Sony Ericsson announced the Z600, a clamshell mobile phone with complete imaging and messaging capabilities. The Z600 is the first GSM/GPRS clamshell phone with exchangeable front and back covers and also features an integrated camera and colour screen. The Z600 will be in shops Q4 2003.

Sony Ericsson introduced QuickShare™ with the T610 phone, giving users the smartest, fastest and easiest way to share images over the mobile network or between devices. Two key presses and a picture is taken, six presses and the picture is sent off to someone. The user interface is intuitive and colorful, the display clear and bright and the ways to connect the phone to other devices are many. The Z600 is a true QuickShare™ product, featuring a built-in camera, bright 65,536 colour TFD display and a range of easy-to-use imaging applications. With the help of its imaging capabilities, a picture can be taken with only two rapid clicks, and then in four further steps sent by MMS or e-mail away. It is also possible to exchange pictures from the Z600 directly over a Bluetooth connection, or even drag and drop pictures to a PC.

The Z600 is distinguished from the growing clamshell product offering in the market by its stylish shape and exchangeable front and back Style-Up™ covers. These covers, which were designed in cooperation with Sony Digital Design, are available as accessories and come in an array of colours and patterns that shall allow consumers to completely change the look of their Z600, coordinating it with their clothes, car or mood. The theme of personalisation is continued on the inside of the phone with the large colour display ideal for Style-Up themes, images or wallpapers. The phone comes with preloaded themes matching all standard covers and additional themes will be available for download from the Fun & Downloads section of www.SonyEricsson.com.

A second display on the outside of the phone shows information such as caller ID, time, network and battery status. The Z600 also has a dedicated speaker for the 32-voice polyphonic sound, which reproduces musical ringtones and boosts the sound effects of the mobile games. For the aspiring music producer, there is the Music DJ, feature, a 4-track music creation tool, with which consumers can create their own great-sounding ring signals and also send them to their friends.

The Z600 comes with several enticing embedded games, most notable V-Rally2, which is one of the most popular racing games for game consoles. It provides for hours of fun, played either by a single player or racing against somebody over Bluetooth. For maximum flexibility in game downloading, the phone supports both Java and Mophun game engines, opening up for a wide variety of games, both from Fun & Downloads at www.SonyEricsson.com and other sites. The Multi-Action keypad allows for simultaneous key-presses, to for instance move and shoot at the same time. For the devoted mobile gamer, there is a new game console accessory, Gameboard EGB-10, which gives a true console-style feeling to playing mobile games.

“The Z600 has fantastic, easy-to-use imaging capabilities already winning fans in the T610, and also sports a form factor that allows consumers to express themselves and personalize the phone both inside and out, for instance matching the themes inside the phone with the covers”, says Steve Walker, Director of Product Marketing at Sony Ericsson.

Weight: 110g
Standby time: up to 200 hours (8 days)
Size: 90 x 48 x 27.9 mm
Talk time: up to 6 hours
Colours: 4 different kits with 2 Style-Up cover designs per kit