Sony Ericsson S600

Year: 2005
Prototype level: Cancelled
Codename: Ellen

Overview

The Sony Ericsson S600, codenamed Ellen, was announced in June 2005 as a new swivel-style entertainment phone aimed primarily at a younger audience. Its unusual rotating design was shared with the W600, but Sony Ericsson positioned the S600 as the non-Walkman version, with a 1.3-megapixel camera, stereo speakers, Mega Bass and a display designed to work in both portrait and landscape orientations for games and video. Sony Ericsson initially expected the phone to reach European and Asian markets later that year. 

Despite the public announcement and the existence of review hardware, the S600 never actually reached the market. Within weeks of its announcement, references to the phone began disappearing from Sony Ericsson’s own material, and the company instead brought the closely related W550i to Europe. The W550i retained essentially the same hardware and distinctive swivel form factor, but added the Walkman branding and 256 MB of memory. The S600 was therefore an unusual case of a phone that was officially announced as a forthcoming product, but was cancelled before consumers could buy it.