9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
First Sony Ericsson Clam Shell Camera Phone. (Z600)
Date of Review: Nov 23, 2004
The Bottom Line: It basically comes down to the price and picture quality versus the battery life and display.
Intro:
After being shafted time and time again by Sprint, I decided to get a new cell phone service. (just see my sprint review)
I decided to go with a service that had a large variety of cell phones to choose from and inter-change with as well as have blue tooth technology to be able to have wireless headsets.
I asked my room-mate who happens to be the cellular phone king Hey Jon, what phone should I get? He pointed me to the new Samsung E715. So I went to T-Mobile (where my friend worked) and purchased the Samsung E715. It had all the things I wanted in a cell phone (except for Bluetooth) PLUS! The battery died quickly. So I returned it to the store a couple of days after I bought it and said Dude, Jon I want a phone that kicks A. This phone isn t cutting it. Find me something outrageous. So he showed me a picture of a Sony Ericsson Z600 and said, Then this is the phone you want. I wanted to get it too, but I can t get it if you get it. So I said, where can I get it? He pointed me to Expansys dot com. where it was on sale for $399.99. I said, it s pretty expensive, but I think I ll go for it. He was pretty peeved and excited, it was a mixed emotions mayhem for him.
I got the Z600 around January 2004 and I received 2 sets of changeable face plates; a cool pin-stripe one and a navy blue reflective one. I plugged it in and couldn t wait to start using it. After the battery was charged opened it up and noticed the brilliant color screen was absolutely amazing. The viewing angle from left to right was nearly 180 degrees, whereas the viewing angle from top to bottom was about 30 degrees. I tested the phone with my room mate s Sony Ericsson T610 (both on t-mobile) and noticed the signal strength was pretty similar to his. I was blown away by the clarity and signal strength (since it had no antennae visible) compared to my old Sprint N400 phone.
After having the Z600 for about a year I ve been able to come up with several Pro s and Cons compared to current competition.
The Pros:
1. The battery life: Since the phone is clam shell design and the display on the outside doesn t require much battery power, the life of the battery on standby is about 3 days.
2. The Screen: The screen is protected and since it s not open all the time it is able to use a TFT color display that is brilliant. Side by side with it s brother, (T610) and the difference is like a florescent light bulb compared to a flood light. The TFT color display really shows up the old T610 display.
3. Sturdy: The Z600 is a sturdy phone. Even though I baby it since it cost me 400 dollars, the clamshell design makes it resilient to damage.
4. Clarity: The clarity of this phone is pretty good, the shape makes it sit on the side of your face pretty well.
5. Bluetooth: Bluetooth allows you to be able to hook up your phone wirelessly with your computer, other cell phones, and blue tooth headsets as well as blue tooth MP3 Players. This option is pretty cool, although I ve tired of carrying around my Bluetooth headset. It uses a little more battery power, but not enough more to notice.
The Cons:
1. The picture quality: Every camera phone should be judged by how well it takes pictures. When I bought this phone it was second best when it came to the picture quality. The Samsung E715 was number 1. when it came to picture quality, Then it was the Nokia (brick) phone and now it s the Sony Ericsson S700. (Which I m going to buy soon) There are really harsh colors and you can only take good pictures during the day time. You can forget about trying to get a picture in a low lit area like a club, bar, restaurant, night time shot etc. Most phones comparably cannot take good night photos either, but I usually take photos at night so All cell phones need to fix this.
2. Size: The size of this phone is not that tall, but it is pretty thick. At being just short of one inch thick, I think it is the thickest cell phone to come out in a long time.
3. Signal Strength: Although I was hyped to believe that the phone had one of the best signal strength, I found that it doesn t. Simply put, it doesn t. Other cell phones have just about the same coverage as this phone. There s really nothing super special, it s about average when it comes to signal strength.
4. Price: Nowadays you can find something better for the price I payed for it. You can pick this up from Expansys for about $325 which is a big rip off considering you can get a nicer phone for a couple hundred more. Seriously if you re paying $325 for a cell phone, might as well chip in 200 more and get an S700 right?
Conclusion: I m glad I purchased this cell phone. I ve had little to no complaints with it save for the camera. If you can afford it, you might as well purchase a S700 but if it s at the top of your budget range, it s a good purchase.
