Samsung D600e from Singapore - Comments

Nothing has gone wrong with this phone.

This phone shines in several fronts. For starters it has an excellent screen for its generation. Colours are clear and crisp.

Another outstanding part of this phone is the 2 mega pixel camera that takes excellent photos. Again for a camera of this generation it has one of the best (if not the best) in built camera. It's only with the recent 3.2mp SonyEricssons that are surpassing it.. and with that.. only by just a little bit.

The build quality is good. In comparison to some other Samsung Sliders, the sliding mechanism of the D600 is superior and the fit and finish is excellent. One niggle is that the bar that you use to slide the phone up or down is not raised sufficiently. Thus you may end up sliding the phone up/down with the screen instead.

Battery life is average. I got better mileage with my previous Nokia 7610.

One of my main issues with this phone is that the software user interface is not that well designed. For example. When you get into calendar and make an entry and then go back, you will not arrive back at a previous screen showing the month view. instead the phone will either bring you right back to the desktop or it may bring you to an option page to ask you about viewing formats. Sounds silly I know, but if you use the calendar a lot, it's a pain. I believe the new D900 address' this issue.

Also copying and pasting things like peoples contacts from sms's and all the other stuff that I used to do on my nokia is made more difficult.

Then there's the SMS issues... I can't allocate SMS memory to the sim card so my maximum is 200. In the Nokia 7610 it went into the thousands as it was restricted by the size of the memory card and for some reason, Samsung doesn't think that it's a good idea to automatically put your sent messages into the sent folder. You have to go through extra menus for that to happen.

Continuing from the main post...

It's Feb 2008 and my Samsung D600 has been with me since 2005. It has been an excellent and very very reliable phone. Still took great photos, slider still feels good. Slightly looser, but still well within tolerable acceptances.

The earpiece connector seems to be giving trouble. It disconnects sporadically. I've solved that by moving to a bluetooth earpiece instead.

With that, the bad news is that old trusty D600 has had an unfortunate plunge into the toilet. She was still able to startup and I could transfer my phone contents out of her, but the LCD was damaged, though still partially viewable.

I was quoted about USD$100 to repair the screen, but I think it's time to let it rest.

Goodbye D600, you have been a good friend. Will always remember you for your lovely slider that feels oh so expensive, and your very good LCD screen that is bright and clear, and your excellent photos. So good that one of the photos taken by the camera is being used for a coffee table book.