Sony Ericsson's 3G handsets have shrunk significantly over the past year, from the bulky Z1010 to the clamshell Z800i, and now the K600i. At first glance, the small candy-bar phone from the Japanese-Swedish company looks no different from any 2.5G handset such as its K700i predecessor. Only upon closer inspection can one see the CIF resolution camera, which somewhat gives away its non-3G disguise. As with other 3G cellulars, expect to find a good set of multimedia features and connectivity options on the K600i, though the phone's lack of a memory expansion slot will certainly be a gripe point for some users.

Design
The K600i has a simple yet stylish design that should go down well with the mainstream crowd. Its metallic finish, together with the solid construction, also adds to the whole sturdy look and feel which has become a standard feature to expect on most of the higher-end Sony Ericsson phones today. The metal joystick is a good complement to the well-spaced keypad, though we find the flat buttons not as tactile as we'd like for comfortable SMS texting.

To maintain its clean, streamlined design, Sony Ericsson has included flushed buttons for the camera shutter on the top left of the phone as well as the shortcut and video call keys on two sides of the screen. Interestingly, two sliding switches are used to lock the battery compartment cover instead of the usual sliding cover found on most phones. We find that this offers easier access to the battery and SIM card.

The user interface adopted in the K600i appears to be a mix between the K700i and K750i. We'd expect veterans of Sony Ericsson phones to have no problem operating it, though first-timers should get used to the interface quite easily, too.

Features
The K600i comes with two onboard cameras. The one just above the LCD screen is for video calls while the other camera on the back of the display is for both video calls as well as 1.3-megapixel still capture. Like most other 3G phones, the Sony Ericsson handset comes with videoconferencing and high-speed data access features which add to the whole user experience.

Road warriors will appreciate that the K600i comes with multiple connectivity options, from Bluetooth and infrared to USB. Accessing operator data wirelessly is also fast via WCDMA, which at 384Kbps, is approximately nine times faster than the standard GPRS. Ironically, the cost of access is lower, too, particularly for heavy users who sign up for the unlimited 3G data plans offered by operators.

As of late, Sony Ericsson has equipped some of their phone models with integrated RDS-enabled radio for FM reception, which so far is supported only by MediaCorp's radio stations. The biggest advantage is that radio station names are displayed instead of the frequency in MHz. The reception for the radio is good, too.

If you are into messaging, the K600i offers SMS, EMS, MMS as well as email, which should suffice for most users. It should be noted that the maximum size for MMS is capped at 300KB as stipulated by the mobile service operators. Having used previous Sony Ericsson handsets, we noticed that the speed for the text input has improved vastly compared to older models such as the K700i. Chinese text input is also provided as an alternative language option.

Performance And Battery Life
During our extensive testing, we did not encounter any problems with the RF reception as the phone seamlessly switched between 2.5G and 3G base stations when it went out of WCDMA range. On average, the battery lasted two days of regular usage. Its speakerphone feature was handy for conference calls but the volume range was a tad too soft in noisy environments.

We experienced slight lags during video calls but they happened only occasionally, particularly for moving objects. Overall, still image quality was good from the onboard 1.3-megapixel CMOS camera for outdoor shots. Night images, as expected, turned out slightly grainy. While the built-in LED light was great for slight illumination, it was somewhat not as powerful as the ones found on the K750i and W800i, and did not help much in low-light situations.

The onboard media player supports both MP3 and M4A audio as well as 3GP and MP4 video files. The supplied headset provides good sounds on the move but its connection, based on the old 3V terminal, resulted in loose connection at times. Video files can be presented in either vertical or horizontal full-screen mode.

One of the biggest gripes we had with the K600i was the lack of a memory expansion slot. With only 37MB of onboard memory, storage space was truly limited to about 60 shots at 1.3 megapixels, a handful of songs or short video clips.