Probably the coolest of my personal acquisitions over the last few years, the Z600 is a top little phone. I won't go overboard on all the features as it does most things that other modern phones do; camera, outlook sync, wap, enhanced messaging, polyphonic ring tones, Bluetooth technology. But I thought I'd point out a couple of features that I have found particularly nice. Bare in mind that I'm not a hardcore phone user by any stretch of the imagination, I just happened to need a replacement for my dying little T28s for my new job and this really stood out as replacement material. So what's it like?
The coolest thing about the phone is it has several one-touch functions, in other words you don't have to go navigating through the main menu and sub-menus to get to the section you want to get to. Left joystick opens a new SMS, down joystick takes you straight to your phone book; these two would be the most commonly used I figure and how nice to hit one button and be there. There are a couple of other control buttons above the main keypad that also have one-touch functions on them including turning the camera mode on, a function menu including turning on blue tooth, infra red and silent mode etc, and another taking you to a list of the most recently incoming and outgoing calls. Nice. The main menu is pretty heavy, you've got nine main menus staring at you and it took me a good couple of days to work out where the simple stuff was located.
Also nice is the actual aesthetics of the phone. Its what's called a clamshell design and they're popping up everywhere, you've no doubt scene them. Well this one isn't too slim without feeling like it'll fall out of your hand, and also comes with interchangeable covers. The blue you see above is the colour I have but there are heaps available. And having a 65 million colour screen? Well its overkill for a phone isn't it, but hey, why not. Also on the exterior is a little digital display, this shows incoming callers' numbers as well as the time, signal strength and battery life without having to open the phone out. Its a great touch.
Here's a little pic I took (in B&W) of Kaos trying to decide if hanging out inside my car while its moving was such a good idea after all...
The Z600 has a little brother, the Z200, and it is a far superior looking phone in terms of style (the external analogue clock is a spesh), but it lacks a little of the functionality I needed for my job. That was the only thing that turned me off it. So with that in mind, and the Z200 coming in at around four hundred bucks cheaper, that'd be your value for money option. For functionality and performance though, you can't go past the Z600 in comparison.
I suspect this may turn some Nokia folk towards defecting, in fact I know someone who has already...
Tops!