Samsung Ultra Messaging i600

It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks and for Samsung to introduce an innovative navigation user interface on the Ultra Messaging i600, which runs on a "has-been" Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone edition, we think it deserves a round of applause. That's on top of a wealth of connectivity features the i600 is equipped with, including HSDPA, 3G and Wi-Fi on a matte-black body that's irresistibly good looking. But the i600 is not alone in vying for a share of the pie in the smart phones with QWERTY keyboard arena. Find out how it stacks up against the competition.Design
Picking up the Ultra Messaging i600 from its packaging morphs us into business executives in an instant, even when we aren't dressed like one. The matte-black i600 is sexy beyond doubt and, in some ways, remind us of a bar of Hershey's dark chocolate--irresistible and good enough to eat. In hand, this Samsung is a comfortable size and its slim profile of 11.8mm (the upcoming Motorola Q q9 measures 11.8m, too) gives the illusion that it is thinner than it really is. Even with the 1,200mAh Lithium-ion battery, the i600 stills weighs a feather-light 108g. It could just be us, but we're particularly fond of the soft-type plastic on the back of the handheld.

	Tic tac galore.

Two features are traded off for a more compact form factor: A smaller 2.3-inch screen compared with the larger 2.8-inch LCD on the Nokia E61 and a less spacious QWERTY keyboard. The individual keys resembling black tic tac mints organized fashionably, provide tactile feedback and are adequately backlit in dim environments. You'll know it when your thumb hovers over one. A nice touch are the numeric keys which are colored in grey so we could tell them apart from the rest of the letters in black. The immediate button to the right of each number works as a pair with the numeric key, so hitting on either gets us the same digit.

Navigating the phone's menu requires the use of the four-way directional toggle which is slightly elevated from the Call/End and soft-touch keys, as well as a center OK button. Despite various user reviews online regarding a flushed directional control which resulted in hitting the End key when we wanted to click right, we didn't encounter that on our test unit. So it's really up to you to check it out. Alternatively, there's a thumbwheel and a Back button on the right spine for a more BlackBerry-like experience.

The i600 uses a proprietary port for charging and synchronizing the handheld. The same port also connects the bundled stereo earphones, so that effectively makes obsolete both our mini-USB adapter and 2.5mm/3.5mm headset at the same time. Talk about a double-whammy. Fortunately, we could still pair our Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 stereo Bluetooth earphones for music playback on this Samsung.

A microSD expansion slot sits above the thumbwheel on the right edge of the i600 with support of up to 2GB. There are also two cameras: One on the front for video calls and a 1.3-megapixel shooter on the back flanked by a reflecting mirror and onboard speakers. More on the camera features later.Features
At the time of writing, three Samsung HSDPA-enabled phones (SGH-Z560, Ultra Edition 13.8 and Ultra Messaging i600) were available in Singapore, with the i600 the Korean's first smart phone to tout high-speed data transfer faster than 3G. In short, faster data speeds would enhance the Web browsing experience, music streaming and reduce download times via the theoretical 1.8Mbps speed.

Connectivity features on the triband (900/1,800/1,900MHz) i600 are aplenty. Besides leveraging on HSDPA and 3G networks, the handheld is also Wi-Fi-enabled (802.11b/g)--sorely missed on the earlier i320n--and can connect wirelessly to a PC via Bluetooth 2.0 (with support for A2DP). The i600 is missing an infrared port, though.

	A breathe of fresh air is the "Card Wheel" user interface.

What bowled us over was the proprietary "Card Wheel" multi-layer user interface which is a breath of fresh air. Each of the various applications (Profile, Appointments, Message Center, Favorite Contacts, Now Playing, Recent Songs and My Photos) is denoted by individual cascading "cards", selected either with the thumbwheel or the directional toggle. For example, when we scroll to the Message Center, we'll see the Voicemail, Missed Calls, Text Messages and Outlook Email shortcuts. These shortcuts are lined in a row and the selected option pops up vertically, similar to the docking interface on a Macintosh. We could either hit the central OK button to go into the application, or press the right softkey to type a new text message. Appointments will show us the schedule we have for a particular day, while My Photos give us a preview of the pictures we have on the phone. Slightly more useful is the Favorite Contacts which allows us to store up to 10 frequently accessed numbers as a quick-dial list.

We also found other hidden gems on the i600. Holding down the Home key will bring up the Task Manager window where we can close programs running in the background. The same action on the thumbwheel activates the Quick launcher with more customizable shortcuts to various applications. The Back button below the thumbwheel is also configurable to open a specific program.

Unlike touchscreen PDAs, the i600 runs on the Smartphone edition of Windows Mobile 5.0, powered by a 220MHz TI OMAP 1710 processor, so you don't get the full-fledged editing capabilities of Office Mobile. Memory-wise, there's 128MB ROM and 64MB RAM.

The preinstalled Piscel Viewer allows us to read only Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files and various image formats. The i600 also supports MS Direct Push Technology so you'd be able to have ready access to your email, calendar, contacts and tasks on Outlook. Synchronization with our PC was also a breeze except there wasn't an option to sync Notes on Outlook with the smart phone.

Multimedia-wise, the i600 supports formats such as MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA and WAV for music, and MPEG-4, WMV, H.263 and H.264 for videos. There's also an RSS feed reader (a rather basic one) and podcast application for you to catch up on the latest news or gossip.

Frankly, when we saw that there wasn't a built-in LED flash for shooting in dimly lit environments, our expectations for the 1.3-megapixel shooter immediately halved. Fortunately, there's still a myriad of options from applying color effects to setting white balance to keep the average user happy. There're also various editing features to crop, flip, resize our snaps and adjust brightness and contrast. The only downside is that the camera lacks a protective cover so it could suffer from defacement if you keep the phone in a pocket with sharp objects like house keys. The same could happen with the LCD screen.Performance
We tested the triband Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 and found the call quality decent. Surprisingly, audio output excelled beyond our expectations with the built-in speakerphone and our buddies weren't able to actually tell that we were on one. A pity, really, that the speaker is on the rear of the handset, which has the potential to muffle the sound when the phone is on its back. We loaded a 320 x 180-pixel video file at 24bits (116MB) for our tests. Video playback, too, was relatively pleasing, though we did encounter slight pixilation and occasional dropped frames during fast-moving action. Our only gripe was with the 2.3-inch LCD which was a tad too reflective for our liking and washed out slightly in harsh sunlight at default brightness.

As far as data transfer rate was concerned, the theoretical 1.8Mbps speed sounds great but a lot of it depends on the network and your location. We took the i600 for an afternoon walk around the Central Business District (CBD) of Singapore along Shenton Way to find out if the speed was as claimed. Verdict? Well, we didn't need a bib to catch our drool. While surfing CNET Asia's Web page, the network alternates between 3 and 3.5G speeds and we weren't able to get a consistent HSDPA network to gauge download rates.

Camera performance was sub-par, which wasn't surprising. It took approximately 2.5 seconds for the shooter to load, and though there's autofocus, this doesn't work like the ones on dedicated digital cameras where you can half-press the shutter to prefocus. Again, we're nitpicking. Overall, image quality was Web-standard, but without a LED flash night shots weren't stellar.

When we were running multiple applications, it was noticeable that the processing speed took a beating. The i600 has 48.6MB of memory in total, of which 26MB is available to run your programs. Opened applications remained open although holding down the Home key brought up the task manager where you can close the programs. Onboard storage capacity is limited to 40MB to install additional programs such as Instant Messenger.

The i600 is rated for 4 hours of talktime and up to 190 hours (eight days) of standby. In our tests, we managed to get 2.5 days on regular usage, making calls, sending messages and occasional connections to Wi-Fi and 3G networks, without having to reach for the charger. Our test unit arrived with a second battery which will also be included in the commercial retail sets. The only problem we foresee is that because there's no standalone charger for the Lithium-ion cell, it won't be possible to charge one battery while using another concurrently. Conclusion
The Ultra Messaging i600 is a welcomed update over the i320n which doesn't have 3G and Wi-Fi. Even though both phones look remarkably alike, they are targeted at different segments of the market with the latter's basic feature set aimed at first-time, non-smart phone users. When faced with competition, such as those from the Dopod C720W, BlackBerry 8800 and Nokia E61, the i600 didn't cringe one bit with an HSDPA trump card in hand and killer looks to match. One point we want to make upfront is that HSDPA connectivity is dependant on the network you are on and the location you are at, and results can vary significantly.

The BlackBerry 8800 looks like it could put the i600 out of place with its onboard GPS and push-to-talk capabilities, but unfortunately, the lack of 3G and Wi-Fi pales in comparison with the faster connectivity options of the i600. The Dopod C720W, on the other hand, looks more promising with Wi-Fi (but no sight of the faster HSDPA) and a long battery life (11 hours of talktime during tests). We struggled with this a little since having a long battery life meant we could do with less frequent charging. Battery performance on the i600 wasn't fantastic and bordered on average. The consolation is that Samsung bundles a second cell with the retail sets.

With the Nokia E61, we find it a tie. Both phones have their strengths and weaknesses. For example the E61 lacks a camera (depending on whether you have a need for it, the upcoming E61i comes with a 1.3-megapixel offering), loses out in terms of form factor and design, but has a more comfortable keyboard for typing.

One of the key issues the i600 has compared with the above three models is its QWERTY keyboard. Those with large paws may find the keyboards on the other three models more forgiving. That said, we feel the keyboard requires some getting used to. We have mixed opinions from the reviews team with some in favor of the tactile feedback of the keys, though the general consensus is that the keyboard could do with a little more room between keys. Summing it up, we find the Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 one of the most full-featured smart phones available in the market that should prove attractive to mobile executives. The unit retails for S$798 with a two-year contract.