At long last, I finally got my hands on the Sony Ericsson M600i test unit, at 1st glance it reminds of a calculator during my secondary school days but the similarity stops there. This is Sony Ericsson latest models to sport the Symbian/UIQ series to take over the successfully P900/910i series and a cousin (ok lah poor step cousin) to the powerful P990i, and this model seem to be targeting executives which needs an PDA phone while camera function is not a must or sensitivity of the job scope.

This model is built-in with UMTS (i.e. 3G) network capable but without the front camera in-place, one may wonder why Sony Ericsson markets this as a 3G phone without the capability of 2-way video calls. The device built-in 80MB memory after initial boot up and default installations around 52MB are left for user to utilize.

Memory and Battery
For expandable memory Sony Ericsson has replace its Memory Stick Duo series on this device with the Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) card series and will available in 256MB and 512MB versions in March and a 1GB version due in July. Pricing for the M2™ are targeted around existing MS Duo price as I was told but being Sony Ericsson Proprietary design M2™ can only means 1 thing EXPENSIVE!!

Battery is the BST33 series and the SIM card is inserts into the holder and to remove user will need to slide out the metal holder. Stylus looks very flimsy and toy-like but the stylus color is to match the keys color.

Screen and size
The screen is an 262,144-colour TFT with 240x320 pixel are bright and is around the size of most PDA and it even display itself very well under direct sunlight. But hey which joker will stand under sunlight and keep looking at the phone? Careful that lamppost!!

The M600i at 112g is light to the feel and its size is quite comfortable to hold and use. Located on the left side of the phone the jog-dial is now a 3-way jog in place of the P910i 5 way jog and directly below the jog-dial is the back button. On the right side are the stylus, desktop button and the Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) slot. The location of the back and desktop buttons on both sides of the device facilitates the use of the handset with just one hand operation. This device seems to cater mainly to right-handed user like me and I can’t imagine the handicap of using this device with just my left handed alone.

Sony Ericsson unique QWERTY
Next the M600’s unique QWERTY keypad design seem to be Sony Ericsson ways of saving space while not sacrificing the QWERTY keyboard concept in place of the traditional mobile handset or QWERTY keypad standard design. Its design is that 1 key share with 2 letters and alphabets are activated by pressing the side of the key and the response are fast.

The keys are large enough so that user with fat fingers will not be accidentally pressing 2 buttons at the same time as evident on device with the traditional QWERTY pads (keypad are cramp). Thumbs up for the Sony Ericsson designer who has incorporated ergonomics thinking on this keypad concept.

Symbian OS / UIQ Interface / Application
like said, the Symbian OS/UIQ interface are easy and quick to get use to (me being an Pocket PC user), Sony Ericsson has bundle the QuickOffice suite, PDF+, into the M600 and also throw in quite a few useful applications into it, Converter s/w that is very useful with its normal calculation on Distances, Weights, Temperatures etc that evens list the Chinese measurement in it, Sony Ericsson now even throw in the currency function into the convert software, Stop watch, WorldTime are also included.

For those that doesn’t know what is QuickOffice suite about, this software allows you to create/edit new or existing Excel, Words or PowerPoint documents right on the M600, more info -> here

The unit I tested on is still on prototype firmware and is still being tweaks before mass release, so bugs and hanging issues is top of the day. New firmware has been released but sadly I do not have the time to upgrade it and test its new features. Some of the new features on the M600 which I like are the Task Manager which user can switch task as and when and actually close/end running programs, which was sourly miss on the P-series but Ajax did came out the wonderful Sman (I hope they will do for the UIQ 3 series). Somehow or rather Sony Ericsson software developer has left out the sms counter again as did the P900/910 series which would be useful for user. (Or is it just me wanting this feature)

Media Player
Next the built in media player are nice and the speaker are loud enough to be heard in the office place, Sony Ericsson Mega Bass™ are also included in the equalizer function as is on all Sony Ericsson models.

The media player is also able to support video at 30fps playback. This device supports 3D gaming and the Golfing game inside is truly spectacular on the 3D part.

And Sony Ericsson finally adds AD2P to its phone. It means streaming music to BT headset that Moto/Nokia user has taken for granted.

Also any files transfer over to the phone via bluetooth connection gets listed in the Inbox of the messaging function, existing P-series owners will knows this all too well but new owner may not know and though the files are lost.

Conclusion
There is practically not much UIQ 3 software on the market right now and therefore not much to review on the UIQ stability, but Symbian OS/UIQ platform is well known for their stability and usage so new user need not affraid on problems/stability face by Pocket PC user like me.

Sony Ericsson has strangely left out the built in WIFI in this model, which I feel would be best suited for surfing or checking Email but final price may play a part in this option. Of coz Blackberry is another alternative but for convenient sake WiFi built in would be attractive option, if not expansion slot for external WIFI card would be ok but Sony Ericsson being Sony Ericsson (Stubborn Engineer?? cannot take the pill or though of using SD slot)... enuff said. P990i drool potential user may not even want to think about buying this model as the lack of CAMERA, WIFI, and maybe M2 card are a letdown (right?) not mentioning form factors but then again this calculator opps PDAphone are targeted at different segment of the market.

Executives looking for a no frills PDA phone which run on alternatives platform other than PPC (eeekkk) or Palm may want to consider the M600.

Many have said that the M600 is just an interim model by Sony Ericsson to capture market while waiting for P990. I can't help to think of consumer being guinea pig to test/iron out firmware on the mass market on UIQ-3 platform so as to layout the ground work for P990, but may not be true as Sony Ericsson is going all out to capture more market segment and leap frog from its current 5th position as phone manufacturer.

The M600 has a walkman series cousin in the form of the W950 and is similar in function but with the Walkman Branding, HPM-70 earphones and a standard mobile phone keypad.

M600 Colors avail are * Granite Black * Crystal White and should be available around July 06

Enuff blabbing by me I leave u people with photos and until the P990 review……

Many thanks to Lobang for providing the handset

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