Samsung D600

Beside all its extras, the successor of the famous Samsung D500 can also pride itself on having a 2 megapixel camera. And what are its pros and cons? The answer is to be found in this review. It features many sample photos, 3 sample video records as well as a comparison with two rivals - Nokia N90 and Sony Ericsson W800.

The actual phone used in this review is Samsung D600E - it is the same as Samsung D600, but it supports EDGE and it is tri-band, not quad-band. The cameras in D600 and D600E are absolutely the same.

As you all can see, photo-mobile phones are no longer a fashion craze. Step by step, they have grown into high quality devices, which are slowly, but surely getting into our daily practical life. Currently, the market with mobile devices is offering a lot of 1 megapixel camera phones, which manage to substitute any cheap compact digital camera, made to solely take the so called moment snapshots. Sony Ericsson and Nokia have also released a few mobile phones equipped with a camera of 2 megapixel resolution and auto focus.

Entering the photo mobile hall of fame

Sony Ericsson K750i (W800i, D750i) and Nokia N90 will soon have to share their company with another representative of the top-class photo mobiles equipped with a sensor with 2 megapixels resolution - the new elegant black Samsung D600, which comes to replace the successful D500 model. Just like its forerunner, it will be offered in an "E-version" with EDGE - the one we were given the chance to thoroughly test.

Let us first shortly describe the phone. I dare foretell that this attractive black slider will surely attract the majority of phone fans. It looks extremely elegant and luxurious. Its high quality construction and comfortable keypad make the overall impression even better. Samsung D600E's size is 96 × 47 × 22 mm. It weighs 99 g.

The phone is equipped with a brilliant active display of a 240 × 320 pixels resolution able to show 262K colors. It also has an exceptionally high-quality stereophonic speakers, a TransFlash memory card slot, 75 MB built-in memory, Bluetooth and finally, the most significant option for this review - a 2 megapixel camera.

In terms of function possibilities, the phone should satisfy even the most pretentious users. It offers a big phonebook, an organizer with synchronization options, a MP3 player and videos in MP4 format, an email client as well as details like java games or WAP browser. And that is not all; the D600E model supports EDGE data transfers, so you can use it as a fast modem as well.

Camera's equipment

Camera lens in D600 is situated on the backside of the device. Unlike the one of its forerunner Samsung D500, however, it is not situated on the backside of the front sliding part, and thus does not remain hidden, when the phone is closed. A bulky silver frame partly protects it from scratches. The lens is accompanied by a tiny mirror that facilitates taking self-portraits and the flash diode.

On one of the sides of the phone there is a special button, which opens the camera application and activates the shutter release function. You will have to use your thumb to control it for the phone is not designed to take pictures when held horizontally. The photo application menus are displayed vertically. The same holds true for ready pictures, which do not snap over, but remain as if turned upside down, "in the vertical".

Sony Ericsson W900

Sony Ericsson added today the first UMTS handset to the Walkman range of music phones. The 3G technology in the new Sony Ericsson W900 allows for faster network downloads of music and video. The swivel phone gets its design from the S700 model and its camera from the successful W800 Walkman. The Sony Ericsson W900 offers a lot of communication options - Bluetooth, Infrared port, USB and large internal memory of 470 MB in addition to the Memory Stick Duo Pro card slot.

The W900 UMTS Walkman phone is available in black or white and will be commercially available end Q4 2005. The variants will be:
- W900i - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa
- W900c - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Mainland China.

Launch for mainland China dependant on availability of 3G services. Also today Sony Ericsson Walkman FM Music Transmitter MMR-60 and the Home Audio System MDS-70. Attached to a Sony Ericsson mobile phone the FM Music Transmitter MMR-60 can transmit music files from the handset over the FM radio frequency band, which can be used to connect your phone music player to your car audio system for example. The Home Audio System MDS-70 is a stylish phone cradle which connects to a set of high performance speakers, so all the user need do is nest the phone in the cradle, press Play and enjoy the full, rich sound that is synonymous with Sony home Hi-Fi products.

Sony Ericsson extends Walkman family to four with first UMTS music phone - the W900 London, 17th October 2005, – Sony Ericsson today adds its first UMTS handset to the Walkman range of music phones bringing the total number of phones in the range to four. The W900 is a high quality fully specified music player, phone and imaging device capable of super-fast downloads of all types of multimedia – music, video and graphics. It follows the highly successful global market launch of the W800. Two previously announced Walkman phones are also about to launch, the W600 in the Americas and W550 in the rest of the world, meaning there are now Walkman phones meeting a broad spectrum of mobile music needs and price segments.