Words: Jason Round

The bridge between PCs and phones seems to be shrinking every day, and the latest ‘smart phone’ from Sony Ericsson, the M600i, does it all.
Set to be featured in the next Bond film, I had a whole week to feel quite the secret agent, tapping away on the touch-screen and logging onto RSS feeds, but like the Demtel man says, there’s more – a lot more.

You see, the M600i is currently the world’s smallest smart phone, with everything from Bluetooth to infrared to USB inclusive in its featherweight 112g shell.
It also features a very unique QWERTY-style keyboard with two letters assigned to each key, and although initial attempts had me swearing like a Pom in a pub brawl, it soon became clear that once mastered, it allows for seriously quick typing.

If you’re still not a fan, the M600i also includes handwriting recognition, and the scroll wheel and back button allow for easy navigation through the Symbian OS, especially for things like volume control.
On the OS, it’s probably best to think of things like a miniature Windows. You’ve got Quickoffice to handle Word docs, PDF+, a picture editor, MusicDJ for composing ringtones and a stack of other functions to make life a snap.

Overall, the phone can be a little hard to get a handle on, but once everything is set up, life is just so much easier. In particular, we liked the push email system, which sends emails to you like SMS messages, and the RSS feed compatibility to you can get constant updates from your favourite news sources.

We did find it a little odd that there’s no camera, though we probably imagine that there’s little room in there with all the functions available. Really, though, if you’re going to buy this phone, you’re probably going to be more concerned with world domination as opposed to taking pretty pictures of your girlfriend.
The good news is, however, that you don’t have to be an oil baron to own one, because they are set to retail for just $849 in either crystal white (reviewed) or very-007 black. Licence to thrill? You betcha.
For all the guff, head to www.sonyericsson.com.