Although this phone is effectively the same as the K610i that we reviewed earlier, there’s more than styling that separates it from its blander relative.

Thankfully the interface is mostly unchanged, mimicking the layout of other Sony Ericsson mobile phones we’ve seen recently. It's clean, concise and the tiered structure is intuitive. The button layout is different though -- the shortcuts, camera and internet access buttons are lined up above the number pad and below the menu navigation controls. In practice, there's less chance of you hitting them accidentally.

The 2 megapixel camera is only useful in daylight, because there is neither a flash nor a row of LEDs to illuminate your subject. This means no flashlight, and by extension, lots of waving the open phone around the area where you could have sworn you dropped your keys. There’s also a VGA camera for video calls on the inside of the phone if you’re with a 3G network.

The reflective, polished chrome surface will only ever be smudge and fingerprint free while it's in the original packaging. It attracts fingerprints not like a magnet, but like a black hole. Although you won’t be able to tell until you close the flip or receive a call or message, there’s a small display underneath the translucent casing that will let you know the caller, sender or time, battery and signal strength.

The Z610 will score big points with heavy texters, because the large, well spaced and tactile keys are designed to bring out the thumb-ninja in you. Although the phone isn’t one of the Walkman models, it includes MP3 playback and A2DP Bluetooth support. If you have (or are willing to fork out for) a larger capacity memory card than the bundled 64MB Memory Stick Micro, the Z610 has the potential to become an iPod replacement.

Design wise, it’s a love it or hate it affair. The features that we liked about the earlier Sony Ericsson models are included. You can still publish photos to your blog directly from the phone; network settings are still automatically detected when you first start the phone and you can use it as a minimal-fuss removable storage device with the included cable. It’s a very slick package, from the looks to the interface.