3G on a good-looking shoestring: Jørgen Sundgot steals a gander at Sony Ericsson's new, tubular K600i candybar handset in Cannes.
If consumers around the world could choose one word to describe 3G handsets, what do you think it would be? Chances are it's unwieldy. Not so with the Sony Ericsson K600i, a streamlined handset with which Sony Ericsson hopes to bring 3G to the masses - and by the looks of things, the company may well be poised to repeat the success of the Sony Ericsson 610 with a carefully balanced mix of features and design.
 | | Sony Ericsson K600i |
A tad larger than its cousins in the T600 series, the K600i is nevertheless a rather small handset considering its 3G capabilities. Due out in Europe and the Asia Pacific in the third quarter of this year, the handset will offer tri-band GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 MHz connectivity as well as WCDMA 2100 MHz, and also boasts Bluetooth, Infrared and USB for short-range connectivity.
Although the finish is a tad on the slippery side, the K600i rests well in ones hand and offers the now-familiar Sony Ericsson keypad which is both spacious and ergonomically sound. Given the recent advances of competitors with regard to screen size and quality, the display found in the K600i is no longer far ahead of the pack, but with its 176 x 220 pixels and 262K colours clocks in at the upper end of the range.
 | | Sony Ericsson K600i |
In addition to a well-rounded basic functionality set, the K600i also boasts an integrated 1.3 Megapixel camera which enables video calls in addition to the usual still shots and video recording. This is accompanied by an FM radio which unfortunately couldn't be demonstrated during my hands-on session, however proven it works as intended, future owners of the K600i shouldn't find much lacking in the area of multimedia.
As was the case with the Sony Ericsson T610, Sony Ericsson seems to yet again have struck the balance between a sufficiently capable feature set and good design, and could very well end up with the K600i being a smash hit in time for Christmas. On the other hand, the K600i is facing fiercer competition than the T610 did at its time of introduction - which means Sony Ericsson better get busy spreading the gospel.
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