GSmart t600

Expected May 2008 (Germany)
1st May 2008
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We haven't covered a Gsmart device before, but this division of Taiwanese firm GIGABYTE has been making smartphones and fashion phones for a few years now.

The GSmart t600 is unusual in that it has a digital TV tuner built in. To be launched in Germany this May alongside the LG HB620T, the t600 includes a DVB-T receiver which enables it to receive standard terrestrial free-to-air TV signals.

Compared with the LG handset, it is immediately obvious that the GSmart t600 has a much larger screen - a 2.6" display on the t600, compared with only 2" on the LG. The display is a touch-sensitive panel with a 640 x 480 pixel resolution, one of the highest resolution displays currently on the market.

Although the DVB-T capabilities of the t600 mark it out as something special, this is also a very capable smartphone running the Windows Mobile 6 Professional operating system. The t600 supports WiFi, but it doesn't support 3G. Windows Mobile comes with a "Pocket" version of Microsoft Office, plus push email support, Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer. Another unusual feature with the GSmart t600 is the inclusion of a DAB digital radio receiver.

It looks a little different from most smartphones of this type, the unusual semi-translucent casing is something that is quite distinctive.

The camera is a 2 megapixel unit with autofocus, the t600 comes with microSD expandable memory and it also supports USB 2.0 and Bluetooth 2.0 connections. It's a fairly large handset at 110 x 56 x 19mm and 140 grams, but then this is pretty typical for this class of device. Internal memory is 64MB RAM, and the t600's processor is a 520 MHz Marvell PXA270.

The t600 will be available from May on Vodafone's German network. It isn't cheap - on the €39.95/month SuperFlat tariff you will have to pay  €289.90 for the phone. There's no word yet on availability outside of Germany, but it will probably be available through specialist retailers worldwide shortly after launch.