The NEC e606 is the first mobile handset in Australian to offer video mobile calling, and is exclusive to the first mobile carrier to provide video mobile calling, Hutchison. Although bulky, the e606 has unique features that will make it a must have for some people. Read our Australian review.

For those areas not covered by Hutchison's network, the telco has set up a roaming deal for '3' customers to use Vodafone's network, which covers about 92 percent of the Australian population, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Mobile Services Review 2003. The quality of voice calls on the e606 is pretty good, and there is no discernable difference when the phone changes networks.

Of course, video calls and other high bandwidth features such as MMS and 3G content are only available on Hutchison's network. In Australia this network is available in Sydney and Melbourne, with Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane due to be running in the third quarter. The coverage in Sydney is pretty good, although some areas lack coverage, forcing you to move to use any of the 3G services.

As we mentioned in our first take, the picture on video calls lags a bit behind the speech, often breaks up and can't handle fast movement well. Likewise, we still don't think this will be a major issue. Thinking of the three main areas this feature will be used -- business, distant family and a partying gimmick -- poor image quality will be considered better than no image at all. Business users will cope the same way they coped with poor long distance phone lines, family members will just be happy to see their far-away loved ones, and those out for a night on the town will be too drunk to care.

The features available during a video call include changing which of the two cameras is used (one facing towards you, the other away), a 2x zoom, mirror image, mute, and video off (which keeps the call going but takes away the image you are sending). You can also have a little picture of yourself in the bottom left corner, to see the image you are sending to the other person. You do need to have the earphone in during a video call.

The other main use for mobile phones is messaging. The e606 makes it fairly easy to write and SMS, to the extent of including 'smilies' in the predictive text dictionary. Of course, the e606 can also send multimedia messages, and makes it pretty easy. A submenu is used to attach pictures, audio and text in a slideshow which can be manipulated and edited. While it is fairly simple to create an MMS, you need to remember to record anything you want to include beforehand, as you cannot do it from the messaging menu.

You can also send pre-recorded video (MP4) files as video messages, but the phone will not allow you to send video clips downloaded from the '3' site.

The photos and videos taken on the camera are of pretty good quality -- for a mobile phone. This means you need a lot of light, preferably natural, in order to get a good image. The features available during the video call are also available here, with the added bonus that you can select three different levels of quality.

The photos also look good on the screen, which is very impressive with 65K colours and a large 132 x 162 pixels (35 x 43 mm). In terms of looks, this is the best part of the phone.

The high-end features on the e606 have two drawbacks. Firstly, they increase the size of the mobile, which measures 109 x 53 x 32 mm and weighs 145 g. Second, and perhaps more serious, is the drain on battery life. Using any advanced features on the phone reduces the battery life to a matter of hours, and the power would rarely last a full day. In fact, we found that even if we didn't use the phone the battery ran down after only a couple of days -- this is not the mobile you'd want to take with you for safety on a 5-day hike.

Another annoying thing about the battery was that sometimes when you plugged the phone in to recharge, it simply didn't.

From a connectivity viewpoint the e606 obviously has 3G and GSM connectivity, but it also includes Bluetooth and a USB cable, which comes complete with software. However, we found the software difficult to load -- or at least to get it to work after we loaded it.

The menu contains most of the accessories you've come to expect from mobile phones: Calculator, alarm clock, calendar, currency conversion and voice and text notes. There is also a space to enter your own details. People who use their mobile as an address book will be pleased with the contact options included in the e606.

There is space for 500 contacts on the phone, and each contact can have up to four numbers (each with their own icon), three e-mail addresses, different ringtunes for voice/video calls and messages, contact picture and the ability to select illumination patterns for the indicator on the outside of the handset. This large phone book, combined with the ability to personalise individual contacts, is one of the features we look for in a phone.

There are no games embedded in the e606, but a number of games are available to download from the '3' site. These games look pretty good on the phone, and are relatively diverse. The 3 site, which comes part and parcel with the e606, offers a variety of services as well as the Java games.

You can also download video segments of news, sport, comedy and weather. A number of pictures and ringtones are also available for download, and we assume this number will increase over time.

Being a new service, many people are worried about the cost associated with using the 3G network. Hutchison have entered the market strongly with relatively cheap pricing. Video calls within Australia will cost 50 cents for 30 seconds (with a flagfall of 25 cents) and video calls to areas outside Australia will be charged at 85 cents for 30 seconds, with the 25 cent flagfall. A picture message will cost 25 cents, a video message 50 cents, and downloads from the 3 site cost 50 cents for content and AU$1.50 for ringtones.

Hutchison provides a fair bit of material with the phone, including two sets of earphones (single and double), and a 'quick reference' guide to help you learn to use the NEC e606 quickly. This includes screenshots along with text descriptions to make it easier to use. The manual uses the same technique, but is a lot bigger.

All up, the NEC e606 is a worthwhile mobile for those who want the video calling and 3G capabilities and are willing to put up with the idiosyncrasies of the battery.

NEC e606
Company: NEC
Price: AU$768 plus 3 plan costs
Distributor:  3 Australia

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