Guest bronksy Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Well I've had this little phone a week, for what it's worh here's my thoughts.. I think this phone is over-hyped. It's small, yes and compared to early smarftphones its quite good. It's not THAT great. Yes the battery is better, it's still not great. I find that a day of bluetooth on and off.. sending and receiving mails, composing a few texts rally pulls the battery down. I leave work at 6pm with a fully charged battery, leave BT on and sync at home for 20 mins, install a couple of programms, swap some files to and from my PC etc, I use the smartner Duality push email thing for about 2 hours. When i get to bed at about 2am the battery is down to about 50% is this good? This is not a full day really.. ok it's 8 hours. .but thats not making any calls really. I don't think its that good. I don't consider myself a power user, but perhaps I am. If i just made calls and nothing else then perhaps it would be ok. What it amounts to isa that to use the phone as intended you get a couple of days pushing it. Now, I know you all will go.. well i charge my phone all day when it's on sync blah blah blah, but it's still a long way to go to get some decent useage out if this. I can see why people have normal handsets that they don't have to worry about dying on them. Yes I know it's a mini computer, but most people dont by a car that is so fuel hungry you get 5 miles to the gallon, not matter what it did. The phone also crashes quite a lot. No i'm not prepared to brush it off as a ''well thats Microsoft for you' thing. Its a phone. Is should not crash. Simple. It takes an age to get a signal again if you're out of coverage, this is unacceptable. There's no reason people can give me for this, it's just rubbish software. Why should I have to find a workaround.. put into flight mode, put out of flightmode, put in my pin.. all to achieve something so totally basic and something that my first phone 10 years ago could do better. I'm also not prepared to take the comments 'well we're early adopters so we have to be beta testers' crap. This is a no brainer. Don't bring something to market if it doesn't work. We're all too quick to get excited about new stuff, and most of us are gadget addicts, but we are all to happy to accept rubbish made products, buggy software and pathetic excuses from companies who we are putting our hard earned cash into. Being an 'early adopter' as become a euphamism for free testers, or gullible bastards who will spend their money on anything that glows, blinks beeps and so on. These companies are laughing at us. They're counting the cash while we're lining their pockets. I'm not a political activist, just observing what we all put ourselves through... Think about this next time you need to make a call on your expensive phone/pda/gps/homing device and you can't cos it's crashed, or the battery has died or there is no network, while the 12 year old on one of his 2 or 3 pay as you go handsets yapps away for hours. Or am i just wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scottishdave Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 There's just no pleasing some people. :roll: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bronksy Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Its not about pleasing people. It's more of a general commentry, using the C500 as what i see as a perfect example of how we're being duped all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Disco Stu Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 I'd say you're being a bit harsh. Take a deep breath and tell us what is causing the phone to crash. I've found the C500 to be very stable. Battery life could always be better but I leave it charging overnight and don't worry about it. Compared to the previous SPV editions it's excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bronksy Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 I dont' think it's harsh, I think lots of us users (including me) tend to be a little blinkered when it comes to new stuff. Get excited and the product isn't all that. Without being rude, I don't think it's that a valid argument to say 'well the other models were worse' I just thought it would be healthy to try and think outside the box, or morelike think outside the handset! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest beersoft Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 feel better for getting that off your chest? ok, to counter "boo hoo my battery is rubbish" comments you need to understand the difference between "STANDBY" and "NOT STANDBY/TALKTIME" standby is when the phone is sleeping, ie just sitting there and doing nothing, a bit like when your asleep, you burn a few calories but less than when your awake, the phone is doing not much, using a few % of battery but less than when its doing somting, simple, all understand? good , ok complaining that "I used my phone for 2 hours, syncing it and copying files over bluetooth and now the battery is nearly empty" is a bit like complaining that "my car will sit and idle for 5 hours on a liter of fuel, but if i drive it at 3500 rpm it only lasts 30 minuites" I leave work at 6pm with a fully charged battery, leave BT on and sync at home for 20 mins, install a couple of programms, swap some files to and from my PC etc, I use the smartner Duality push email thing for about 2 hours. When i get to bed at about 2am the battery is down to about 50% ok, where is the magical power for the 2 hours of bt sync coming from? and the power for the bt radio? the backlight? THE PHONE IS DOING STUFF SO ITS NOT ON STANDBY! when the c500 is on standby its using 1% of battery between 1 to 7 hours or so, depending on signal strength, colour of socks etc when the phone is "in use" this drops to between 15 minuites and 2 minuites, inuse is anything classed as "not in a locked keypad, nothing running in the background" state so moaning about "i played games on my phone for 3 hours, then surfed the net for another hour, then copied some mp3s over bt to it for another hour and my battery is nearly empty" is just rubbish, your using the phone and iirc it has 8 hours talktime, which is 8 hours of using the phone, if the phone was "freshreboot" and keypad locked in airplane mode and you only got 8 hours of battery, there is something wrong. ok, i feel better now later Owen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bronksy Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 I don't think 2 hours of using the phone for what its intended to do is out of the ordinary. The phone is on 'standby' for 6 hours, and in use for 2 hours. You're all just blinded by innovation. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest beersoft Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 so after 2 hours of use and 6 of doing nothing its flashing the red "charge me now!" led? or just on 2 bars of battery? if you look in the "bookoclues" it explains how much battery 1 bar represents later Owen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bronksy Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 jees everyone is so defensive. The battery in the 'book o clues' as you put it I used task manager to see it was on 50%.. ok I lie 51% Without being obnoxious just want to point out, at the risk of being flamed and taken for an idiot.... I have had a lot of phones over the past 10 years, and lots of handsets. Some ood, some bad, as an end user I am entitled to have opinion that may differ.. I'm offering an alternative discussion. I was a technology journalist and then went onto review products, mainly consumer tech gadgets and prototype gizmos and gadgets on television. Not rubbish, like a new corkscrew. Proper stuff! I have also produced technology based shows for the industry as well as for the consumer, as well as location based films from major tech events and interviewed some of the leading players in this area. Basically I have an above average knowlede of the market and of the products. I make my comments out of experience coupled with a will to start a conversation thread thats about why things are not always as good as we think. It's a credit to the manufacturers and the Phone companies that you buy into their sales and marketing speak. Think outside the box. It won't hurt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Confucious Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 I've had quite a few phones over the years and the C500 IMHO is by far annd away the best phone I have owned. Sure, it's not perfect but it's close enough for me and I don't think anything else comes close. I have found it to be very stable - especially considering all the junk I have on it. you are, of course, entitled to your opinion but I know of no other phone that does what I want so well. The battery life on the C500 is a lot better than other "smartphones" I've tried (try getting the Motorola A920 to hold a charge that long). There can allways be immprovements but the C500 is the best available and IMHO it's pretty darn good :) PS - I've obviously been brainwashed by the marketing people !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bronksy Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 but is it overhyped? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Confucious Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 but is it overhyped? No - if anything it could be hyped more. Most people don't realise just how good this phone is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bronksy Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Most people want phones for calls and don't give a poo about outlook integration, mp3 etc.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Confucious Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Fine - they have a choice. If you just want a phone for calls then get a basic phone. there are phones with better cameras too but I want a phone that does everything. I no longer have to carry my PPC as the C500 does everything I want. There are alternatives but none that does so much as the C500 (apart from perhaps the P910 - but that's to big, and expensive, for me). The choice is yours but I don't believe that there is anything else that comes close to being a perfect Smartphone. if you don't want a smartphone don't buy one, if you do then get a C500 :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ReSpawn Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Name a phone with all the features you want that is better? Dont have a choice? Well there ya go! :) (saying that I only just got rid of my sh*tty nGage so anything is an improvement. 18 hrs of battery on standby? 3 if i listen to choons? now thats rubbish and overhyped!!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Disco Stu Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 It's a credit to the manufacturers and the Phone companies that you buy into their sales and marketing speak. Think outside the box. It won't hurt! Please grow up and stop patronising us. You say you were a journalist.... :roll: :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sparkisgti Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 if u think the c500 crashes u wanna try the nokia 7650 now that is pants.. crashes all the time with only the supplied software on it :roll: ive had one of each of the spv's (ive also had a lot of other phones in my time, lots of different makes) and this is by far the best one yet.. only crashed a few times and thats probably my fault for trying to do too many things at once. i no longer have to cart a diary/mp3/phone/camera around as this little baby does it all.. and believe me the camera on this is way better than the nokia 6230.. as i have one of those as well. and then you have the wow factor in the office.. everyone loves watching eric prdyz on my phone :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stugee Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 I got the phone based on the features and comments from you guys. I have to say I'm definately not dissapointed! This phone battery life is half that of my 7610 (saying that I was bored of my nokia and didn't fiddle with it that much recently). But the phone is by far and away worth this minor inconvienience. At the end of the day the overall package is far superior - you cant expect it to excel in all areas!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scott2eyes Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Interesting topic... I've only had my C500 for a couple of days, but so far I've been very impressed. But then, I've come from using (tolerating?) an MPx200 with all it's quirks for a year, and it's a great improvement on that- all the stuff that I liked and then some (multiple inboxes, better media player, more memory, faster, better homescreen etc.) with none of the problems that bugged me with the Moto. So my vote says that it's easily lived up to the hype- it's actually exceeded my expectations. So far, because I've still been in the habit of leaving it connected to the USB charger all night (and a lot of the day), I'm not in a position to say anything about the battery life, but I think that's going to be the curse of flashy phones- are there any phones with a colour screen as big which perform any better? I have had a few problems- a couple of crashes where the phone has frozen up and I've had to pull the battery out. But so far, that has only happened when doing three things at once (eg. transferring MP3s to and from a computer, changing settings and receiving messages at the same time), and I'm sure the fact that I'm also running all sorts of unlicenced (ie. freeware/beta etc.) software that I've collected over the last year for my MPx200 have hardly helped matters. Also, the email won't connect over GPRS for some reason when the phone is connected to the USB socket (but then, if I've got the phone plugged in, then I'm at a computer and can see email on that, so it's not a practical issue- just a minor niggle.) But the crunch for me is that since I got my MPx200 12 months ago, I've still not seen any mobile phone which makes me feel jealous. I don't want a PDA, simply because I want my phone to look like a phone, but with the added functionality of MP3 player, outlook synchronisation, videos etc. etc. (And I particuarly love tinkering with the homescreens!) And I haven't even mentioned the fact that it was a free upgrade! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Confucious Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 Fine - they have a choice. If you just want a phone for calls then get a basic phone. there are phones with better cameras too but I want a phone that does everything. I no longer have to carry my PPC as the C500 does everything I want. There are alternatives but none that does so much as the C500 (apart from perhaps the P910 - but that's to big, and expensive, for me). The choice is yours but I don't believe that there is anything else that comes close to being a perfect Smartphone. if you don't want a smartphone don't buy one, if you do then get a C500 :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bronksy Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 well i still think you've all been blinded by the apparent goodness of this handset.. Hot to mention the silly joystick. Why design it like that. Cheap casing too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Confucious Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 If you don't like it fine. I do. I have not been "blinded" by anything. The phone does everything I want. If you don't like it sell it and buy a Nokia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bronksy Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 its not about liking or not liking. Its about limiting our choices (in Oranges case) to sell a product. I know you can get SIM free etc.. It's taken years to evolve a joystick.. from the atari days to now, and the follow form, a stick that you move around, someone tries to re-invent the wheel, and produces something similar to a joystick that you would find on a Vtech toy. I find it troubling that you like the product that much. HTC have got a very loyal fan base. Mind you, it's lack of choice again I guess. Stop liking it so much and actuall think it's a very average phone when it comes to making phone calls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sparkisgti Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 the joystick on the c500 does what its supposed to be do so whats wrong with that.. people will always find things to complain about with a phone.. if you dont like dont have it.. thats the choice you have, theirs no way im giving up my C500 .. and im not blinded by advertising, i just know the phone does everything i want it too.. including replicate with my works outlook. i also have a nokia 6100, its a simple crap phone that i use for my heavy texting habit and keep the c500 for everything else and where the hell do you get cheap case idea from?? not many phones i know you can drop and it doesnt fall into a million pieces.. certainly better than any nokia ive had in the past i say all this but i will point out, "im a die hard nokia fan", ive always been one for the latest nokia phones and bought many offline just so i can have the latest, but now im a SPV fan and cant wait to see what they can come up with next.. TBH i dont know what else they really can do to improve it.. except maybe more memory and even more speed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bronksy Posted December 22, 2004 Report Share Posted December 22, 2004 it's a phone. As a phone it's average. The joystick is ill designed. Thats obvious. I'm not trying to convert people, nor do I have any reason to dislike the handset.. I dont dislike it. Just pointing out its not THAT good! The problem is we're all gadget geeks, thats why we're on these forums so i'm up against it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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