Full Review

4 May 2007 - Samsung continuing its "Every phone we make has to be thinner than a piece of paper" route has released what it's claiming is the world's thinnest slider phone - the SGH-U600.

At only 10.9mm thick it's pretty thin and it's amazing to think that only 10 years ago phones were about 5 times the size and only made calls.

A cross between the LG chocolate phone and the Motorola RAZR the new handset's design is dominated by a 2.2-inch screen and a series of touch sensitive buttons - hence the Chocolate reference.

Slide it open and the phone comes to life with Samsung's time sensitive, location changing wallpaper. Features of merit include a 3.2 megapixel camera and dedicated music player.

When it comes to using the phone, the interface is virtually identical to other Samsung Ultra Edition models in the range and it's fairly easy to navigate your way around the interface regardless of what phone you've used before.

Picture quality whether it's video or still photos is very good and easily equal to Sony Ericsson's K800 series, however the U600 doesn’t come with the same focus on design.

The camera for example, is only revealed once the slider is open - very similar to their D600 from all those years ago and the digital camera does take some time to boot up once you've pressed the token shutter button on the side of the handset.

Other features we especially liked is a SmartSearch feature that automatically starts offering phone numbers as you dial them in, whether they are in your contacts list or not saving you that few seconds on making the call.

In use when it came to making calls - surely the most important element - we got good caller feedback with some callers believing we were on a landline phone in a quiet office when actually we were in the back of a cab on the way to a meeting.

VERDICT
With only quad-band GSM support those looking for 3G connectivity will be disappointed, certainly considering that Sony Ericsson has managed it with its non-sliding W880i Walkman handset which is equally as thin.

That said, the U600 is a good strong handset from the Koreans, and one that most will be happy with in day-to-day use.

If you're tempted by the Chocolate, but don't want to go completely touch sensitive this will meet you in the middle.