While RIM (research in motion) the owners of the blackberry have been tied up in legal wranglings in the states Sony Ericsson have quietly been taking on push email culminating in the launch of the M600i. Our chaps first got their paws on the M600i at the CeBit show back in February and it is fast approaching its expected UK launch in April 2006.

Measuring 107 x 57 x 15 mm and weighing 112 grams the Sony Ericsson M600i is wafer thin and challenges the moto range including the V3 in the office "how slim is your phone" stakes. It is key that the M600i impresses business users as it is clearly targeted at them, there is no camera included but then how many business users actually need a phone to take snap shots?

Instead the super slim 600i packs features many of us expected to arrive on the P990i first, based on the Symbian 9.1 operating system and the UIQ 3.0 platform it certainly and is at the cutting edge of phone technology. Sony have ensured that the M600i is both 3G and GSM Tri band enabled meaning you can roam almost everywhere and choose the faster data of 3G where available.

Central to the phones super slim design is the 2.6" 420 x 320 pixel resolution display which looks stunning in the iPod Nano like device. Under this lies the key to Ericsson's attack on the blackberry the unique 2 letter per key keypad, this works by using opposite edges of the key for each letter. It is a tad fiddly and takes a little getting used too but after a few minutes at CeBit we soon had the knack of it and were able to type emails quite quickly.

This is the key test of Sony's new smartphone as they have majored on data and emails rather than multimedia and gimmicks. So Ericsson have decided not to pitch up with some proprietary push email service but enable their device to work with a whole host of them, including Blackberry connect, anywhere, Altexia, Intellisync, MS exchange active sync, Seven and Ericsson's own mobile office. We were able to witness a demo with both Ericsson's mobile office and with MS active Sync, both worked well and made email as simple as using text messaging with an alert when an email is pushed to you rather than having to go look.

So the email works great but what is it like to drive. We've already mentioned the dual key system but there is also the return of an old friend the Sony mobile jog key. This 3 way jog controller makes navigating menus and scrolling through emails so simple, it is rather suspicious that it makes a come back on the device that hopes to take down the blackberry which also sports a jog wheel. However combined with the touch sensitive screen it makes for a unique and rewarding user experience, its so simple to send a mail or open one to read, just tap the screen, no need for the stylus a finger will work just as well.

Aside from the main 3G / GSM connectivity you can also hook up via Bluetooth to work hands free, plus SE have added proper support for the audio gateway meaning audio tracks played back can be transmitted via Bluetooth to a headset. The only other form of connection is a USB 2.0 port for high speed transfer via cable to a suitable PC.

Storage is taken care of with around 80mb of internal memory although this is quickly reduced by loading applications and contacts, instead the main storage comes from a micro memory stick. It's good to see Sony Ericsson adopting the smaller memory stick storage as an alternate to Nokias use of RS MMC cards, the unit ships with a 64mb memory stick but it will go up to 1gb at least (and the theoretical limit is a whopping 32gb).

Battery life is good if you stick to the GSM signals, with around 7 hours talk time and 14 days on standby but switch to the 3G signal and you can expect those 2 times to halve, which still means a respectable performance.

Using the Sony Ericsson M600i for a brief spell we were not able to really put it though its paces, more to leaf through the features and make a few calls. It appears a very useable phone and in comparison to a blackberry it is much more comfortable to use, in fact its better than most phones available today with a lovely screen and a great combination of true touch screen and jog wheel. Perhaps our only real gripe is the lack of WiFi which is becoming an essential on a business smartphone and will be available on other offerings like the new Nokia N80.

Overall we think Sony Ericsson have got it spot on and the blackberry may become an endangered fruit.

Published - 09/04/2006

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