The Samsung SGH-U600 is a slim and sleek slider phone that falls under Samsung’s Ultra Edition II range of phones. With its exquisitely slender form, soft curves, and clean lines, the phone is a visual delight that would stand out when placed next to other phones simply based on looks alone. It’s unconventional in design, but strikingly beautiful at the same time.

The new SGH-U600 is one of the slimmest phones available in the market today, barely losing out in terms of “thin-ness” to another Samsung phone, the SGH-E840 by a mere 0.3mm, however it’s still 2g lighter than its contemporary.

Nonetheless, the phone is still thinner than almost every candy bar phone in the market, but yet doesn’t suffer from the pitfalls of miniaturization. It ranks up there in terms of usability and ergonomics; it’s feature rich despite its sleekness. The thin-ness can be deceiving indeed. The build quality is also very solid, and users will not have a problem sliding it into the tightest of pockets.

The large 34mm x 44mm display features dazzling 262k colours with crisp images on the QVGA TFT screen. While the screen doesn’t have a double function as a mirror unlike the E840, it still sports a mirror-like reflective finish that can double up as a mirror, although not that effectively. The design is very clean, and as mentioned earlier, the U600 has soft curves and clean lines. The volume keys, shutter button, and the 2 ports are found on the side of the phone, as well as a power button on the top that also serves as a keypad lock key.

The front of the U600 is almost completely flat, with the exception of the slightly-raised d-pad, which makes it easier to access. The soft keys and dial / hang-up keys are however touch sensitive, which makes it possible for it to be on the completely flat phone surface. While the dial / hang-up buttons are not backlighted, the softkeys and even the d-pad have got a white backlight behind them that adds easy access in the darkness of environmental conditions. All touch-sensitive keys are automatically locked during phone conversations and when the phone is slid in place, so that it wouldn’t pose any accidental press of button problems while during a phone call or while in the pocket.

Hidden behind the U600’s screen but displayed when the phone is slid open is a 3.2 megapixel camera that adds impressive photographic ability to a super sleek form factor. The camera has auto-focus capabilities and it also switches automatically between auto-mode and macro-mode by sensing the distance that the phone is away from the object. Photographs and videos can be saved directly onto the memory card instead of having to move them manually. The U600 comes with internal memory of 50MB and can be expanded with a microSD card of up to 2GB in capacity.

The U600 makes for quite a good multimedia device, with music playback capability apart from its decisively good camera. However, the audio quality (it’s quite good), is hindered for the fact that even at its highest volume, still isn’t loud enough, and that the phone does not have a 3.5mm earphone jack or adapter. The screen is also pretty hard to view under sunlight due to its glossy mirror-like surface.

Messaging is pretty easy, and the phone automatically switches from SMS to MMS once multimedia is inserted in the message. At the same time, Samsung has provided in the U600, many customizable options, such as the ability to change the font size, brightness, and various display configuration options. It is a breeze to use, and even if you’re new to Samsung, you’ll find it easy to get used to.

The battery is rated for 4.3 hours of talktime and up to 275 hours of standby time, and during usage, UrbanWire found that it took almost 2 full days of moderate-heavy usage (100 over text messages, 10+ phone calls each lasting around 5-10 min) deplete its battery. According to Samsung, the U600 has had its talk time increased by 10% and power usage decreased by 30-40% without adding any bulk to the standard battery unit.

Falling into the Ultra Edition II category under the name 10.9 means that it works on Samsung’s Ultra II concept based on, according to press materials, “a perfect trinity of design, technology and function that works seamlessly to aspire, enable and offer top-of-the-line mobility”.

And it really does.