how great this phone is! lol.

*** A little about the phone ***

The samsung SGH-X600 is quite a new mobile phone and from what I understand, it usually comes on the O2 network but I bought a virgin simcard and that works fine in it.

As technology improves, so do our mobile phones. Today mobile phones with camera's are the 'in thing' and the clever people at samsung knew this when they created the X600. It has a built in digital camera that can take quite good quality photo's and it has a built in flash so that you can take better pictures at night.

It's specification is:

Talk Time (max) 3.5 hrs
Stand by (max) 250 hr
Weight 85g
Size (mm) 102 x 43 x 20
Frequency GSM 900 / GSM 1800
Colour Screen Yes
MMS Yes
GPRS Yes
MP3 No
Camera Options Built in
Java Yes
3G Compatible No
Changeable covers No

*** It's features ***

There are loads of features included with this amazing little phone. There are java games, cool wallpapers, screensavers and some really good polyphonic ringtones. It's main feature though is it's camera so I'll talk about that first! r>
** The camera **

Unlike it's other competitors, the x600 comes complete with a 'hidden' camera which allows you to take pictures of unsuspecting passers by or your equally unsuspecting family and friends. The reason you can do that is, the camera rotates backwards when you flip it up, meaning that you can take pictures of something without the phone having to be facing it directly. This feature has proved quite handy when I've wanted to take pictures of Stephen! lol.

The camera produces JPEG images which is handy if you want to send them through e-mail (another feature on the phone) or through picture messaging. There are also many options available to you when you want to take a picture these include different modes, frames, effects, rotation, timer, photo size, photo quality, shutter sound and default name. A lot of options there for taking a picture isn't there!

I will say if you want to take a picture at night you have to make sure you have the night mode switched on. If you don't your pictures won't show up properly and you'll end up thinking the phone isn't doing what it's supposed to (like I did!). Also unless you really know what you're doing, try not to change the image size. For some settings such as the multiple shot mode, there will be a default size but for other pictures you can choose what suits you. The sizes included are:

*VGA (640*480)
*QVGA (320*240)
*QQVGA (160*120)
*Mobile (128*90)

Usually I leave it on *Mobile but it depends entirely on what you want to do with the pictures. If you want to download them to your computer I'd recommend using the *QVGA setting as it makes the pictures bigger and easier to see on a computer.

All other features are pretty self expla
natory and easy to use. It's always best to experiment with them so you can see what they all do yourself. I love buying a new phone and finding out for myself what everything does (although it would be easier to read the manual!) lol.

** Java Games **

Another feature worth raving about is the two games that come with the phone. These are 'Snowball fight' and 'Bubble smile'. Both are really good games compared to other games on mobile phones. They can both be found under the 'Fun Box' menu under 'Javaworld' and then under 'Downloads'.

The 'Snowball fight' one is basically a game where you have a little man on a screen with a couple of shops and 4 different gateways to go through. Only one will be open at first as that is level one and there is around 4 different rounds of the level in which you have to throw snowballs at your enemies until they die. The rounds get harder and sometimes it's really hard to complete a level. Once you have completed the level another level will open on the main screen. Also for each round you complete you get money and with that money you can spend it in the shop to either get better weapons to throw at them, or healing stuff that you drink to get your power back so you don't die.

The other game 'BubbleSmile' is a game where you have to get 3 or more of the little face balls in a row. Each ball has a colour and it's the colours you have to match. Once you have they disappear and more little faces/balls drop down. You can play this in two ways, either a 'timed' mode or a 'skilled' mode. I always play the skilled mode because the timed mode lasts around 1 minute and the skilled mode lasts around 10 depending on how well you do.

These really are great games to play and they definitely pass the ti
me if you're bored! I'm sure there was supposed to be three games because a game called 'hamster ball' was mentioned but I never got that included on my phone. You can however download it from the samsung site (I will talk more about that later).

** WWW services **

As with most phones these days, this one can go on the internet when required to do so. I personally don't use this service very often because of the price and I've bought a data cable instead so it's cheaper! However the times that I have used it, I've found it to be quite fast and helpful. I do find the little screen confusing sometimes though and much prefer to use a good old desktop computer to access the net with! You can also change the proxy settings but I wouldn't do that because if I'm honest I really don't understand any of it so it's best to leave well alone!

** Phonebook, Message and Java, Space Information **

The phonebook can store 1000 entries + sim, each entry can store 5 numbers, 1 email address. 5 caller groups and over 20 caller images to choose from. That is quite impressive don't you think? My last phone had only 600 phonebook memory and I thought that was a lot!

The phone can store 200 messages so no need to worry about seeing the 'message box is full' text flashing on your screen. I used to hate having to delete loads of messages to clear space and now I don't have to!

And finally there has been 600KB set aside on the phone for Java applications.

I am really impressed with the amount of space on the phone and I don't know anybody that wouldn't be!

** Still not impressed? **

If all the features I've mentioned still don't impress you then what about the fact that the pho
ne has a 65,536 colors display, has 41 ringtones and can support 40 polyphonic tones, has a number of sounds you can use, has an internal antenna which means it can't be broken off and it has an excellent signal capability. You can send MMS messages as well as the normal SMS messages and there is also two way support using T9 predictable text which allows you to easily create SMS messages. Also because of the Java capability, you can download whatever you need from the net without being dependant on the applications provided by the manufacturer.

There is also a calendar, alarm (which I find really useful!), to do list, currency converter and a timer. The alarm function has three options. The first is a morning call and then the other two are options to set another two alarms. The tones you can choose for the alarms are quite nice and there is one to suit your mood. For example if you are just setting an alarm to go off a while after you've been reading to remind you to do something, and you don't want it to scare you silly when it goes off, there's a tone which is quite soothing which won't make you jump out of your skin when it goes off! Then for a morning call you can set something a bit chirpier and a bit jumpier just to make sure it wakes you from a deep sleep. I couldn't live without my phone alarm, it really has done me proud!

Another thing that I absolutely love about this phone is it's buttons! They flash different colours, like neon colours. It is beautiful to watch and as well as setting your phone to vibrate, play a tune, and vibrate and play a tune, you can set it to just play the flashing lights. It's discreet so you don't even have to worry about the sound of the vibration if you receive a message and you're somewhere important.

The last thing I shall mention is the Samsun
g fun club. This is online on Samsungs website and you may receive information about it when you buy you're phone like I did. If not however, the fun club is basically somewhere you register for free, giving the make of your mobile, the number etc and a few personal details. Then as soon as you've joined you get points which you can use to download screensavers, games and ringtones. You can do this through data cable which is free, or by downloading to your phone (this will cost you though as you have to go on the internet).

So you see, this phone really does have it going on and I feel really lucky to have got it for nothing. However it does have a few faults I've picked up on so I'll tell you about those before you make your mind up on whether or not to get one.

*** Bad points ***

This phone doesn't seem to come with a sim card, or at least mine didn't. It even didn't mention anything about having one in the manual when it said what came with the phone. So this means you should take into consideration the cost of a Sim card on top of the price of the phone. I bought mine from Ebay so it only cost me £5 but they are usually anything up to £20 depending on what network you want and how much credit you want too.

The manual doesn't seem to be overly helpful. Some manuals are extremely helpful but this isn't one of them! Although it does have a lot of information is and is in some respects very helpful, for some features I feel it could have made it a bit easier to understand.

You can't buy any changeable phone covers like you can with Nokia mobile phones. As far as I am aware there is only one cover, and that's the one on your phone.

Apart from that though there aren't any faults that I've noticed.

*** Battery life and charge time ***
&
#84;his phone seems to have an amazing battery life! I leave it on all day and night and the battery lasts around 3-4 days. When charging it up, it takes around an hour to an hour and a half to charge completely depending on whether I have the phone on or not while I'm charging it. Obviously the more you use your phone, the less battery power it will have.

*** What you get with the phone ***
You get the charger and battery included with the phone as well as a hand strap, a travel adapter, the owners manual and an ear microphone.

*** Price and Availability ***
The price seriously varies from place to place. On ebay you can pick one up for around £120 or if you prefer to buy offline you can find it at stores such as 'Dixons', 'Comet' and mobile phone shops for around £200 - £250.

*** My Overall Opinion ***
I absolutely love this phone! As I mentioned earlier I love the flashing lights on the buttons. The buttons are surrounded with a neon blue light which looks incredible at night. I find the features extremely easy to use and I love the ringtones you can choose from!

It's also really easy to set up and get started.

I'd definitely recommend this phone to anybody whether you use your mobile all the time or you simply just use it in the event of an emergency. Human beings love showing off and this is a phone you can definitely show off to everyone you know!
I hope this review has helped you out!
Aimee xxx