Home > Consumer Reviews > Samsung U600 Sim Free Mobile Phone

Having owned a Samsung D500 a few years ago, but then converted back to Nokia when the mighty `N' series phones arrived, I received this two months ago as one of the company upgrades. Now while the phone admittedly looks very beautiful in pictures, in your hand it just feels cheap, flimsy and very, very plasticky. I'd seriously worry about the build quality of this handset since it certainly doesn't feel like a phone that could withstand the occasional knock or two.

I think a great deal of the problem is that manufacturers release so many handsets these days in very short periods of time that many of them end up only half finished. Whereas the stunning in its day D500 was around for a while and had a chunky, solid feel to it, eventually evolving into the D600, subsequent Samsungs have come thick and fast and been very much hit or miss affairs. The E900 and D900 are both very similar to proceeding handsets (and each other), all the while sampling different technologies. The U600, with its brand new looks, still transports those horrible touch sensitive buttons from the E900 that really should have been best left behind. Mine - like others in reviews - has an over-sensitive call button and often dials out at the slightest touch of a finger. Worse, the hang up button is under-sensitive meaning that the battery has sometimes had to be removed to stop the errant calls.

Since this is such a fundamental flaw of the phone, it's absolutely impossible to recommend, since anyone on a `Pay as you Go' tariff could unexpectedly find all their calling credit used up when they need it the most. Looks alone simply cannot carry this handset while it remains so flawed. Think of it as the equivalent of a car with a dripping petrol tank - you just couldn't trust it to do the job, could you?

Now that the G600 is finally out - sporting `real buttons' again - it's easy to see that the U600 is just another precursor to that handset, and anyone looking to upgrade their current phone should definitely go for the G600.

I bought this phone for my wife's birthday and we've struggled to use it due to the very poor instruction booklet. She is upgrading from an older Samsung flip phone. It's not even very good if it's supposed to be a 'quick start guide'. We tried downloading from the Samsung web site but it's the same. The phone and all its features seem fantastic - but this is hardly good if you can't easily work them. I'm a fully paid-up technophile and would normally sit happily for hours persisting with this, but got frustrated and advised her to take it back. How can a piece of technology be considered to be fit for purpose if the instructions are inadequate?

Anyway, I vacillate on this and today suggest we should persist. One of the first things I tried was uploading 240 x 320 pixel standard JPEG pictures of the people in her contacts list so the phone would show a picture when that person calls. However, PC suite tells me I can't but doesn't provide an explanation. Hence I didn't bother moving on to uploading MP3 files.

My wife struggled to turn off the key sounds and only found the answer on one of the many online discussion forums mentioning the same problems. The answer involved something illogical like turning off the pen animation when dialling a number!

This is the cost of being loyal to one brand. I'm glad I bought a 40 inch Sony LCD Bravia TV rather than a Samsung now despite someone advising me that the Samsung software was easier to use!

This phone is a great phone in all
ways apart from 1 thing. It wont text!!!

when I press send it gets half-way through and then it stops!
apart from that it is great.
It is really stylish and thin so you can put it in your pocket
and people cant see it! its cam is great and its nearly as good as a
digital cam.

the touch buttons are not a problem for me as I have small fingers.
but I did ring up a few people but I dont have good reception in the house so they didn't work.

this is a great phone if you never makee texts
there is better.

This phone is the best phone i have ever had and beleive me i have had a lot the memory on it is superb and it is really easy to use.

Awkward: Texting is awkward. Menu try getting to Settings no 12 on the menu or Applications no 11 you'll get menu selection 1 the Call Log.

Touch sesitive: not with gloves on

Slow: Autofocus takes seconds as does loading pictures and MP3s.

Fragile: The screen cracked within days of light use.

Battery time can be extended if you turn the backlight down so you can't see anything in daylight

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