15 replies to this topic

[Monolithix]

With all the excitement over the excellent HTC S710 the Samsung i600 has been out of the spotlight slightly in recent weeks.  It's been available in the US for a while now as the Blackjack on Cingular however Smartphony.fr are reporting that Orange France will be picking up the European tri-band version!

Full specs are at detailed at Smartphony but heres a quick overview:

• Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone (AKU 3.x)
  
• 240x320 Resolution screen
  
• GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA/BT+A2DP/WiFi (!)
  
• Full QWERTY/AZERTY keyboard

All in an ultra compact design, what a device!  While the parallels with Blackberry's are fairly apparently in my eyes its also fairly strong competition against the S710, with the extra 3G and HSDPA connectivity of the i600 making up for its slightly more awkward form factor.  Hopefully we'll get the chance to choose between the two here in the UK!

Source (in slightly funky Google-translated English):[Smartphony.fr], Original link: [Smartphony.fr]

[laphroaig007]

hello

SFR (french GSM operator) already launched the Samsung (SGH-)i600V since february 2007 ! i600V stands for i600 with Vodafone specs (mainly specific themes), as Vodafone and SFR have close relationships.

[chucky.egg]

Typical, I just ordered mine from the US
SIM Free at £275 (incl shipping) from www.hi-mobile.net

[Monolithix]

laphroaig007:  OK, finally crosses to Orange   Bear in mind we saw this last July at the MoDaCo Summer Event, after which it disappeared.  Its good to see O decided to keep it on their books!

[sxywill2005]

Monolithix (MVP), on Apr 11 2007, 10:44, said:

laphroaig007:  OK, finally crosses to Orange   Bear in mind we saw this last July at the MoDaCo Summer Event, after which it disappeared.  Its good to see O decided to keep it on their books!

A few things never came out from the MoDaCo Summer Event    It was a real shame as they were all really good handsets IMO.

Speaking of which, when is the next one? Could you invite HTC seen as they are a new "brand" now. I am sure they would make an excellent guest. Sorry I am speaking to early...

[neilg]

I got one of these eventually - interstingly like the SGH-i320 the burnt in settings were for Vodafone Portugal.....(Device was unbranded and SIM free)

Not much chance to use it yet, but initial thoughts (compared to SGH-i320 and HTC MteOR) are:
Keypad Buttons MUCH better
System Volume seems a bit quieter than my SGH-i320
Quick Launch - seems great (not sure what the % at the bottom is for, signal or battery as they are both about the same at the moment)
Card Wheel Homescreen - liking it so far
HSDPA - Great, makes a great modem as well which charges off the USB at the same time.  Whenever I am in HSDPA coverage I do not seem to be able ot make a call until after about 3 attempts it drops down to 3G again and then connects...
WLAN - Having a few problems, seems OK when SSID is Visible, couldnt find the MAC on the box anywhere and if I turn off the SSID on my Access Point after connection the WLAN disappears from the i600 Wireless Manager Menu!  (May be meant to I haven't read the manual properly yet!)
Usual push email knobs and whistes that mean it is great for work
Battery Life - comparable to i320, even with a LOT of talking and using as a modem,. email etc.  One disadvantage is that the spare battery doesnt seem to charge directly off USB like the i320 did.  (The phone charges fine of USB but the batter alone doesn't)
.....and the best part.....finally.........I can send business cards (details at least) via SMS as well as full vCard by MMS.  This certainly wasn't on my version of the i320 (also WM5) or any of the other WM Smartphones I have had without a third party app. Hoorah.

If this had GPS and a 3 year talk time I may well have found my perfect device, but so far seems as close as I have ever got!!

[Monolithix]

Yep.  If the i-mate Jaq4 wasnt such a big ugly bugger i think Samsung would have had a problem on their hands.  GPS built in is certainly the next step now!

[Tomas Kocanda]

Just for your information - SGH-i600 is in O2 at Czech Republic with retail price around 380EUR.
Version is simmilar to other european distributions - 3G, EDGE, HSDPA, WiFi...
Bundled with Picsel Viewer and few other SW toys, what makes life easier.
Only one serious problem - no support for advanced bluetooth, what makes connection with car kits really low level. No support for contacts transfers, advanced SIM operations etc... It is problem of all european i600 what I had chance to test.

WiFi is great, but speed of the phone is not enough to run Skype in voice call mode. Everything else is just fantastic. This phone will be a storm here.

I think, we should think about opening new section for device specific issues - i600 (old) and new i600 will cause confusions. We should have new device specific section at MoDaCo - Samsung SGH-i600 (european BlackJack) or so...

If you want any details about this phone, just let me know. I am lucky enough to have one piece for some time for testing...

T.

[jackofall]

Hi Tomas,

Are you still able to pair with a bluetooth GPS and if so how is Sat Nav performance on the Samsung?

Thanks

[sparkymodaco]

chucky.egg, on Apr 11 2007, 09:34, said:

Typical, I just ordered mine from the US
SIM Free at £275 (incl shipping) from www.hi-mobile.net

I was thinking of buying from here, are they reliable?

[chucky.egg]

Hi-Mobile are reliable, in my very limited experience.
Very fast shipping, via Fedex, and with no import tax payable (not sure why)

I haven't had the phone long enough to say how reliable that is.  Seems really good so far though

It did make me laugh that I ordered from a US compan, who shipped from Hong Kong, but the phone says "Made in Finland" (or somewhere like that)

[Tomas Kocanda]

jackofall, on Apr 13 2007, 10:14, said:

Hi Tomas,

Are you still able to pair with a bluetooth GPS and if so how is Sat Nav performance on the Samsung?

Thanks

Hi,
I did not test GPS. Since using my new Zumo from Garmin, it makes no sense to use GPS on tiny screen. But pairing itself (HF functions only) works fine. Only any advanced features are not working.

T.-

[laphroaig007]

neilg, on Apr 12 2007, 10:09, said:

I got one of these eventually - interstingly like the SGH-i320 the burnt in settings were for Vodafone Portugal.....(Device was unbranded and SIM free)
...
WLAN - Having a few problems, seems OK when SSID is Visible, couldnt find the MAC on the box anywhere and if I turn off the SSID on my Access Point after connection the WLAN disappears from the i600 Wireless Manager Menu! (May be meant to I haven't read the manual properly yet!)
...

hello neilg

I have the answer for your question regarding MAC address. Just find AdminSettings.exe file in Windows directory on your smartphone Samsung i600.
While exploring all options, you'll be able to find the MAC address in order to add it to your wifi router...

[MotoBaller]

this is the one with the wifi too as well? and can still work with 3G provided by Cingular correct?

[chucky.egg]

Yes to 3G and WiFi, but I can't vouch for the Cingular 3G (I think it's 2100 on the device)

[Monolithix]

Yeah it won't work with Cingular 3G, European 2100MHz on the i600, American 1900MHz on the i607.