Larry Garfield sits down with the Motorola V600, a sleek but massive executive phone with a camera, Bluetooth, and quad-band GSM support.
Exterior
The clamshell-designed Motorola V600 is about average size at 88.9 x 48.2 x 22.8 mm when closed, but very heavy at 124 grams, considerably more than some handhelds. The overall design is very clearly an "executive" look, with black and chrome highlights inside and out.
 | The V600 is a snazzy executive model, but with some notable flaws
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The internal screen is a 16-bit color TFT display measuring 176 x 220 pixels ? incidentally the same as that of Microsoft?s Windows Mobile for Smartphone platform, and is very crisp and bright. The external display on the front cover is a simple monochromatic display with deep blue backlight: nothing fancy, but readable. The camera lens is embedded in the top outer face of the phone, small and sunken and off-center with a small vanity mirror centered next to it. Below it is another "executive" touch, a series of LED rings around the Motorola logo that pulse in various colors when a call is incoming or the phone is charging.
All of the usual keys are present, along with an extra menu key above the 5-way directional pad. However, for no apparent reason the Call and Hang-up buttons are reversed, with Call on the right, contrary to nearly every other mobile phone in existence. All have a pleasant white backlight, save for Call and Hang-up which are green and red, respectively. The antenna is external and roughly 15 mm long.
The left side of the phone includes a volume rocker as well as a ringer settings button that lets the user quickly change the ringer (and LED ring) settings, while the right side includes a dedicated voice dial button.
Ergonomics
With the exception of the weight, the V600 is overall well-built with a good feel in the hand. Buttons are large with a very slight stylized dip, and while greater key travel would be appreciated, they were still blind-dial friendly. The backlighting on the keys is also very easy on the eye. The only problem with the keypad is the reversal of the Call and Hang-up buttons, which will likely confuse many users. The directional pad is comfortable, but a bit close to the Call and Hang-up buttons to avoid their being hit regularly by accident when playing games.
Features
The V600 is a quad-band GSM/GPRS phone, supporting 850/900/1800/1900 MHz networks around the world. The software suite is fairly standard for this range of phone, including a PIM suite, SMS and MMS messaging, Wireless Village messaging support, and an email client capable of both POP3 and IMAP4. Text input is via multi-tap or T9 with predictive text, and the phone supports both polyphonic ring tones and Java-based games. All of these are fairly standard, although IMAP4 support is welcome. There is also a small but useful video player.
The integrated camera is typical 0.3 Megapixel resolution with no flash, but with the aforementioned vanity mirror. Image quality was overall fairly good, and the 4x digital zoom worked well, as did the adjustable brightness. The phone includes 5 MB of RAM for images and additional software and ring tones, which is more than most phones these days.
The V600 also includes Bluetooth support, but cannot initiate a pairing with another device except for Handsfree profile devices. Other devices are able to connect to it, however. Why it would not support bi-directional pairing remains a mystery.
Performance
The Motorola V600 had good reception in our tests. As mentioned, most features are well designed, and the menu system is reasonable and straightforward. Audio quality was also fine, both through the phone and through the included earpiece.
The phone includes a basic charging cable, and the removable 700 mAh Lithium Ion battery is rated for 4 hours talk time or 200 hours standby, which is more or less accurate.
Availability
The Motorola V600 is available now through various carriers for $370 USD without service agreement. Price with service will vary with the carrier.
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