HTC P3600i

If you need to get your life in order, the HTC P3600i is one of the latest smartphones that can help you get organised. 

THE HTC P3600i sports a very simplistic design, which when coupled with its small form factor, makes it perfect for travel. 

Coming down to the actual looks, the review unit I received featured a sleek looking piano black body that looks simply striking. There aren¡¦t a lot of smartphones out there that comes close to the class that the P3600i oozes. 

The P3600i¡¦s front is dominated by a large 2.8in LCD screen. A small VGA camera for 3G video calls resides at the top right hand corner of the device. Just below the screen is a five way navigational pad. 

The phone also has a handy jog wheel for one handed operation. The wheel was quite responsive and I was able to scroll through the Today screen easily and even navigate up to the programs section of the PDA side of things without trouble.  

On the opposite side of the phone lies the voice command button and camera button.  

While the P3600i looks gorgeous, its glossy black surface is a fingerprint magnet that will smudge your perfectly good-looking PDA in no time. My advice is to bring along a cleaning cloth wherever you go. 

Clear and crisp calls
If you are thinking of using the P3600i as a phone, you will encounter a few problems that you would not expect from a normal mobile phone.  

For one thing, how to go about accessing the phone function may not be immediately obvious to you. I had to tinker around with the phone for a while before I realised that I had to press the green call button to bring up the phone¡¦s main menu to make a call. 

The lack of any physical keypad or Qwerty keyboard input makes texting a very tedious process. You can essentially kiss one-handed operation goodbye, which is quite frustrating. 

Still, all is not lost. In place of a keypad, HTC has included a voice command feature that allows you to say preset phrases to initiate a function.  

For example, saying a contact¡¦s name and type of number immediately brings up the phone function and the number will be dialled automatically.  

While this all sounds good on paper, the feature is far from perfect as it often misinterpreted my commands and worked best in a quiet area like in a car. 

Another drawback is the fact that the screen is practically unusable when you are out in the sun.  

However this is not much of an issue if you are indoors for most of the day. 

On the plus side, I found the sound quality of the calls to be quite good. Calls came through loud and clear without any distortions.  

Also, the ringtone volume is loud enough to be heard even when you¡¦re in a busy place. 

In terms of battery life, the phone can last for about a day and a half with regular use and some web browsing thrown in. 

Feature packed
They say size is not everything and it rings true for the P3600i. It comes packed with all the features you would expect from any smartphone.  

Running Windows Mobile 6, the P3600i¡¦s Today screen pretty much manages everything you need from missed phone calls and messages to upcoming appointments. 

For the business user, the P3600i comes with Office Mobile, a collection of shrunk down versions Microsoft¡¦s Word, Excel and PowerPoint office productivity tools.  

Having run through the basic functions of Office Mobile, I found that most of the core functions of each Office tool has largely remained intact.  

I was able to type out a decent word document and create spreadsheets without too many problems.  

The only problem I had was with Excel as I had trouble reading the tiny figures in individual cells regardless of whether I displayed them in landscape or portrait format. This was made even worse when I brought up the writing pad to input words and numbers.  

Still, it is commendable that Office Mobile allows you to work and edit your documents and spreadsheets on the go. However PowerPoint users will have to be content at just looking at their slides as Office Mobile does not allow you to edit your presentations. 

Additionally the phone comes bundled with Map King GPS software to complement the built-in GPS receiver. At the time of writing, the software¡¦s trial period was almost up so I was not able to fully test the navigational capabilities of the P3600i.  

However, from what little I gathered while using the software, navigation with Map King proved to be quite a challenge as you have to switch between a static map and another map that corresponds with the actual GPS navigation. 

Web browsing
I found web browsing on the P3600i to be decent at best ¡V it gets the job done but the experience could have been better. 

Connecting to my local WiFi network proved to be no problem at all, though the actual surfing experience left much to be desired.  

Some of my favourite websites such as Gizmodo were horribly rendered with missing pictures and oddly displayed text. 

On the plus side, I was able to check my e-mail and view the latest items on Google News.  

However, the overall experience still made me feel like I was standing in an open field ready to explore, but with barbed wire all around me. 

Multimedia
In terms of playing music, the P3600i does a decent job of keeping you entertained. Much like other smartphones running Windows Mobile 6, most of your music listening needs are met via Windows Media Player.  

Sound quality was surprisingly good although it won¡¦t beat a dedicated music player.  

The mobile media player interface is very similar to that of the full desktop version. So if you are already familiar with Windows Media Player, chances are you are not going to have much difficulty with the P3600i¡¦s default music player.  

For expanded storage, you have the option adding mini SD cards.  

The P3600i¡¦s 2.1-megapixel camera does a decent job of capturing pictures in bright environments.  

However, the camera does not work as well as in dimly lit conditions as it has no LED light or built-in flash. 

The camera is also capable of capturing videos but they mostly turn out blurry if there is the slightest bit of motion. 

Conclusion
The HTC P3600i has a great collection of features that will definitely meet the needs of the average mobile user. It is able to make calls, surf the Web, take pictures and much more. 

However, the P3600i suffers from the dreaded jack-of-all-trades syndrome ¡V it has no standout feature that makes it a must-have. 

Still, if you are looking for an all-in-one device and can live with some minor negative points, then you should give the P3600i a look. 

Pros: Has many features; able to view and edit documents with Office Mobile; good sound quality for listening to music. 

Cons: Phone function is cumbersome to use; web browsing isn¡¦t all that great.  

P3600i
(HTC)
3.5G smartphone with GPS
Camera: 2.1-megapixels
Operating System: Windows Mobile 6 Professional
Display: 2.8in TFT LCD (240 x 320pixels)
Messaging: MMS, SMS, e-mail
Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, HSPDA WiFi, Bluetooth, infrared, HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB and audio jack in one)
Phone memory: 64MB SDRAM, 256MB ROM
Expansion slot: mini-Secure Digital (SD)
Battery: 1500mAh lithium-ion
Bundled apps: Windows Media Player 10, Pocket Internet Explorer, Pocket Outlook, MSN Messenger, Office Mobile
Dimensions (w x d x h): 108 x 58.2 x 18.4mm
Weight: 150g
Price: RM2,628
Review unit courtesy of SiS Distribution (M) Sdn Bhd, (03) 5569-8878.