During Monday afternoon on October 24th, Sphone.se receives a highly interesting phone call from Christian Hallberg, CEO of E-TEN M600's Swedish distributor - GadgeTec AB. He explains that what might be the first two units of the E-TEN M600 model, are currently in Sweden, and that he's planning to let Sphone.se be the first to review them!

This is of course big news not only for Sphone.se, but for the whole world as the review and the hi-res pictures are likely to be the very first. Obviously we didn't turn down the offer.

Barely one day later we're inside the GadgeTec office in Gothenburg, and expectations are high. With us we have, apart from five digital cameras, an E-TEN M500 to use as reference. At 10:47 AM, Tuesday on the 25th of October 2005, we see the E-TEN M600 up close for the first time. The step from only looking at the unit on a few couple of tiny pictures to holding it isn't big it's gigantic.

First impression
What you're immediately struck by when holding the M600 is obviously the new colour. With the M500 they tried unsuccessfully to create some sort of metallic look with a silver coloured shell, and the unit could pretty much feel fake. With an entirely new choice of colours in matte black they've gotten rid of the slightly cheap look. Instead, the material has the same characteristics as most black-coloured laptops, which is probably the exact same material experience that is supposed to be felt among users.

The new M600 model has the precise same measurements as it's predecessor, and fits quite smoothly into the palm. Many smartphone manufacturers have a tendency to make the units too wide in comparison to their height, a non-existent phenomenon here. Even though the unit is gifted with new hardware, we don't notice any difference in weight. If it even exists, the difference is minimal. If you turn over the receiver you find the stylus on the underside, something which has previously irritated users as you, for example, can't reach the pen if you've placed the unit in the synchronization dock. Also the colour and design of the stylus is identical with the one of the M500, but we thought us notice some small changes in how the pen is attached to the phone when it isn't being used. M500 users have previously had trouble with the pen sitting looser and looser after some time's usage, until it finally comes off by itself. Perchance E-TEN have listened, and taken the critique to heart?

After having flipped and turned the M600 around a countless amount of times, we start up the unit to actually take part of the changes inside the shell.

One thing that's immediately noticeable is that one of the two M600 units clearly has a sharper picture than the other. We come to the conclusion that in one of the units we're testing sits a screen of the same type as the one you can find in an M500, and in the other is an obviously upgraded version. Neither Hannes Sonnsjö, technical products' liable, or Magnus Hermansson, district salesman in the middle of Sweden, is able to answer with any certainty as to which of these two screens are going be in the final versions on the store shelves.

What’s inside the package? - E-TEN M600 - Stylus - Synchronization dock - USB cable - Power adapter - Headset (stereo) - Getting-started guide - CD-rom - Leather bag

Functionality
Powerful Windows Mobile 5.0
The M600 is, naturally, equipped with the latest Microsoft operative system Windows Mobile 5.0. After scrolling through the menus we can establish that this new OS impresses everything seemingly works just one bit better, which is also noticeable in the different applications. According to manufacturer, the Windows Mobile 5.0 is more stable, more user friendly, and has an increased compatibility with other units equipped with it. This means that increased performance in basically all areas is to be expected.

For the rest, the M600, just like the M500, is gifted with the software MDesk - a smart central that provides direct access to the programs you use the most. From here you reach "Call Filter, for example, which gives you the opportunity to totally block phone numbers that, instead of bothering you, are directly connecting to your answering machine. Of course, all of MDesk is entirely configurable for maximal user friendliness.

WLAN – News for M600
Many reviewers of the M500 described the absence of WLAN as the one big disadvantage of the unit. What might be the greatest news of the M600 is that it's equipped with WLAN of the type 802.11b with speeds up to 11 Mbps, which provides the opportunity of wireless internet connection when you're close to a wireless network. We had a chance to test this new function as a company on the floor directly under us had a wireless network running in their office. Though, we didn't get a chance to compare the wireless network connectivity of M600 with the other units', but our general impression was that it was both fast and smooth. Through the smart software of all wireless applications, you can easily manage both GSM, Bluetooth and WLAN with a mere few clicks.

The camera updated
Further we obviously compared the cameras of M500 and M600. According to manufacturer the hardware is identical, but an interesting test in dark showed that the M600 could take some considerably clearer shots in some darker environments. The phone also seems to react faster in the shooting moment, something that might have something to do with the new software. Overall one still has to view the camera as a weakness of the M600. 1.3 mega pixels is far from impressive when we have a whole lot of incoming smartphones with considerably higher resolution.

Good sound quality
Just like the M500, the E-TEN M600 has a speaker with good sound quality. As the speaker is pretty small, it's clearly impractical to attempt to use the unit as some kind of stereo, but on the other hand this is true about most mobile units today. Moreover, Hannes Sonnsjö meant that the sound quality of conversations has been improved, something we unfortunately didn't have enough time to examine more closely.

The same battery despite WLAN
Even though we find the same 1440 mAh battery in M600 as we did in the M500, we can expect a better battery time as Windows Mobile 5.0 is going to be more optimized. But we still have to remember that the M600 is a smartphone with WLAN, unlike M500. WLAN is also amongst the applications that use up the most power of all.

E-TEN M600 - scheduled to be released before next year
So when do we see the E-TEN sales take off in Sweden? According to responsible persons on GadgeTec it's still unclear how the launch is going to look, but for now the delivery appears to come about at the start of December 2005. A preliminary price is also set - at 6195 SEK including VAT. Naturally we'll be back when the unit starts selling in Sweden!

Overall impression
After our morning with the E-TEN M600, we can conclude that E-TEN has done it again - created a very competitive unit that, just like its predecessor, will take the market by storm. The combination of the new Windows Mobile 5.0, a powerful processor and WLAN also makes the M600 a phone well suited for IP telephony applications such as Skype. Otherwise the phone is very well made (apart from the included plastic headset), with an updated camera, for example, that no longer takes inferior pictures as soon as there's a shadow close to the object. Further are the separate programs better integrated with each other. The feeling of that they are somehow connected is much greater than in the M500, where there was e.g. one program for MMS and another for SMS/Email.

In the beginning, when M500 was being reviewed many wrote that they missed WLAN in it, which would have made it close to perfect. So what about M600, then? It does have WLAN, but now we're lacking other things. We'd dearly like to see an upgraded camera (for instance on 2-3 mega pixels) well as UMTS (3G) in E-TEN 700, if there will be one such in the future.

Comparison: E-TEN M500 and M600

Model	M500	M600
Colour	Silver	Svart
Operative system	Windows 2003 SE	Windows Mobile 5.0
Processor	Samsung S3C 2440 400 MHz Processor	Samsung S3C 2440 400 MHz Processor
GSM/GPRS/UMTS	Quadband (850/900/1800/1900 Mhz)and GPRS	Quadband (850/900/1800/1900 Mhz)and GPRS
Built-in memory	128 MB ROM, 64 MB RAM. Extendable with SD-card.	128 MB ROM, 64 MB RAM. Extendable with SD-card.
Screen	2,8” QVGA, 65,536 colours och backlight.	2,8” QVGA, 65,536 colours och backlight.
Sound	Speaker, microphone and 2,5 mm headphone/headset socket with stereo.	Speaker, microphone and 2,5 mm headphone/headset socket with stereo.
Keyboard	No.	No.
Battery capacity	1440 mAh Li-Ion, standby about 150-200 h, speaking time about 3-4 h.	1440 mAh Li-Ion, standby about 150-200 h, speaking time about 3-4 h.
Camera	1,3 mega pixel CMOS camera, night settings, flash and self-portrait mirror.	1,3 mega pixel CMOS camera, night settings, flash and self-portrait mirror.
Card place	SDIO	SDIO
Communications	Bluetooth, IrDA, quadband, GPRS and synch through USB cable.	Bluetooth, IrDA, WLAN (802.11 b), quadband, GPRS and synch through USB cable.
Size/measurements	111.7 x 60.7 x 22 mm / 170 g	111.7 x 60.7 x 22 mm / 165 g
In stores	Already in stores.	Start of December.

Pros
+ Size
+ WLAN
+ Screen
+ Design
+ Windows Mobile 5.0

Cons
- Plastic headset
- Lack of UMTS (3G)
- 1.3 megapixel camera

Overall : 8/10
The plastic headset, the relatively obsolete camera resolution and the lack of UMTS (3G) pulls the overall marks down by two.

Makan Amini and Sebastian Mandrean

We'd also like to thank Hannes Sonnsjö and Magnus Hermansson on GadgeTec AB who made this review possible!

• Tags : E-TEN M600