Orange SPV C500

[syphern]

?With the new look and feel of the SPV C500, the competition should be getting very worried.?

- Mobile Magazine

?Having had the handset for less than 24 hours I?m more than impressed with it so far.?

- gizmodo.com

?Finally Smartphone users have a handset that is able to challenge its rivals on every attribute, most importantly form factor and battery life.?

- Paul O'Brien (Site Founder / Admin - smartphone.modaco.com)

?Orange?s latest SPV is not just smaller and lighter than any Windows handset we?ve seen ? it redefines the whole smartphone concept.?

- Cellphone magazine

?I'm continually impressed with the Orange SPV C500. So far I've dropped it twice and the "bird" has (purely by accident she says) thrown it at me once.... hey, I even stood on the thing too! Yet it still works, it's a tough little Smartphone and I'm growing to like it more and more each day.?

Introductione.com

Introduction

Well this is my definitive review of the new SPV, it?s my first time I have had a Microsoft Smartphone. And its my 1st review ever so no flami-----------------------------------------UK Members only-----------------------------------------------------------------

You can only get this phone from Orange in the UK (I am not sure about other countries) with contracts over ?25 a month the phone is FREE! But if the contract is under ?25 and you buy it from Orange it will cost you ?80. Now being a student and a little short of money I looked around a little and found the local Carphone Warehouse did this phone for FREE with contracts of ?20 a month, so I settled for this, but obviously there were some drawbacks ordering from Carphone Warehouse and not Orange, ie free text messages were not included. So make sure you research your contract if you want this phone, get one that suits you I personally found that text mes-----------------------------------------UK Members only----------------------------------------------------------------------

So this is the most recent Microsoft Smartphone to date and the smallest, herDimensionsspecifications:

Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth)[/b] -10.8 x Weight4.3 x 1.8 x 0.63 in)

OS -100 g (3.5 ounces)

OS - WindScreen03 SE for Smartphone

<Screen Size536 TFT display

Storage/ Expansion - 64mb internal, mini SD external (I bought a 256mb Kingmax mini-SD from ebuyer.co.uk @Networknc VAT and Delivery)

NetworkBattery Life1800/1900 MHz)

Battery Life Connectivity Talk: 8 hours

ConnectiviOther Featuresnfrared, USB

Other Features

OMAP 200MHz processor

WAP browser v 2.0

HTML v 4.0

WML, xHTML, Wap push, Wap OTA provisioning

Pocket Outlook (Email, Calendar and Contacts)

Pocket Internet Explorer (HTML and WAP)

Integrated one click camera

Packet Video player (allowing progressive download)

Windows Media Player

Email (pop3 / IMAP 4, Microsoft Exchange 2003)

Instant Messaging (MSN Messenger)

Java games (MIDP 2.0) and 3D games for Windows Mobile software

Polyphonic ringtones

MP3, WMA, WAV, AMR

IntDesignfree speaker

Camera

Design

The overall design of this phone is great, not only has it been labelled the world?s smallest smartphone but it feels great in your hand and its enormous screen is one of its great aspects. But in some specific cases its design fails for some people, particularly when the joystick is concerned. Its more of a directional scroller, and for gamers it?s a huge setback not only because multi-key press is not possible (i.e. when you press down you cannot press a number key at the same time) but diagonal scrolling is also not possible (i.e. pressing down and across at the same time), these two things have been CONFIRMED by Orange as being a hardware problem so don?t expect any software updates correcting this. In my opinion being a big gamer it?s a terrible setback but I am very sure the smartphone community will work around the problem so we could enjoy trouble free gaming (particularly emulators for old consoles). But aside from the gamer?s perspective let?s have a businessman?s perspective, the scroller is brilliant. This is because it?s larger than the usual tiny joysticks you find on smartphones/ other phones, so it?s very comfortable to use, mostly in cases where you would spend most of your time viewing emails/ text messages/ e-books etc.

So in conclusion I would say even though there are setbacks with its joystick/scroller (which some peoPros mind) the overall design is top notch.

Pros ? Huge screen, keypad layout, build quality, ergonomic design, small sleek look, great position for the camera button and volume conCons-rate sound quality, crystal clear screen.

Cons ? Joypad/ Scroller not suitable for gaming, mini-SD Card needs to be inserted by taking out the battery.

-------------------------------------------Nokia users ---------------------------------------------

Being a previous Nokia series 40 user myself it took me some time adjusting to this phone?s design, i.e. while texting I would press the 0 key for space but this phone uses the # key for space. But overall I would say you would get used to it fairly quickly.

-------------------------------------------NDesign ? 75%----------------------------Software and the OS5% (only because I am a gamer)

Software and the OS

Windows Mobile 2003 SE for Smartphone

Well it?s the most perfect Microsoft OS to date! No, I?m serious! Personally I would say it?s great, not perfect (obviously) but great. Why? Well simply because it?s very easy to use. If you know your way around Windows XP then learning the OS is a piece of cake. In terms of stability I have found generally it?s fairly stable, I had my dose of crashes but that was because I was installing some unstable applications on it. But its easy to reset just like a PC it formats everything giving you a fresh OS to work with.

I have heard its also backward compatible with Microsoft?s previous mobile software?s applications. In terms of content, well the smartphone community is vast you can get almost any application you desire, ranging from game emulators (SNES, NES, Gamegear, Master System, Genesis, Gameboy colour, spectrum), journey planners, calendars, Divx/Xvid/Mpeg players, mostly all PDA software is ported. But there is a downside, most of the good software is not free, but there is a huge catalogue of freeware which keeps me happy. In terms of customising the OS well it?s possible, I know how the Neowin community loves to customise, you can change your home screen. Some amazing custom home screens can be found here http://smartphone.kleinweder.ch/

Going in depth about the actual options in the phone you have the usual stuff, messaging, contacts, call history, settings etc. Ill look at the main specific options:

Camera ? Well the camera quality is decent for a phone it?s not great but its decent. See below for samples. You have an option to capture video with sound too so really that?s a cool aspect. Max picture resolution is 640 x 480 and max video recording resolution is 176 x 144.

Calendar ? the great thing with having a Microsoft smartphone is it can synchronise its calendar with Microsoft Outlook, not only that the package contains a full free version of Outlook 2002! And active sync software, so simply transfer all your tasks, schedules, emails from outlook to your phone via a data USB cable which is provided.

MSN Messenger ? that?s right, a full working official client of MSN messenger on your mobile, how cool is that! You can connect via GPRS its that simple.

Voice Notes ? you can use the phone as a voice recorder which can save your voice memos on either the mini-SD or its own memory.

Windows Media Player ? a full featured media player supporting WMA, MP3, WMV. So you can compress a WHOLE movie to about 120mb and store it on the mini-SD card. So in total I can store about 2-3 movies on this baby with a 256mb mini-SD card and the great thing about these mini-SD cards is they come with adaptors to turn them into ordinary SD cards, I know Kingmax does this. not only that the playback is simply flawless due to its 200mhz processor it easily runs at great resolution at 25fps. The sound quality surpasses most phones on the market, it has the ability to play stereo sound!

As mentioned before there are a lot of possibilities when it comes to applications Divx/Xvid players are available too. But there are some negative points about the software. There are tons of bugs that need to be fixed; they are all mentioned on this forum thread at modaco.com.

http://smartphone.modaco.com/viewtopic.php?p=433724

Some games are also effected and are unplayable due to one of the bugs on the list, but the good news is Orange will definitely release a ROM update for the bugs, which can easily be installed to the phone.

So overall I would personally say, these have to be some of the greatest features in a mobile phone to date, the huge collection software, the ability to use it as a voice/video recorder and media player all in one is simply astounding. You can also connect GPS navigation systems to it. Even though it has some minor hiPros are certainly going to be solved with a ROM update the software is first-rate.

Pros - Media player ( MP3, WMA, WMV, AMR), Video recorder, Voice recorder, MSN messenger, Outlook Synchronisation,3rd Party Homescreens, Huge collection of 3rd partCons(Divx, Xvid, Mpeg, Emulators, Freeware, PSoftware and the OS ? 95%pdated.

Cons ? Bugs, bugs, bugs and more bugs!

Software and the OS ? 95% (remove the bugs and you have a winner)

-------------------------------------------Nokia users ---------------------------------------------

I have one word for you guys? FUN! You wont have this much fun on a phone ever. If you are upgrading from a series 40 phone (7210 etc) then it will be a dream! Simply a dazzling experience. I still can?t believe some of the features this phone is capable of.

Other smaller features--Battery lifesers ---------------------------------------------

Other smaller features

Battery life - Well since I have never had any other smartphone I cant compare the battery life, but I have heard that the previous model had approx.1 day battery life. What I can confidently say about the C500 is its battery life is superior. Due to its light sensor the screen automatically switches off when not in use conserving battery life, I checked the battery before going to sleep and it was at 86% the next morning it was only down by 2%. Heavy usage of the pHeadphonesains its battery quite rapidly. So overall ill have to rate the battery life ? 90%

Headphones ? The headphone quality is decent, just like the average headphones you would find in shops etc. Normal headphones cannot be fitted, I have heard you can get special adaptors from local electrical stores like Maplins (UK). The hands free microphone quality is decent too. Overall ? 85%

Well that brings me to the end of my review; I hope you guys enjoyed it. If you want a second opinion and some pictures of the camera quality and the in phone menu (I don?t know hoe he did that) please check out Paul O'Brien?s review its great. http://smartphone.modaco.com/viewtopiStudents ? 86%

Overall I would rate this phone for 2 categories students and businessmen/women.

Students ? 86% (joystick problems with gaming are the downside, but everything elBusinessmen/women ? 94%playback, camera/video features overall design, everything you want in a phone!)

Businessmen/women ? 94% (this is nearly the perfect device to have, it?s like a small PDA (though it lacks some programs from PDA, but most of them are ported) the synchronisation features are top rated as well as the vast amount of software for this phone)

Package Contents

Edited September 10, 2004 by syphern

[asdflkjsdrhthfhrhr]

Nice review, the phone looks very nice.

[hog]

i want one will it come out in the U.S

[Toxicfume Veteran]

Nice phone, physiccaly it looks well built, but in my eyes Symbian series 60 is still going to rule in terms of software availability and other OSes still have a while to go when it comes to the mobile phone market when compared to the vast software availability for the Symbian OS. Thus the reason I would go for Nokias over this phone. Not to mistaken my comment though, I like the physicaly built of this phone.

[syphern]

i want one will it come out in the U.S

Yeah man it was reported, but it will be named differently. check out that Modoco website for more info about American release.

[Elmo]

can yatake somesmaple pics wif tha cam and some vids plz

[Lionheartilly]

Nice review! and definitely you put a lot of effort into it.

You probably didn't get that much feedback from it, b/c people in US can't get it.

I just skim over it, b/c it doesn't influence me until it comes out to the US market which is a later issue.

But, just wanting to say

Nice Review

[+dave164 Subscriber¹]

cool im gettin' one on Monday :D

can't wait!

[syphern]

Nice review! and definitely you put a lot of effort into it.

You probably didn't get that much feedback from it, b/c people in US can't get it.

I just skim over it, b/c  it doesn't influence me until it comes out to the US market which is a later issue.

But, just wanting to say

Nice Review

584601419[/snapback]

Thanks man that really means a great deal to me!

[Athlonix]

just let you all know the weakness of the phone is that dust gets under the screen within 20 days, and gets worse, the only fix is to send the phone in for repair or take it apart yourself.

phone is good and faster than previous models, i don't like th MiniSD inside the phone as if this was not so I could hotswap my card out my old E100.

Camera is decent quality not a digicam quality, but there pretty dam good anyways. videos are brilliant, sometimes a little stuttery.

MSN is great,

MP3 ringtones is wicked. and you can mod the theme for your homescreen thats wallpaper and the actual menus and buttons as well.

phone doesn't have a txt msg limit as it's got 64meg onbuilt memory

phone can send emails and pick up your POP3 mail too.

first smartphone with Bluetooth

o and it's the first phone to run DOOM well, yes DOOM!

check out www.coolsmartphone.com for more information.

if it wasn't for the dust under the screen it would rule

o battery life is about 5 days, clever light sensor by the keypad turns off the keypad light if it senses light, if your in the dark the light comes on. saves power and looks kool.

[Islandguy]

Hi, Am I missing something. I have an spv 500 but cant use mp3 as ringtones only midi and wav..if there is some way to use mp3 that would be cool. please could someone let me know if there is an app that lets you do this.Thanks

[Athlonix]

I think there is a tool for it on coolsmartphone

but i use wav's you only need 30 seconds of wav since the phone only rings that long

[forster]

This phone is amazing (Y)

[Athlonix]

i wouldn't go that far

[forster]

Well I would, because I own one, and its the best phone I have ever used. So there.

[Islandguy]

WHat is the name of the application that lets you use mp3 as it saves so much room on the phone re wav size v mp3 size. Thanks

[Rappy Veteran]

cool review i have been looking at this phone alot lately...might get it :)

[dt26]

used one in an Orange store (?130 on PAYG OMGWTFBBQ) so I'm having one, can't wait.

[..Vector..]

used one in an Orange store (?130 on PAYG OMGWTFBBQ) so I'm having one, can't wait.

585023121[/snapback]

Congrats man! you won't be sorry:))

[Sn1p3t]

Yeah, I have the Audiovox SMT5600, the US version of this phone.

And yes, it does kick ass.

Smartphone is the future! :D

[spike232]

You cant use mp3 ringtones but u can use wma.

U can convert mp3 to wma using "mp3 audi converter LE" avalible free from microsoft with the "Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP"

[Banzai]

Now if only i could get it unlocked so i could put my Tesco sim card in

[tomwarren Veteran]

Now if only i could get it unlocked so i could put my Tesco sim card in

585089772[/snapback]

http://www.imei-check.co.uk/

[Banzai]

^is that free cuz you can download it but on the site it says its ?20

[Hannah]

Hi. I have an spvC500 and would like to share a few of my experiences with the phone.

As is said above, its a lovely phone, but I have a few criticisms.

Orange cust services know nothing about the phone. Any simple probs I've had eg, non updating of pages, non sending and receiving email, not being able to view some pictures, I've sorted out myself. Orange's excuse is that its a new phone so they dont know much about it yet!

MSN -

msn messenger has never worked for me, and I know others in the same situation so its not an isolated case.

On reporting this to Orange, at first they said msn was down and would be up again in a few days.

A few days later, I got the amazing reply- MSN? The spvC500 doesn't support MSN! No point in arguing there then, even though it gives full instructions on connection in the manual, and the phone has a dedicated link to it on the homescreen!

Homescreen-

I know there's a way to do this, cos I've done it by accident when messing around before, but Orange cant help. How do you get a new picture for your homescreen without having to connect to a pc and active sync?

A smartphone that has to use a pc to download a simple picture cant be that smart!

Messaging-

Whichever way you choose to send messages - text, mms, or email, you cant get out of the menu to change your message method without turning off the phone. I was having to do either this, or delete all my messages in my present field until I had a happy accident- If you go to make a reply to a message and then cancel the reply, you can get back to to messaging menu.

Hardly efficient though?

Downloads-

There are no downloads!

Well, virtually none- 90% of those I tried said 'cannot be viewed on this device' or I just got a page full of some code which sat there and did nothing.

WMV-

The media player is awful! When you eventually find something which actually loads, you're usually treated to something that's more akin to a slideshow than a video!

I'm not saying that I might not be missing something in the above points.

There might be something quite simple that just needs altering to make the phone and its features be the dogs bollox, but Orange cant help with any of it, even though its their signature phone, and I've given up on everything except the homescreen issue, as I know I'll find my happy accident again if I persevere!

Other than the above issues, yes, its a nice phone. The review was spot on, but I just feel that the faults should be highlighted too!