With the current crop of smartphones coming out you can start to get previously released models at cracking prices. The Samsung SGH i-600 is one such example, as it has dropped in price to £255 now from eXpansys.
Dimensions
Box Content
Inside the box you get a user manual, Travel Adaptor, Stereo Headset and PC Data Link Kit. Though we must point out that the Samsung uses its own mains/USB connectors.
Features
The Samsung does throw in a nice set of features for your money, as mentioned you get a Qwerty Keypad, 3G with HSDPA support (1.8 MBPS) , dual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 and a 1.3mp camera (which is the lowest point).
Design
Technically the Samsung is marketed as a business phone but for a smartphone with a Qwerty keyboard Samsung have still done a great job of keeping the device small and light weight and coupled with the 2.3" (320 x 240 pixel) screen it does look the business.
The keys themselves are not as responsive as we would like, but at least they are spaced out well, but at times some of the keys seemed to stick when texting
We did like the way Samsung have customised the Windows Mobile 5 smartphone interface, which contains a series of scrollable icons depicting contacts, your latest images and profile choices. You can use the joypad or the scroll wheel to the side of the device to move through these options quite easily.
Screen Quality
The screen quality was pretty clear, though you do have to get used to the 2.3" size screen. Being in landscape mode does help when watching videos and browsing websites but again the device would have benefited from a larger display.
Sound Quality
For playback through the internal speakers we thought its volume was a bit too low for our liking, so switching to the supplied headphones is the preferred choice - though at least the Samsung is small enough to be useful as an mp3 player.
Memory
You only get 64MB RAM and 128MB ROM as standard, so by the time the applications have been taken into account you are going to have to rely on the microSD card slot (conveniently located to the side of the device) to boost storage.
Installed Software
The Samsung is supplied with WM5 rather than WM6 as standard, but Samsung have finally released the upgrade in the UK, which we definitely recommend doing, as the supplied Picsel image and document viewer software tended to cause a lot of intermittant performance problems (it took an age to load images) and also the Samsung would sometimes stop only to catch up with itself after a few seconds.
You can get the upgrade here.
Camera
However the 1.3MP camera is the Samsungs weakest link (which shows its business nature), as it does not come with many features and its image quality is not the best we have seen.
There is a small mirror at the back, so at least you can take portrait shots and the front camera can be used for 3G video calls.
Connectivity
There is a wealth of connectivity options to sink your teeth into, for those looking to take advantage of Wi-Fi connectivity you will be pleased to see the inclusion of a dual Wi-Fi adaptor as standard.
And for mobile connectivity you can utilise the devices 3G HSDPA support, for a faster web browsing experience (if your sim supports it, that is).
We did not have any problems connecting up to our Wirless router, as the device uses Windows connectivity manager to good effect.
Call Quality
Call quality was good, with both parties being able to hear each other clearly and even with our Orange Sim we could get some good reception.
Battery Life
The battery does seem to take a larger than normal hit when using Wi-Fi or 3G, but if you don't utilise these, we recks you could get 2/3 days use before a recharge was needed.
Up to 380 h Standby and up to 4 h 45 min Talk time - is the claimed life from the 1200mAh rated battery.
