SonyEricsson T600 - Tiny AND Talented! (Sony Ericsson T600)

Member Name: monkeywarrior

Product:	Sony Ericsson T600
Date:	03/06/04 (300 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Miniscule size, Highly functional, Stylish

Disadvantages: Too small?, Slightly lacking in modern features

I have been using the SonyEricsson T600 for about a year now (probably the longest I've kept a phone for in ages!).

It was originally purchased because I needed a tri-band mobile to use for a holiday in America. After extensive research, I settled on the T600 as it had all the features I needed, was small and eye-catching and also quite rare - stands out a bit from the usual Nokia crowd.

Also I found a relatively good deal on it from a great european supplier named MisterSuper, although shipping charges were high due to it being out of the UK, it still only worked out at £110 - and thats for a factory unlocked full package. An excellent deal at the time though I'm sure it can be found for a lot less these days. The only slight snag with ordering from Europe was that it came with a 2-pin charger - this was easily rectified by using a shaver adaptor or buying a new UK charger however.

The first thing that struck me about the phone when I got my hands on it was how incredibly tiny it is - it still impresses me and everyone who sees it a year on - its still one of the smallest and lightest phones on the market.

As well as having a footprint little bigger than a credit card, it is also thin (about 1cm) and very light (little over 60g). In fact its so small and light I've often found myself panicking thinking that I've lost the phone when its in fact in my pocket and I just can't feel that its there! This however does lead to some problems. The keypad is predictably pretty tiny and although I find it perfectly easy to use, some other people have complained about the keys being far too small. Also, it has a relatively small screen which can be a little frustrating when viewing wap sites due to constant scrolling.

The phone does not feature the now standard 4-
way navigation keys, instead relying on two and a peculiat little scrolling doodad on the side. This works OK in practise but I see why most phone use a 4 way keypad instead.

The keys light up a very bright and vibrant purpley-blue which looks very attractive especially in low light, the screen itself is backlit a subtle white which is very easy on the eye. There antenna is internal so all in all it makes a very tidy package. There's a hole at the top of the casing through which its advisable to attach the supplied carry strap - helps you keep tabs on the dinky little thing.

Using the phone will be second nature to anyone who's used Ericssons before, its easy to get to grips with if you haven't. The OS has somne useful little features like a shortcuts menu for items you use regularly and a customisable dictionary so you can add your own words into the text library. Texting is quick and easy with all the usual options for sending to groups, there is also a chat mode for those long text conversations which appears like an instant-messenger conversation.

The wap browser is functional and has all the relevant features - I like the bookmarking system which I hadn't encountered before. Like I said earlier, the small screen can make viewing some sites tricky.

There is a small selection of simple games and the usual organiser type features to keep idle minds busy, the selection of ringtones and pictures is minimal (no polyphonic or MMS) but this suits me because I never use that sort of thing - most importantly on the ringtone front, it will go VERY loud which is useful.

Call quality is middling to good, it certainly doesn't offer the best reception most likely due to its diminutive size but is adequate for most calls even low signal areas. It worked very well over in America, and has wo
rld-wide portability going for it due to tri-band.

Battery life is not bad considering the size, I usually get 3-4 days between charges with it turned on and occasional usage of texts, calls and wap.

Overall, this is an excellent phone, bearing in mind you will sacrifice some modern features like colour screen and MMS in favour of its tiny size, but if you want a good looker with basic features that everyone will be impressed with then you can't go far wrong with the T600.

There may well be some bargains around for it too - if you'd like me to have a look for you then please do pay a visit to my mobile phone website which is linked to here on dooyoo as 'my homepage'. Thanks for reading!

Summary: