Samsung G600 review

Samsung G600 Review

Reviewed by: Andrew Lim

Reviewed on: 3 August 2007

If there's one thing Samsung knows how to do really well it's make very thin phones crammed with lots of features. This time round it has pumped out one with a 5-megapixel camera that's only 15mm thin -- 6mm slimmer than the Nokia N95, the only other 5-megapixel camera phone currently on the market.

The Samsung G600 will be available on several networks soon for free on a monthly contract.

Design
The G600 isn't the most revolutionary-looking handset in the world and sticks very close to Samsung's traditional slider phone layout. It's not ugly, but it doesn't have the wow-factor of slider phones such as the LG Chocolate or Shine.

It comes in a rather tame two-toned grey casing that keeps in line with the Samsung's generally serious aesthetic -- it certainly won't raise any eyebrows. What will impress you, given its feature set, is how slim it is, measuring a compact 15mm thin.

The G600 has a large, bright screen that's easy to view

Average looks aside, the G600 feels good to hold and use. Its screen is large enough to view without squinting, there are no annoying touch-sensitive keys to press and the keypad is usable. The camera on the back is also well protected behind the slide.

Features
The G600's 5-megapixel camera is by far its star feature, which is probably why Samsung decided to keep it nice and safe behind the slide mechanism. You access it by opening the phone and then pressing the dedicated shutter button on the side.

Pressing this shutter button very gently in camera mode activates the autofocus, which takes a bit of getting used to as it's very sensitive. The camera lets you adjust a variety of settings, including picture size and flash mode.

The G600's keypad is well laid-out and easy to press

The G600's flash is unfortunately only an LED photo light that doesn't illuminate as well as a xenon flash, such as the one found on the Sony Ericsson K810i. You can whack the ISO up to 800 but the shots come out far grainier. Aside from taking photos, you can also use the G600 to shoot video.