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Recently I had consider to change my current Dopod 838 Pro to a new phone, maybe something based on Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone edition.

Why? Because somehow, after using so many PDA and PDA phones I have decided that maybe it is time for me to use something which is smaller in size.

Currently there are two model which caught my attention.

1. Nokia E61i
2. Samsung SGH-i600

Nokia E61i

The E61i is slightly bigger as compared to i600. This 3G Quad Band phone measures at 117 x 70 x 13.9mm and 150g, the E61i also comes with a 2.0 Megapixel camera and 2.8″ QVGA screen with a resolution of 320×240pixel. With its wide profile, it can support a considerablily wide QWERTY keyboard so it should not be a problem even for user with large fingers. The QWERTY keyboard will serves you well should you need to edit any documents supported by the e61i such as Quickoffice, Zip and Adobe PDF. You should also find that it syncronise with relative ease as it can be done through WIFI, IR, Bluetooth and cable connection.

One of the key features may be the support for BlackBerry Connect v2.1, which allows BlackBerry users to continue to receive their emails even if they change to this phone.

Other features includes
- Instant Messenger (Live Messager, Skype)
- Plays MP3 and AAC
- 3GPP and RealMedia
- 60 MB internal memory
- microSD memory card slot up to 2GB
- Supports Java J2ME 2.0
- WLAN 802.11b/g
- Nokia HTML/XHTML web browsers

There is an very interesting 3D video demo for this phone >>

Samsung SGH-i600

On the other hand, the Samsung SGH-i600 claims simliar functionality if not more. It comes with not one but 2 cameras, which means you can do video call with it. Although the main camera is only 1.3Megapixel, alot of user actually say that the image quality is very acceptable and it has auto-focus too.

The i600 is alot smaller than the e61i with a profile of only 113 x 59 x 11.8mm, which results in a small QVGA screen of 2.3″. Many people would actually argue that the screen is too small for any good use, however in my opinion I believe that 2.3″ is the ideal size for a smartphone.

One thing to take note is that the phone does not come shipped with skype pre-installed. And alot of users had actually complained that the phone does not work with Skype mobile edition (it hangs the phone) yet. Somehow I got a feeling that it may be caused by the OMAP processor used by i600. (The e61i uses ARM processor)

Comparision

So.. which phone is better?

Personally I had received some feedback from some users about having alot of difficulties while trying to install softwares on Symbian OS, thats Symbian OS in general and I do not know if it has improved in Symbian OS 9.

Whereas i600 is running on Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone Edition which is definitly much better in terms of applications support and who knows i600 users may be having a small surprise on their way.

For now, I have not decided yet. With Nokia E61i going at S$698 and Samsung SGH-i600 at S$828 (both equipment only), I am say I am inclined towards i600 despite of the higher price tag, slower processor, lousier camera and squeezier keyboard in order to avoid Nokia and their wonderfully slow Symbian OS (older version) for now.

* Anyone any feedback? or who can tell me why E61i is so much cheaper..

Latest Update on 27th April 2007

Nokia E61i ’s price has been revised to S$660 on Mobilesquare.com.sg, it is dropping fast!

Mobile Phone,Windows Mobile 5,Windows Mobile 6,Review,Microsoft,Smartphone,PocketPC,Symbian 9,Samsung, SGH-i600,Nokia,E61iComparison

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