1st Flip Sony Ericsson (Sony Ericsson Z600)

Member Name: johnnyho

Product:	Sony Ericsson Z600
Date:	05/04/04 (1166 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bluetooth, lightweight, Easy to use, camera, changeable covers, Nice flip, battery life

Disadvantages: Large

Well as some of you may know, i've been waiting for the Sony Ericsson Z1010. However, as Sony Ericsson have just started to make flip phones, I wanted to find out what they were like, and so, luckily for me, my sister just got an upgrade and it was the Z600. 've been using this phone for 6 days now, and it has been brilliant.

It is very, very similar to the T610, but has a much sharper and brighter screen. The phone overall is quite a large size thoug for the amount of features you get, and i'll probably say that the Samsung E700 is a much better option if you carry your phone in your trouser pocket, and not jacket or a handbag etc. This however, unlike the Samsung, has bluetooth, and has been working flawlessly for me with my T610 and T630 owning friends sending me ringtones, pictures and themes.

The interface is the same as the T610, very easy to use and logical. However, instead of having a joystick for navigation, it has a pad instead, in my opinion, this is much better. It has a centre key, same function as pressing down the joystick on the other phones, and at fisrt, it seems like the button is an odd shape and it feels as though you always press it by accident, but when you get used to it, you will notice that it is very well designed, unlike the Panasonic Gd87 and X70 phones, where the central button is too big.

The camera is not too brilliant, and is very poor in dark conditions. The night mode doesn't really compensate for this, and I think that the Nokia phone cameras are better in the dark, but not in the light. When there is enough light, the camera on this phone is absolutely brilliant for a phone. Maybe the reason why it doesn't work too well in the dark is becasue Sony Ericsson want you to buy the add on flash for forty quid???

The ringtones sound good on the phone, and the screen is very nice. I also like the themes function, which I think other manufacturers should start doing. Sony Ericss
on do put a lot of serious though into their phones, like how the text on the main standby screen is surrounded by a white border so if you have a dark background/wallpaper, you can still see the network name and the time etc. The outside screen on thi phone is useful, but it is a bit small, but it is only really needed for caller display purposes.

The main disappointing thing is that you still get a relatively small memory of 2MB. This may sound adequate for a phone, but as soon as you start taking pictures, and downloading ringtones, then it only takes a small while to fill the memory. Only having used the phone for such a small amount of time, I only have 127KB left pf memory, which is about 3 or 4 pictures taken on the camera.

The flip is also good, like the Panasonic GD87's, it has a very satisfying 'click' when you open and close it. The phone also has very good signal and recection, haven't had a dropped call yet, and calls are much clearer on this than on my Nokia 7250i.

The phone book is good, with multiple entries for a name, and is also large enough with more than 500 spaces. It also holds e-mail addreses, and you can assign a picture with a contact, so when they ring you, their picture will show on the screen. However, I find this pointless as the phone is normally closed, so all you see is the small screen on the outside before you answer the phone.

Altogether a good phone, if a bit big and lacking of a higher resolution camear and possibly a video camera. Good functions including bluetooth and changeable covers is not enough for me to choose the Samsung E700. If you are after the bluetooth functionality, then this is good, but if not, then have a good look somewhere else before purchasing this phone. I am not saying it isn't good, because it is, but it was just too much of a brick to carry around in my jean pocket. It doesn't weigh much though.

Summary: