Samsung Ultra Messaging i600, available in March

Damian Koh | Feb 07, 2007

Hot on the heels of the SGH-i320N, Samsung is rolling out its second smart phone with full QWERTY keyboard, this time with 3G, HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity features.

Editors' note:

If you're wondering whether Samsung plans to phase out the earlier SGH-i320N, well, the answer is no, at least for now. In an aside with CNET Asia, Ng Long Shyang, the Sales and Marketing director for Telecoms and IT Products in Samsung Asia, says the i600 and i320N will be sold side-by-side, with the latter targeted at first-time smart phone users. The company also has no word of the i600 running on the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.0 which is expected to be launched this year.

First announced at ITU Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong last December, the Ultra Messaging i600 is targeted at mobile executives who are users of multimedia, too. The handheld runs on Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone edition, so you won't get the Office Mobile Suite or document-editing capabilities. Instead, the phone is bundled with Piscel Viewer which allows you to read Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files.

The i600 also supports MS Direct Push for synchronization with Microsoft Outlook. Unlike the SGH-i320N, the i600 comes with a larger 2.3-inch screen and higher-capacity 1,200mAh battery. Other multimedia goodies include a 1.3-megapixel camera on the rear, a VGA sensor for video telephony, A2DP (Bluetooth Stereo Music Profile) support and PictBridge for mobile printing. Check out our review of a pre-production unit here.

The Ultra Messaging i600 will be available in Singapore from early March at a recommended retail price of S$898 (US$590.79), or S$798 (US$525) with a two-year mobile contract. Australia and Philippine users can also expect the phone to be available in their countries in the same time frame.