User comments on the e606

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To whom it may concern, 

I read your review on the NEC e606 and didn't think much of it. Everything was compared to a Nokia and some comments were stupid. For example: 

" Additionally, you can only record 12 seconds of video at a time which is way too short that it becomes impractical. (The handset has 32 MB of memory and should support recording of up to a minute at the least!)" 

Why is this impractical? I would prefer them to limit the amount the phone can record than to have a decrease in my phones performance. Not forgetting this is only a phone not the latest digital camcorder. The 32MB is not just for video. 

"Once I got the drivers sorted out, the Data transfer Application on the PC side is OK, I managed to download the address book, video and audio clips but couldn't download ringtunes (and after several calls with "3" I was told that they have disabled this so people can't share ringtunes!!)" 

Ringtunes must be in midi format 0. I found this out when I sent a simple email to three. You can not download the ringtunes that you download from 3 though as you say for the obvious reason that they would then not make any money. However ringtunes that you upload to your phone can also be downloaded off the phone and shared. 

"The phone has 4 preset profiles (Normal, Meeting, Pocket and Car) and whilst you can customise those, you cannot add any new profiles."

What would you need another profile for? 

Apart from these few things I agreed with some of your comments on the phone. However I found that most of your comments had little content to them. Thank you for reading my views. Thank you, Matthew

My response,

Thanks Matthew for taking the time to respond to my comments, 
I would like to start by saying that these comments are from my own experience of the phone and reflect my opinion which seems to be different to your opinion but it doesn't make them stupid. 
Having owned 3 Nokia's before this one makes me naturally want to compare this to a Nokia and whilst the user interface is reasonable it still is second to Nokia. If you have favourable comments, I would very much appreciate you input. 

Specifically on your comments, 

The limit of 12 seconds is video is very impractical and the reason I've raised this is because the phone can handle much larger clips and while the 32 MB are not only for video I have over 50 video clips on it that vary between 30 seconds and 2 minutes in length so I can't see where degradation in performance comes into this. 
Don't know if you've tried taking a video clip but 12 seconds is way too short and I don't see any of the content video that is downloadable from 3 to be less than 45 seconds. 
I realise this is a phone not a camcorder but it is also a video phone and if one can have lengthy video conversations I can't see why the device can't store clips with reasonable length. 

I can understand the reason behind not being able to download ringtunes. My comment there was targeting their support who couldn't give me a straight answer until I got to some specific department who confirmed that tunes downloaded from 3 are protected. 

Onto the profiles and I would like to have multiple profiles say to set the volume high or low depending on the environment one is in. Inside an office you want the volume to be low but in a shopping centre you want it to be high. Additionally, they didn't put some standard message tones as you have to pick one of the ring tunes and none of them suit a message signal which is usually a short beep or something similar (you need to download one if you need that) 
Another feature that would have been a good to have is selecting the ringtune volume at the contact level. 

Of the other features of the phone, the Alarm doesn't have a snooze button which is pretty poor by today's standards. Then there is the currency converter, now this is a 3G phone, wouldn't you think they'd have it automatically update the conversion rates whenever one tries to use it ? Or is it just games that the phone goes out to check for a license ? 

And what is the use of the Voice Recorder when you cannot listen to the recording unless you create a multimedia message and attach the audio then listen to it via a preview (but if the attachment is longer than 3 seconds you need to increase the slide time because the default is 3 seconds!) 

Finally the voice note while making a phone call I tried to record a Voice note and it only recorded the other party !! How useful! 

Sure most of the above features aren't call related but why include them if they are not to be used. In this day and age mobile phones are starting to integrate all the features of multiple devices like mp3 players, digital cams and PDA's all into one device and in order to win the people over they have to be easy to use and perform at reasonable levels. 

Thanks again for your comments

Anonymous writes:

Its a great deal from Hutchison 3 ..........

The video calling phones available - the true 3G phones - are the Nec 606, 808 and Motorola 920. 

The 606 has comfort, convenience and speed of operation, and is the smallest It's enhanced battery which enables you to get more than day or two use out of it without a recharge every 12 - 18hrs with what is initially supplied, adds a bit of bulk and renders a leather case more or less futile. Very few have been reported as troublesome like the terrible 808 that 3 keeps trying to offload to unwary buyers. 

The 920 is the very latest technology and is great for video calls using the speakerphone rather than the must have headsets on the 606 & 808. This is a lifestyle product and ideally suited for the desktop or indeed the home phone. Being pda sized, though hardly one, and requiring a stylus (i.e. two hands needed to answer and to hold once out of the case) for most operations, more or less limits its portability and if that is desired then it could be worth waiting for the SonyEricsson Z1010. The a920 is very well laid out and faster downloading but more involved and cumbersome than the 606. The 606 has two cameras that need the grime wiped off often where the 920 has the one camera that you fiddle with and the 920 has 60 sec movie limitation whereas the 606/808 12secs. 

No true bluetooth on any though its alleged it will be on the stripped down 920 later in the year when you drop the thing into a repair shop at your cost - that's another opportunity for them to tighten up the firmware further and disable more functions like AGPS/GPS and infrared already is. The random 920 lockups you fix by removing/replacing battery as no buttons will work. Not a problem as you need to change batteries through the day at least twice before work finishes - a couple of minutes of those video call credits chew up a lot of juice too! 

The upcoming high energy batteries, various features and specifications and some of the range of accessories for the 920 have disappeared from the 3 web page early September just as its released and I wonder why?.

3 are locking up the firmware in the Motorola 920 (in fact a Paragon), so you are forced to use their stuff which is restricted - no other Symbian OS 7.0 programs are or will be permitted to be used other than what 3 make available and no doubt a fee each time its used. Other PDA based phones like the Qtec (O2 xda) have an awesome amount of programs available - from database to games for Windows based mobile phones from the likes of www.gameloft.com & www.handango.com etc. Its a once only fee for these or in some cases is freeware. 
Where the closed system of Three - not unlike Apples' closed system architecture brought into being in the 1980s and to this very day their hype machine trundles out propaganda to keep the faith amongst true believers - the religious fervour certainly disappears with a 3 phone owner when realising the games require a connection i.e. to be in a 3G area and there's a royalty each time to play, when one could go and play the very latest high resolution game in an arcade parlour for a buck.

Qtec phone packages like Battery Pack and Journal at www.omegaone.com where you can select and preset your news, sports, local weather, stock exchange etc services from around the world and to automatically update when you choose any on GPRS or thru your computer free (when on charge if you like). Your just not stuck on Three's 4 or 5 items that are dated and work within a 3G zone only.

Where the Threes service staff lie, mislead, contradict and use delay tactics - dragging things out to wear you down, Telstra are arrogant and have a public service mentality, Vodafone harass you to use their services, Optus have a problem with the lingo and are just plain ignorant and Virgin I think have partied too much. Three seem worse due to there ongoing technical problems with some sets and the problems they have had with the network. The ongoing 808 usim errors Three are still in denial of it till this very day but will if pushed replace it for you with another dog out of their refurbishment pool. Also, Three may refuse to have dealings with you and they believe no reason need be given you. This I understand contravenes Dept. Of Fair Trading laws in some/all states just as they flaunt with many of their advertisements and their illegal tower installations. (2/10/2003)

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If you want to share your knowledge on the NEC e606 or other 3G handsets, please send me an email to alhatu@ozemail.com.au and I'll add your comments to this page.

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