Samsung's Ultra Messaging i600 gets official: "world's thinnest" 3G QWERTY Smartphone

Samsung just went and officially took the wraps off the i600 we already caught struttin' around Europe a few months ago. The WinMo 5.0 Smartphone picked up the Sammy "Ultra" branding as well as the angular QWERTY found on the i607 BlackJack and preferred by dancing German Sprockets. However, unlike the Blackjack, the i600 packs in 802.11b/g WiFi and a second VGA cam up front. Fully packed, we're looking at GSM/EDGE UMTS/HSDPA, MS Push email, RSS reader, speakerphone, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP stereo audio support, and 64MB RAM / 128MB ROM on-board memory with microSD expansion. More importantly, it's quad-band GSM contrary to earlier reports and measures in at a qualified, "world's thinnest" 11.8-mm (0.46-inches) / 99-grams (3.5-ounces) which is slimmer than Cingular's lesser Blackjack yet weighs the same. Super. Now the rub: although FCC approved, the Ultra Messaging i600 is only announced for Asia Pacific and Europe thus far -- sometime in Q1, 2007.

[Via AVING]

[adam @ Dec 4th 2006 10:39AM]

J-1, you are a total idiot!

i have the samsung blackjack right now and activesync picks it up as a member of the i600 series. it shows up as the SGH-i607.

the sites you are linking to have the wrong pictures because they are shady news sites that do not know how to do real reasearch before they post an article because they are using pictures that are several years old.

[genesis konseh c. @ Jun 17th 2008 4:07PM]

i had an innovation proposal to make.

[FrOzeN @ Dec 6th 2006 7:12AM]

With the "world's thinnest" could we get a side-on picture?

Personally I think the thing looks ugly, and way too many buttons.

[Tech^Cellfish @ Dec 4th 2006 6:17AM]

I guess it could be even thinner with this Samsung screen:
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20061122/124255/

[Joe @ Dec 4th 2006 6:19AM]

It needs the buttons to function properly. Here is a side shot: http://www.mobilegazette.com/samsung-i600-06x09x15.htm

[TonyPepperoni @ Dec 4th 2006 7:34AM]

J-1 if anything the OTHER site is wrong.
"the Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 is the world's thinnest 3G smartphone with a full QWERTY key board"
Wording direct from the other page, so please explain how this flip phone (pictured on other page) that you claimed to be correct has a full QWERTY keyboard. Yea must be hidden behind that battery.

[Michael @ Dec 4th 2006 7:45AM]

J-1

This is why I hate when companies recycle names they already assigned to older phones. The i600 was already released by Samsung a few years ago as a flip smartphone, running WM2003, then later Verizon (who released the phone), released a WM2003SE upgrade. The SCH-i600 (the flip version) has been discontinued for well over a year, and was a fairly good phone, minus bluetooth, wifi, 3g, etc. It was a good stepping phone for converging many of us towards a "smartphone" device, as it was very much a phone before it was a PDA.

The picture on this site at the top is the "new i600 ultra". So the pictures you are pointing to are of an 'i600', but are not the 'new i600'.

[Tony @ Dec 4th 2006 8:06AM]

i'm still wondering where that QWERTY keyboard is hidden. Or if you can explain where the camera is located exactly.
The flip also has a blue backlight on the outside, you would not see that on a new phone now a day?
and that side profile picture? that is nothing like the "world's thinnest" smart phone.

[Tech^Cellfish @ Dec 4th 2006 8:12AM]

If people used the "Reply" link, users like J-1 will be notified and can stop spreading wrong information.

[Aroon Saini @ Dec 4th 2006 8:32AM]

J-1,

Did you read the article you linked?

"The companies claim that the phone is the world's thinnest 3G smart phone with a full QWERTY keyboard."

Where on that phone that they image is a full QWERTY keyboard? Obviously they are using the completely wrong image, as nowhere on that phone does it have a full keyboard.

Engadget has the correct image, the sites you linked obviously have the incorrect one (looks like an older model phone as well, just as Michael mentioned).

Please read the article then compare it to that of the image before you determine who is correct and who is incorrect.

Take a look at Samsung's official site.
http://www.samsung.com/search/search.asp?qt=i600&la=en&col=wu+ws+download&tabpage=1&radio=1&select=0&x=0&y=0

The first phone in the search results is AN i600... Look at the date of release on the phone... Then click the link and look at the image. It is the same image of the phone that YOU supposedly believe is the real i600. It's the same image from the sites you linked.

... Hmm... how can a phone that has just been announced... have been posted up on the site since 2005?

Obviously YOU are incorrect with your findings. Engadget is right, the sites you linked have the images of the extremely old i600 released back in 2005, not the new one.

[Aroon Saini @ Dec 4th 2006 8:41AM]

Also to add..

the NEW i600 is known as the SGH-I600

while the OLD i600 is the SPH-I600

[Gabriel Lowe @ Dec 4th 2006 9:15AM]

The pictures on the FCC site for this phone show straight buttons, not the nicer angular ones. What's up with that?

[Gabriel Lowe @ Dec 4th 2006 10:46PM]

Here is that link: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=233638&fcc_id='A3LSGHI600

[Tony @ Dec 4th 2006 9:29AM]

what is the fcc link? i didn't see it on a quick search.

[MrNako @ Dec 17th 2006 3:23PM]

That looks like a graphing calculator.

[Shon @ Dec 4th 2006 2:16PM]

so it looks like they fixed most of the complaints about the black jack on this phone... now howbouts the big complaint.. propriatary charging/sync cables... did that get fixed? is there standard mini usb?

[Daniel Bier @ Dec 4th 2006 2:05PM]

This is ridiculous. I just got the Blackjack two weeks ago, and it's already been replaced by an obviously superior product? Way to go, Cingular. Make me regret buying your products. For the $220-330 you should provide greater obsolescence protection. You could have one-upped every single other domestic competitor, but no. No 802.11 anything, and a second camera... What an insult.

[Sameer @ Dec 4th 2006 3:54PM]

2nd Video cam upfront plus wifi - mobile video conferencing?

[sub-culture @ Dec 4th 2006 2:45PM]

Daniel Bier: You write as if you've never owned a piece of technology before. I know for sure you've never owned a Mac.

[frac @ Dec 4th 2006 10:41PM]

Did this model address the short battery life of the Blackjack?

[Northerner @ Dec 17th 2006 6:20PM]

There's a reason they give you 2 batteries with the Blackjack - it only lasts half a day before it pegs out. Hate to think what this will be like now they've added power sapping WiFi and UMTS! Charge between every call?