With its rotating camera set above the unit's earpiece, from a distance Samsung's new X608 bears a strong resemblance to NEC's clunky 3G handset, the c313. However, held in the hand, the X608 is a small and versatile gem.
The dual-band X608 sports a high-definition, bright but modestly-sized colour screen supporting more than 65,000 colours, as well as 40 polyphonic ring tones, WAP internet access and MMS.
Samsung seems to have spared no expense in putting together the centrepiece 180-degree rotating digital camera, which sports a cool-looking LED flash for shooting in dark conditions.
Besides being able to take pictures of up to VGA (640x480 pixels) quality, the camera can also zoom in for close-ups and has a 'sport' mode for taking multiple pictures, and digital brightness adjustment. The flash seems more for show than effect. The only time it may be useful is in very low light - and even then, the colour reproduction is poor.
Samsung claims the lithium-ion battery will last up to six hours in talk time and 400 hours standby on a single charge, which is possible as I used the unit for two days and the battery gauge still showed a full charge.
The battery is a clip-on, which makes swapping batteries easier but also means it can fly off the phone at the slightest bump. A good touch is the second battery included with the unit.