New Toys… no, not those kind

Picked up the Samsung A600, totally on impulse, and got an iSight this week. (That was really last week’s impulse that got delivered yesterday.) There’s a theme here — cameras — but I already have a shitload of digital video devices with which I do nothing. Perhaps if my life suddenly turned interesting, I’d be prepared to prove it to unbelieving friends. Hell if I know.
Anyway, this A600 is kinda whacky — flip-phone with a swivel screen and rotating barrel camera. I keep swearing I’ll swear off Sprint for good, but I’m locked into a contract until October 2004. (Granted, the termination penalty is $150 and the phone I just bought was $330.) It’s cool, and thankfully my car adapter and home charger from my A500 work with the A600.
The camera is “good” quality for being from a phone. Pics are 640×480 — that’s high resolution for a tiny pocket phone. It also has a CCD sensor rather than the cheaper CMOS ones found in most phones. All in all, not a bad phone. Reception, a notorious sore point with Samsung phone owners, is also much improved in this phone.
In addition to the A600, Sprint also launched the VGA 1000, a cheaper camera phone which Samsung labels the A620. Costco has a coupon this week good for $50 off select Sprint PCS phones, including the VGA 1000, but sadly not the A600.