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SonyEricsson M600 ReviewSam Stephens, 25th June 2006 |
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IntroductionThe M600 is the first Symbian OS 9.1/UIQ 3.0 device to be released by SonyEricsson. It was announced on 6th February 2006 and has been commercially available from around May/June. The M600i is a new addition to SonyEricsson's smartphone line-up and is clearly targeted as an e-mail device to compete with Blackberry-esque devices such as the Blackberry 8700, Nokia E61 and Motorola Q. SonyEricsson have seen much success with the P-series smartphones as fully featured all-in-one devices and the addition of a new range is pleasing to see.
It is a tri-band (GSM 900/1800/1900Mhz) and 3G (UMTS 2100Mhz) phone allowing world-wide connectivity. However, it lacks EDGE or a GSM 850Mhz variant for North America. It also offers a host of local connectivity options including Bluetooth, Infra-red and USB (with a compatible cable), however, it does lack Wi-Fi. I am basing my review on an early release M600i with no operator customisation and with the firmware version seen to the right: EDIT, while writing this review a new firmware has been released, I have updated the screenshot, and ammended any comments that hav been resolved. HardwareStraight-away the packaging highlights the effort SonyEricsson have put into making this smartphone into a stylish package. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the M600 is the form-factor, gone is the sense that style and size have to be sacrificed in the name of technical specifications. It is slim (only 15mm) and light (only 112g) compared to its only real predecessor from SonyEricsson, the P-series. Despite the reduction in size and weight SonyEricsson have managed to maintain a feeling of quality and durability that surpasses the P910.
It comes in two colour variants, the no-nonsense Granite Black and the iPod-chic Crystal White. The handset has a dual-function QWERTY keyboard (and regional variants) with a number pad; it also sports a 3-way jog-dial, back button and one further customisable hardware button – all working in conjunction with the large 320x240, 262K colour touch-screen. The keypad itself has a unique layout, with two letters per button and a concave profile allowing either side of the button to be pressed easily. This lends itself equally to one-hand or two-hand operation, but does take a bit of getting used to. Although this is an unusual idea it allows the keys to be much larger than if each letter resided on a separate key. The buttons give a nice response and they are spaced far enough apart to avoid accidental presses on the neighbouring keys. In text input mode a The Jog-dial has been pared down from a 5-way system seen in earlier SonyEricsson phones to only 3-way, but with the introduction of a separate physical back-button just below the jog-dial. This is a step backward in functionality and ease of use in many ways in my opinion reduces. SonyEricsson claim it is a decision based on user feedback as many struggled with the forward and back motions using the 5-way. This is an issue based solely on user-preference and does not result in any real loss of overall functionality when you consider the presence of the back button. On a positive note, it does feel solid and after a week of use I have adjusted well to the new functions. 
The jog-dial itself is less prominent than that on the P-series, recessed behind a moulding in the case above the jog-dial. It is ideally situated for use with the thumb
The screen is crisp and bright, slightly larger (in terms of resolution) than that of the P910 but physically, slightly smaller than both the On the base of the phone is SonyEricsson's new Fast-Port connector allowing the
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SoftwareAs I mentioned, the M600 is the first device available to operate on UIQ 3.0 a Symbian OS 9.1 user interface. In this section of the review I am going to try and highlight as many of the features of this new platform and also compare them with UIQ 2.1 where applicable. This is an entirely new platform with many changes from UIQ 2.1. It is beyond my undrestanding of programming to fully explain the intricacies of the changes. Suffice to say that UIQ 3.0 is not backwardly compatible with UIQ 2.x applications as a result of a new security model and new hardware support (I think). What I can tell you with some certainty is UIQ has received a major facelift in terms of appearance and also the functionality has been significantly modified.
Probably the most successful application for UIQ2.x was SMan, a task manager, so it is good to see this as a standard feature in the new UIQ. The task manager is entirely new for UIQ 3.0 and allows fast application switching and management. In the first firmware version there was an issue with it not displaying accurate memory usage (see the third screenshot for an example), but this has been resolved in the latest firmware (see the second screenshot). All in all it is quite satisfactory and gives you your five most recent applications and the Activity menu and Main menu as default and there is an "Open" tab that allows you to view all your open applications and switch between them, end one or all as required. Of course it has the standard PIM features such as e-mail, contacts, calendar, tasks, notes and packs a web browser (Opera 8.6) and throws in QuickOffice for document viewing (Word, Excel & Power Point) and creation/editing (Word & Excel) on the move. The e-mail client supports both IMAP and POP3 accounts, with support for push-e-mail services being offered by third party applications (the only one available at the time of writing is Exchange ActiveSync that I have not tested, though I understand it is essentially a port of DataViz's RoadSync for UIQ 2.x).
As you can see there are a number of settings available to you and I am pleased to report that even googlemail is now (following the latest update) fully supported by the built in client. The settings are quick and easy to access. You can also set up a scheduled download of your e-mail at 3 set times during the day or by intervals as short as 1 minute, and this can then be limited further to only check between two times, for example 09:00 to 17:00. This is a very useful feature, particularly while the push e-mail solutions are not yet released.
Contacts  
Phew, I bet you were wondering if there was more text to come. You know what they say, a picture says a thousand words. So, there is the contacts application. Things to note are the loss of a search function on any field and you are limited to search by the first item in you current sort, and you are limited to four sorting options; First name, Last name; Last name, First name; Company name, First name; Company name, Last name. This is a major reduction in functionality for many users, though I think most standard searches will be covered by these options, even if it is a bit fiddly to keep changing your sorting options. Some positive improvements since UIQ 2.x is the introduction of groups as well as folders, this mirrors the function in Microsoft Outlook and one contact can be assigned to many groups (I have yet to test this as my P910 and UIQ 2.x made me live without groups). Another small but very practical addition is that of a backup and restore option, saving the contacts database to the M2 memory card. I can report that this feature works as one would hope and provides a simple and fast backup without the need for PC connectivity.
Calendar
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The M600 has a combination of business features and sleek styling. The UIQ 3.0 platform offers functionality and customisation to suit the most demanding of users with a wide range of third-party push e-mail solutions actively being developed as well as other productivity applications and games. Aesthetically the M600 moves away the concept that smartphones must be large, unwieldy and cumbersome. It is one of the thinnest devices in its class and is pleasingly tasteful and understated.
The box mirrors the phone’s design beautifully and awakens a sense of anticipation. In the box you will find the phone and battery (BST-33), a charger (CST-75), a data cable (DCU-60), a stereo hands free kit (very-like the HPM-20 but with a Fast-Port connector), a user-guide and software CD. 
ll of the standard keypad keys are available and with SHIFT and ALT function keys the most commonly used characters can be accessed quickly. The keypad automatically adjusts to the mode of use so in the standby screen the number pad is enabled without the need to press ALT. The keypad is also fully illuminated allowing use in complete darkness.
of the left-hand or the fore-finger of the right, approaching from the back of the phone. It provides individual clicks that can be felt when scrolling and gives a satisfying response when using it to select. Navigation in many menus also requires the use of the left and right arrows either side of the space bar, this is a little more awkward to achieve one-handed, but quite usable. The back button is easy to access but a little too smooth for my liking and is sometimes tricky to locate as it does not give a lot of physical feedback.
P910i and P990. You may have noticed the lack of common mobile phone buttons for "send" and "end" call buttons. These are handled by way of 3 virtual buttons using the bottom 5mm of the screen. They are easy to access and change depending on menu and functions available, commonly comprising a "select", "cancel/back" and "more" option. They provide an intuitive and adaptive interface for the use of may different applications without the constraints of physical buttons. To some it may be a concern to be touching the screen so frequently and for these people a screen-protector is a must. The rest of the screen's menus and icons are a little too small for use without the stylus. The stylus is identical in size to that of its predecessors and that is a little too small for comfortable use in my hands. The P990 has a marginally longer stylus, but this is enough to improve the ergonomics, it is a shame that SonyEricsson could not include the extra few millimetres for the M600 also. Another small change that will take some adjusting to is that the stylus is now stored on the left side as opposed to the right for previous SonyEricsson touch screen devices. 
connection of many different accessories including charger, hands-free and data-cable. There is also the Memory Stick Micro (M2) slot allowing 
expandable memory, in the box you get a 64MB card but cards up to 1GB are currently available. Just above this is a customizable button defaulting to the e-mail client. It has nice protruding guides, if these were applied to the back button they would negate my criticism, alas, they are not. One thing to note is the relative position to the jog-dial of this button, on the M600 it is placed slightly higher, thus you avoid accidentally pressing it when trying to use the jog-dial to select an item. The same cannot be said for the P990, though I did only use it for a short time I inadvertently caught the e-mail button a dozen times or so. Finally, at the top of the phone there is the stylus silo, infra-red port and power button.
On the left we have the "Activity Menu" and from here you can access 5 shortcut icons across the bottom of the screen (all customisable), view your Today screen showing the day's tasks, appointments and messages. Navigation is by way of the jog-dial and back key, arrow buttons on the keyboard and the soft-keys on the screen, or obviously with the stylus direct on the screen. When in the Activity Menu the keyboard is automatically enabled as a number pad, allowing easy dialling for calls. The only element of the interface that is always visible is the system bar at the top of the screen. This displays information on the current status of the phone such as power, signal, active connections and notifications. There is also the task manager icon on the right and the start icon on the left. This is quite a change from UIQ 3.0 as this used to have 6 icons that were permanently visible. This is possibly what has taken the biggest adjustment in terms of usage for me. However, having gotten used to it now it seems logical and easy. Another adjustment is the lack of permanent icons in the system bar, so if Bluetooth is not enabled there is no icon. Time and volume were fixed in the system bar of UIQ 2.x but are now only accessible through the new "Start" icon. this also offers a host of other features such as quick access to your connections and also the option to create any new event or file supported by the OS. 
I shall now take a look at the Opera Browser. The start page appears to be fixed (at least I can't change or delete it) but offers you a Google search box and also some links to SonyEricsson content and tools. You ca open pages in the existing tab or you can create a new window accessible as tabs. Bookmarks can be created but the Open tool stores a history of recent URLs. In every screen you can amend the zoom from 20% to 200%, this is a little extreme but at 80% text is still readable (middle right) and 100% it is more than comfortable (middle left) but up to 130% should allow even those who wear glasses comfortable browsing experience without loosing the shape of the site too badly. There were some issues in early versions that affected the rendering of some page elements at certain zoom levels, these seem to have been ironed out in the latest version. Pages can be viewed in both standard format, requiring scrolling left and right and up and down, and in a fit-to-screen mode shown in the middle screen shots. You can also view in full-screen in portrait mode and only full-screen in landscape mode. This maximises the viewable area and makes browsing sites quite comfortable and with the 3G connection speeds this is no longer an exercise that requires the patience of a saint. As you can see here the task manager is available in the menu when in full-screen as the task manager icon is not visible, this is the same for all full-screen applications I have tried. The browser is quite system intensive and in the earlier firmware caused most background applications to ab
ort. This seems to be rectified now, but with a number of pages open it is still possible to over-stretch it and cause some background apps to close. The browser supports secure site (https://) access and offers password managemet so there is no need to re-type usernames and passwords repeatedly. There are other normal browser features such as the ability to save pages for off-line viewing, history, enabling JavaScript, pop-up handling, enabling of images/animation/plug-ins and cookies. All in all I think the Opera browser is nice and straightforward and once the number short-cuts are used it is very efficient (you have to press and ALT and ten the number key). The only drawback is that it is in fit-to-screen mode by default an there is no short-cut, so out comes the stylus if you are not a fan of that mode. 
As I mentioned the M600 also functions as a phone, how very retro, and the standard communication methods of SMS, MMS and also video calls (despite not having a camera, you will have the pleasure of anonymity while being able to see the other party in all their glory). It does not support fax, a drawback for some, but I guess you already have a communicator if that is an issue for you. You can save 9 speed contacts and this also supports contact photos, but seems to do degrade the quality quite significantly to make them a particular size. If a contact has two numbers you cannot specify two separate images, but you can have two seperate text tags. Once in a call the quality is good, both in standard speaker mode, speaker phone and using th supplied stereo hands free kit. The in call menu is geared toward communication and you can share info via SMS, MMS or send a contact vCard, create a task or note automatically saved under the caller's name and the time of the call. Another nice touch is if you busy out a call you get a menu allowing you to create a quick and easy follow-up task, a great little feature. 
In any text entry mode you have the option of the qwerty keyboard or the JotPro handwriting recognitions from early UIQ 2.x SonyEricsson devices. There is now also he addition of predictive text and as you can see after typing the fist two letter various alternatives are provided at the top of the screen which can be accepted by tapping the relevant word or by using the arrow keys to highlight the desired word and then using the return key to accept it. if the word you want is highlighted initially a simple tap on the screen or return accepts it. This offers very fast text input and once the rocker keys are mastered and you are thinking in QWERTY for your handheld (a bit of an adjustment for me, but those of you used to Treos, Blackberrys or Communicators should have no trouble at all) There is also an auto-capitalization feature that speeds up text entry and makes it neater, but no auto-space after you have accepted a word. 
