April 28, 2008 4:27 AM PDT

Philips phone plays a different tune in China

by Mike Yamamoto
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(Credit: Philips)

As the mobile phone industry churns out new handsets every day, the opportunities to distance a product from the massive pack can seem infinitesimal. For that reason Philips deserves some credit for trying some new tricks on the Chinese market.

Its latest offering, the M600, attempts to capitalize on the continuing evolution toward music devices with a design that looks almost more like a media player than a phone. Not only does it have a giant play button just above the keypad, according to SlashPhone, but it also features MP3 hotkeys, 40 hours of playback, and the same "SRS WOW" equalizer technology that's featured in Bang & Olufsen's high-end "Serenata" music phone.

Other features of the GSM candy bar handset include a 2-inch display, 1.3-megapixel camera, microSD card slot, Bluetooth, and Java game support. The phone is available only in China at the moment but hints that it may be headed for other lands because it accepts text in English, French, Russian, and Turkish.

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