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Orange SPV E600 email phone

Is this mish-mash mobile masterful at all?

After collecting our coffee, we headed to a local park and took a few snaps on the phone's 1.3-megapixel camera. Although we searched Orange's website for information about the E600's photo capability, we realised that if your phone's photo and video quality were this mediocre, you problably wouldn't want to shout about them either.

It's not that the picture quality is terrible, it's just that image tones are distorted and the screen is too small - helping to make taking photos and/or videos a less pleasurable experience than on most consumer phones.

While the E600 does include a video messaging facility, it was a pity to see that video calls were not an option. We suspect though that Orange decided to focus purely on email connectivity, rather than multiple communications forms encompassing voice, video and data, because of the phone's target market.

After several hours we had taken quite a few pictures and videos, and created such a lot of other content that we found we were losing track of it all. The Windows operating system thankfully recognises this possibility though, shrewdly including a file manager, SIM manager and task manager to ensure that your data, contacts and upcoming events are always manageable and within reach.

Content creation goes hand-in-hand with deletion, which ultimately means that users may delete files they actually didn't mean too. For this reason, it worried us not to see a Recycle Bin on the E600. Isn't it time Windows Mobile had one just like the PC version of the OS does?

Verdict

The phone is rich with connectivity applications - admittedly email-focused - and a selection of additional applications that help it appeal to business users looking for a personal phone they can sync with their desktop or BlackBerry's push email service. We are confident that with a few design tweaks, the E600 could establish itself as a legitimate competitor to the BlackBerry and Treo.

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Orange E600 SPV mobile phone

Orange SPV E600 email phone

The E600 is one of those kids picked on at school, but grew up to be an influential executive
Price: Depends on tariff RRP

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