Samsung J600 Review

Overall Rating

Nice looking, slider phone.

Touch sensitive buttons are a nightmare to use.
User manual not at all helpful.
Bluetooth facility overly complicated.
Limited ringtones/ alarm tones/ text tones.
Camera poor.

The Samsung J600 is a stylish looking phone. Very light and compact but a nightmare to use. The touch sensitive buttons seem like a good idea but are a nightmare to use. Even after four months use I am still accidentally deleting texts because the central joy stick control is too close to the delete button. Similarly it is too easy to dial people accidentally.
The ringtones are very basic but you can use downloaded tones and assign different tones to your contacts. This facility is not available for text messages though, and the supplied tones are pretty boring. Nor can you change, or apparently switch off, the message sent tone, which is quite annoying at times.
I find the menu quite strange to navigate and spend ages trawling through to find the right page. One, in settings, listed as Bluetooth, helpfully (?!) tells you what bluetooth is but actually isn't where you access it. When you do find where to access Bluetooth it is overly complicated to activate with all sorts of security options and PIN numbers and authorisations.... Maybe there is an easier way that I haven't found yet, but it certainly doesn't tell you in the user manual.
I don't think the battery life is very good at all. My previous phones, Motorola and Nokia, have all had much better battery life. I have to charge mine almost every day, or at least every other day, and no, I am not a heavy user.
Text messaging takes some getting used to, the available symbols are poor, as are pictures/ animations. You can send your texts without saving it as well, but there is no text message counter which I find very strange and extremely unhelpful.
I haven't used the radio. The picture quality on the camera is rubbish (1.3 megapixels allegedly), the calculator function is pathetic and longwinded to use, and you keep losing your calculation by accidentally waving a finger over the touch sensitive button. See above about texts......
As a basic phone for people who don't text, use the camera or any of the other features, (like my dad), this phone would be fine. Except that the ring volume is not loud enough, even on maximum. Though the message sent tone, which you can't disable, seems plenty loud enough.
So, overall I am not a fan of this phone. I suggest you try before you buy. I tried to try it but was handed a phone without a battery to look at which was not very helpful! And yes, I am looking for another phone.