Cheap and cheerful mobile communications (Sony Ericsson M600i)

Member Name: boboshady

Product:	Sony Ericsson M600i
Date:	19/08/07 (138 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great keyboard, great size, good battery life

Disadvantages: no camera, no wifi, user interface niggles

After waiting for the Nokia e90 for over 12 months, and getting increasingly jealous of my friend's blackberry, I decided to look for a cheap stop-gap to address my need for mobile email.

My list of requirements was fairly clear-cut: as good a keyboard as possible (qwerty preferred), decent screen, pocket friendly and 3G for decent data. Wifi was not essential, as I only really have access to it at home anyway. I did not need a camera, as I tend to carry at least a P&S with me at all times anyway.

The package I got came with a 512mb SD card pre-loaded with 2 films, which was nice...propriety format, but they installed and worked without any issues. I also got a handsfree kit.

Having now used the phone for a couple of weeks, I can say that overall I'm quite impressed. The touchscreen works well, and you're able to navigate around most of the functions with your finger (and I have short nails) and they don't tend to clutter options too close together.

Email setup was easy enough - I use IMAP on a couple of personal accounts, and you can schedule automatic downloads so it checks at your preferred frequency between times that suit you. I have it checking every 10mins outside of office hours (basically when I'm not sat next to a machine anyway), and it works pretty well; syncing with my read / deleted email OK. It was also nice to note that the data transfer used was minimal, even with such frequent checking.

Generally as a phone, it's fine - the signal is good, being able to get a connection in a basement bar that other phones have failed in, and the call quality is great (once you learn where to place the speaker in relation to your ear!).

A major plus point to this phone is the overall size, which is a little wider than a 'normal' candybar style mobile, but no taller and probably a little thinner. Also, the fact that you essentially have a full qwerty keyboard on there, that with not much practise at all is actually very useable gives this phone a major advantage over other smartphones.

There are only 2 problems I have with this phone:

1. The contacts organisation seems a bit rubbish. This is probably down to the way I have my names organised, but it automatically organises the contacts in last name, first name...and assumes that any name with a space in is in that format. So, I have some contacts called, for example, 'Andy Mob', which is short for Andy Mobile, and anyone I put in using that format is now organised alphabetically under 'M' for 'Mob'.

Annoyingly, when you search for a contact, it doesn't match strings - it assumes you're searching from the start of the name...so for me to find Andy Mob, I now have to type 'Mob A' before it will find it - 'Andy' does not work.

As I say, this is probably only a problem because I've never organised and categorised my contacts properly...and there could even be a way to change the organisation of the phone contacts...but it's never been a problem out of the box on any other phone.

2. The sound doesn't quite work properly - the alarms don't work if you're on silent, and occasionally the phone makes a small 'pop' type noise rather than the noise it should do.

Again, there's probably a way to change the way this works in the settings, but it's something that usually just works on other phones.

Other than those two points, this phone as worked for me as a main phone pretty much without problems. It helps me stay in contact via email, browse the web, and organise my life in a package that also lets me make calls and deal with SMS.

The flaws are small, and the omission of features such as Wifi and a camera (see the Sony Ericsson P1i if you want them too) are reflected in the price. If you're looking for a cheap yet effective way to get mobile with your communications, you'll not go far wrong with the Sony Ericsson m600i.

Summary: A great way to get truly mobile without breaking the bank

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