Sony Ericsson Z600
Average Ratings
Decent phone... better than the T610
While on vacation in Florida, my SE T610 was completely destroyed. :( In my search for a replacement, I made the mistake of buying a Motorola V600 on an impulse. It looked nice... great screen, nice camera, pretty solid construction, flip-phone, and yes BLUETOOTH!!!
I was sad to find out that after spending hundreds for that piece of crap, I had to spend another $60 to do any data networking via bluetooth.
So, I found the Z600. Flip phone with bluetooth and because it's a Sony Ericsson, I know I can do all the data work I want on my Apple and Clie.
Pros:
- Better screen than the T610... nice and bright!
- It's a flip phone!
- Bluetooth and IR that works great with all the laptops and handhelds I've tried it with.
- LED caller ID on the outside
- It has a camera
- Customizable with removable faceplates
Cons:
- Feels cheap to me... flimsy plastic that's prone to scratches and dings.
- A little bulky for a flip phone... or it least it kinda looks bulky and unattractive.
- Would've been nice to have a little larger external display as the one it was is a little hard to read.
- WAP browser only supports WAP 2.0... no 1.2. It appears this prevents me from accessing the TZones WAP page.
- Images on WAP browser are fuzzier than on the T610
- Camera is only about 100K pixels
The phone looked A LOT nicer on the website. But it works well, it's a flip-phone, and no pesky antennae sticking out to poke me in my pocket. If SE had just made the design a bit more solid, upgraded the camera to at least 310K, and designed a better WAP browser... this phone would be almost perfect.
Oh, a speakerphone would've been nice too... but I can live without it since I have a great bluetooth headset.
finally - a good SE phone
The RF performance of this phone on GSM 1900 is excellent. It actually rivals the best Nokias.
Sound quality is good - a little high pitched and harsh, but the reproduction is good.
Of course, the phone has Bluetooth and 4+1 GPRS. It works well for data and syncs nicely with a Macintosh using isync.
I've been avoiding SE phones for the last couple of years due to issues with RF performance, but finally here is an SE phone which I is very usable.
Of course, the design is wonderful. It reminds me of my Powerbook. Someone actually paid attention to the physical design of the phone. The Z600 is a pleasure to hold and use.
If it had GSM 850 and Class 8 or 10 EDGE, it would be the perfect phone.
Z600 vs T610
Have been using the T610 and Z600, I stay with the Z600.
The color screen is much improved than the old T610, also the speed of the Menu is much faster than before. Been using it for a week and loving it. Oh the loud speaker works and I will be able to hear the ringtone now without missing lots of phone calls, thx to SE for the great job.
Now, just hope the IST-22 color cover will be release sooner so that I can change the color of the phone.
p.s. Quality of the phone is real good, just like the T610, not made by some cheap material.
SCORE: 90+ :)
Bluetooth performance
I've had this phone for a month and my biggest problem is one I didn't expect: its bluetooth isn't all that great. I had a Siemens S55 before this phone and was pleasantly surprised that I could connect to it with my PowerBook when it was upstairs and I was downstairs, far outside bluetooth's normal range even in my tiny duplex. I hoped that the z600 would have similar performance. Not so; I'm lucky if I can connect from 10 feet away. Worse, even with its crappy range, having the phone connected to the computer is murder on the phone's normally excellent battery. (I never noticed a big drain with my S55.) Lastly, it doesn't seem to reliably send textos or report calls with the OS X address book. (It seems to work OK with BluePhoneMenu though, which is better anyway.) A Siemens might be a better bet if bluetooth is important to you.
A good phone .. but
Have had it for about 1 week.
Pros:
Right form factor, good features,
bright display (compared to 610).
Very good sound quality.
Cons:
- Shaky software, games crash
-- RF pefromance?
-- Battery ? Surely not 8.3 days as advertised, more like 4 days on standby.
-- Plastic faceplates are teenager thing, scratch easily.
-- The RF performance appears to be a bit erratic. Signal fades from -/1/2 bars to SOS.
The signal at my location is week, so it might not be this phone, however Nokia 3650 had better RF performance at this location.
-- Camera button is at the wrong place (on the side), it's not a every day feature so the button should be more hidden than be on the side where it can be pressed all the time.
Otherwise an excellent phone, if it had slightly better RF performance, I would never return it.
Z600 - Near Perfect!
Just purchased it last December 2004. Here's what I observed:
PROs:
- bright display
- sound quality it produces is loud and clear
- nice clam shell design w/ snap-lock
- can read texts easily because of multiple line in one screen
- bluetooth and infrared capability
- the phonebook is very well organized
- the icons look very professional
CONs:
- standby time is not 8 days but 4-5 days
- low memory and not expandable
- external display is too small to be read
- picture taken is not too sharp and usually contains grains.
- bulky in pocket because of its thickness
To summarize, I like the Z600 because although it's new, it has so many features that is almost near perfect in performance. I'll be waiting for an upgrade of this unit in the future.
Cool phone!
this is a good phone. Spawning from the T610, it's a nice flip... a little thick, and the camera still sucks. However, the functionality is superb! Original design! Week signal under some carriers!
YAY z600
wow, this phone is amazing, i was either gonna get the z600 or the t637, but i stuck with the z600. after using the SE T300 and T310 i eventually got fed up with bar phones, and i absolutely DESPISE the T616 with a PASSION GRRR, so i just said NO to the t637.the t616 has a very very very poor screen when compared to the z600, and you can't even customize it.
the z600 comes way way way more fully loaded.
since i'm a guy, i really don't mind the nice strong build of the phone, plus you get to change face plates.the resolution of the screen will keep you satisfied for a very long time, and my z600 came with 5 already loaded games, which was great!
In terms of people's reaction to this phone, they tend to think "too big" when they first see it, but once you open the screen, show them the bright beautiful display, and wonderful layout of the keys, they too start to become believers! ha ha!
Also, i am on a 2 year contract with this phone, which is great, whereas the deal for the t637 was a 3 year contract (3 years, give me a break).
