Samsung SGH-i600

I am back. Back to the mobile phone, after a PDA-phone adventure lasting for several months. As you may remember, I have written here a number of times about Windows Mobile phones by HTC. The first (not mentioned here) was the iMate SP3i, two years ago (before the blog was started). I was very happy with the SP3i. It was small, yet powerful, had a very good Windows Mobile "phone" user interface. I traded it half a year later for the SP5m, touted as the best music smartphone ever. Indeed the Sp5m with its dedicated music buttons, gorgeous screen and mini-SD storage was a great phone. Unfortunately I lost it... So being a fan of Windows Mobile machines, and lacking QWERTY keyboard (to be honest this was the only drawback of SP3i and SP5m phones) I decided to go with the HTC Wizard, soon upgraded to the HTC Hermes (known as TyTN). Both Wizard and Hermes share the same slide-out QWERTY keyboard concept, while the TyTN has a more powerful processor and UMTS (W-CDMA) radio for faster data transmission and video calls. And both are more PDAs then phones, lacking a numeric keypad and requiring a stylus to run certain functions.

Looking back I must say I have been extremely frustrated with the TyTN for several reasons. First, it was completely unstable. I don't know if it was just my particular phone or TyTNs in general are unstable, but it used to freeze completely even a couple times a day (requiring taking the battery out to reset) without any pattern. Over five months period it spent two months being repaired, while the HTC service kept on claiming it was perfectly OK. Now it is waiting in a box for its lats trip to HTC while the legal department is working on papers that will accompany the shipment.

But even if the TyTN worked without a glitch, I would not be a very happy user. The slide-out keyboard is great for messaging. I live on email and having a QWERTY on a phone is a must for me. But the ordinary phone functions, operated by a touch screen have been far from perfect. The touch screen Windows Mobile user interface is a mess (BTW this is a warning to Apple - you better do it right with the iPhone). With a big screen and powerful operating system beneath you would expect something at least decent. While even things like numeric keypad are not directly available during a call (I often call various IVR systems, like my bank for example, requiring me to punch in several DTMF codes). Not to mention various simple things like switching from normal to silent mode, that require using two hands and a stylus (I remember the first Treo had a dedicated ringer switch and this was one of its unique selling points; Microsoft surely has overlooked this feature).

In contrary to the above, the "non-touchscreen" Windows Mobile experience is simply great. The same OS, the same applications, just somebody (so called User Experience team) spent a while on things like menus that are never longer than a screen (to avoid scrolling), every command being accessible with a single hand and a press of just one key. So when my TyTN finally died two weeks ago, I knew I needed something like the SP3i/SP5m - non touch screen Windows Mobile, but with QWERTY keyboard and preferably UMTS for video calls and fast data. And just in time the Samsung SGH-i600 arrived. What a relief! I have to admit I was using an "ordinary" phone for a couple of days when my TyTN was being repaired, bit life without ActiveSync for contacts and email has been uneasy.

So...the SGH-i600 is a gorgeous piece of a phone. The design, style and build quality is at least on par with Apple iPod (used by many as a reference level...). The case cover is a little soft when touched, giving a nice feeling, the screen is great, the keyboard feels very well and it is so thin and light, I can wear it all day in a shirt pocket. The phone does not have a touch screen, meaning you can easily clean the glass with a piece of cloth and the user interface is what it should be. May be just a little steep learning curve, but after getting used to, is extremely intuitive and fast, clearly designed for one handed operations. There are several nice surprises as well. Taking advantage of horizontal screen layout, Samsung has enhanced the standard Windows GUI with a very intuitive carousel/card plugin, described in details here. The built-in camera, while "only" 1.3 megapixel, makes decent pictures, at least on par with SonyEricsson 3.2 megapixel models, as the limiting factor here is the lens resolution and sensitivity (that will be that way until Foveon makes some inroads into the mobile phone space). As it is the case with other camera phones from Samsung, the sensor has very good sensitivity, easily able to shot pictures in dark rooms without flash. There is stereo Bluetooth A2DP on board, so no more headphone madness here and Bluetooth dialup profile has been replaced by Bluetooth PAN (Personal Area Network) connection, much easier to set up (no more dial strings and "modems") and no need to disconnect the on-board Internet session when connecting a laptop - just use the phone as a personal wireless access point. The only thing falling a little short of expectations is the battery life. With HSDPA data transmission (I averaged 600kbps downloads riding on a train, probably limited by the Bluetooth "last foot"), the battery barely lasted for a day. With just occasional data bursts it goes on for two to three days, which is not bad, and for data-busy days Samsung conveniently supplies a second battery enclosed in a matchbox - size mobile charger, just in case you run out of juice.

All in all - thumbs up, looks like I have a great phone for the next year or more and with QWERTY on board I will watch all those iPhone fans entering contact names and http:// addresses :)