165 replies to this topic

[Dade]

No offence taken. You raise a good point.

Xbackup is an app thats comes with the phone and allows you to backup to an SD Card or to the non volatile part of the internal memory. I use this and it works a treat.

I always carry a fully charged spare battery with me and have never (touch wood!) lost the data on my M1000 or M2000.

I should point out that the review is in no-way endorsed by Orange and its totally off my own back. I hope that it comes across with the basic information people need and in a well balanced maner.

If there is anything that anyone needs clarified about the M2000 (or any device for that matter) post up a question and I feel sure that someone will be there with the answers!

[Microsoft]

Quote

Hi, does this phone support line 2?

Shaks

"Its also worth mentioning that Line 2 is not supported on the M2000. If you try and use Line 2 calls will ring in on both numbers but you will only beable to dial out of Line 1. I suppose this may suit some people but its a shame that its missing from the handset. I can see that this would put off some business costomers that use Line 2 for personal use. "
hum??

[ventmore]

Quote

Weighing up the Nokia 9500 against the M2000 at the moment and I am torn. Nokia is really stable but boring apps. Microsoft is exciting but not so great battery times.

It really comes down to size, keyboard and battery life!!!!

I am pulling my hair out on what to buy.....

I have a 9500 which I've had for 4 days, and it's going back tomorrow, as I've just ordered an M2000.  There wasn't one big problem with it, just a lot of little niggles.  Mainly:

No vibrating alert
No automatic email retrieval (You have to manually check)
Very slow response times between menus and loading apps
Wi-Fi is extremely slow.  I have a 1.5 meg connection at home, and the 9500 was taking around 30-45 secs to load a page, and even then it wasn't fully loaded, even when returning to a page where the images should have been cached.  Some of my fave pages wouldn't even load.

@Dade
I know there is a bluetooth problem with the PDA2K.  Is it present on the M2000, or have Orange sorted it?  If it is, will the patch on the imate website fix it?

BTW, this is my first post, so hi to all, and congrats on a great review...really helped in my buying decision.

Cheers
ventmore

[philgriffiths]

Just thought i'd put up a post as I managed to give my M2000 a proper road test over the weekend while i was away visting friends. While i admit it was too big to slip into my pocket when i went out on the town i found so many advantages over my old phone (an E200) While my E200 could do all the things i used the M2000 for over the weekend (calling, texting, appointment and contact entry, checking my emails, and using MSN, cheating at the pub quiz  :wink: ) i felt the M2000 did all these things much better than my last phone, and i got a few remarks of how cool it was into the bargain. Battery life was pretty admirable too. took it off the charger Friday night, and it had a brief charge on saturday afternoon, but apart from that it has coped with a weekend of fairly heavy use (for some reason everyone wants to try handwriting recognition) i only recieved a warning of a low battery as i pulled onto my driveway at 7 oclock this evening (monday).

On a side note, Xbackup is very straight forward to use, it does take a little while to do a full backup, but depending on how often you want to backup your settings, messages, etc i really don't see the problem in just clicking xbackup on over night while my little baby sits in her cradle!

[kevwright]

Hi Guys,

Can I just ask, is the M2000 sorted with regard to the apparling Bluetooh problems with the PDA2K?

I want one of these but sent the i-mate back as it was effectively unusable.

Can one of you (or all of you!) tell me two things.

1. using a BT headset (Jabra 250 here), can you make calls and then turn off M2000, turn it back on and receive/make calls again using the headset?

2. Can you use a BT headset and a BT GPS unit at the same time?

Cheers


Kev

[Chimpanzee]

Quote

The M2000 will ships with a slightly different headset to the M1000 and the other SPV's do but the supplied headset does work in stereo.

Its just that most of us prefer to use our own decent headphones!

I'm using an E200 at the mo. what are the headphones like compared to the ones shipped with my phone. i find them perfectly acceptable for everyday use.

[Dade]

They are pretty much the same as the ones that shipped with all the other SPV devices. I think they are terrible for audio quality.

[matd]

Hi,

Just come up to my 12 monthly renewal period with Orange and decided to go from an E200 to a C500, but..... hmmm.... its nice and compact, a little faster, but it still has the crappy quality camera - why don't they put a decent 1.3mp cam in like Samsung have with the D500 - thats even got a flash! There's a few other little niggles too, hardly any ringtones compared to the e200, no great software additions either.  Very tempted to send the C500 back and wait for the M2000 to come back into stock - Orange tell me January as they have struggled to meet demand.

I'd say the only good things about the C500 are the smaller size, comprised by mini-sd inconvenience though! full screen video playback and speed, not much of an improvement to get me to keep it until my next upgrade in 12 months i think..

Just wondering how portable and practicle the M2000 is compared to the E200 & C500? ie. would you or do you take it with you on a night out to pubs / clubs?

Do any of you use the carry case and how ergonomic is it? is it like having a lunch box taped to your waist!?

The size of it looks a little daunting and to be honest. I've been tempted to leave the E200 at home sometimes as its been a little on the bulky side...

The other thing is making and receiving calls. It doesn't look like the kind of thing you could just pick up and make a call with it holding it to the side of your ear! ;-) I expect its pretty difficult to keep the screen clean too if your holding it next to your face all day or do most users use Bluetooth or the handsfree?

Despite its size i'm swaying towards the M2000 as i already have a 1GB SD Card and i'm reluctant to wait for the 1GB Mini SD to arrive and have to buy one of those too. I really can't see why the makers couldn't keep the standard SD as its not that much bigger, just means more expense for most of us that keep up with the Smartphones...

Its the size of the screen, hidden keyboard and wireless that got me interested.

Any other ex E200 owners out there convince me to make the move? :-)

[philgriffiths]

I upgraded from an E200 for an M2000. If the size of the e200 put you off taking it out to the pub the size of the M2000 almost certainly will. (tis handy for the pub quiz tho  :wink: ) Saying that it is obviously going to be bigger than your curent phone it actually isn't as large as i thought it was going to be. Its around the same thickness of your E200 and i reckon around roughly 1.5 times the width.

The carry case is fairly basic, but adequate to give your phone some basic protection from bumps and spills at that pub quiz i was talking about. I dont tend to use mine, but thats more to do with the fact that i just dont like carrying my phone on my belt. Out of the case it does slip into your jeans okay. it does give a bulge in the pocket but i dont find it uncomfortable to have in my pocket when i'm out and about

Making calls is fairly straight forward. The dialler is brought up by presing the green handset key and you can then search for and call contacts. The phone lacks the predictive contact search of your E200 which has annoyed some users. But this can be rectified by installing intellipad and intelli dialler if you so choose. Personally i find that just using speed dials suits my needs.

The screen does get a little smudged and grimey, but i havent found this to have affect on its sensitivity and you can fit a screen protecter on there to give it some extra proctection against marks and knocks.

Hope that helps you....

[jezza1]

I'm another E200 upgrader and agree with everything that phil has said. The handset is OK (just) for holding to your head - it's well worth the compromise for the keyboard, wifi, storage, touchscreen etc etc. A bluetooth headset will be a useful add-on.

I have kept my E200 and use it for going out in the evenings - just a case of swapping the SIM - best of both worlds! The E200 is likely to remain current (except for the camera) for quite a while longer, so you are pretty well covered with the E200 / M2000 combination!

jezza1

[philgriffiths]

just to add i intend to buy a C500 as a secondary phone after christmas when my funds are a little healthier

[matd]

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to avoid the need to have 2 phones, but i spose i could get a cheap Nokia 8210 for the wild nights out....

So all of you that had gone from an E200 to an M2000 - you wouldn't go back or have regretted doing so?..

Just out of interest, i understand if you don't want to comment, but how much did it cost you to upgrade?

[philgriffiths]

When i first bought a smartphone i had a few misgivings, but now there is no way i could use any other kind of phone, i like the possibilities they offer me so much i couldn't use a regualr phone again. Since upgrading to the M2000 i couldn't see myself going back from a phone/PDA to a regular smartphone.

I paid 89.99 for my upgrade. I'm on a value plan matched 02 100 tarriff and that was the best price they could offer me. The orignally quoted 289.99 but when i asked for my PAK number they spoke to disconnections and sorted it out for me. There are a few people on here that have gotten it for free on some of the higher priced tarriffs.

Due to the current situation with no M2000 units available until Mid Jan some of you might do well to call into your local orange store. You can get some kind of voucher i think that gives you money off your upgrade price if you agree not to upgrade for another month, and you get more money off if you agree not to upgrade for two months. Since your probably not going to get your hands on one for a month anyway you dont really have anything to lose. Members like Blackhorse and other orange staff might be able to give you more details but i think its some kind of strategy by orange to reduce the cost to them of upgrades. Someone has worked out they can save thousands if they can delay their customers upgrading for a couple of months, rather than immediatley on 12 month expiration. (just look at all these 18 month/2year contracts that have started popping up, proabably due to simillar reasons)

[matd]

Thanks for the tips Phil. Think i'll return this C500 and wait till January and then haggle with disconnections - that usually does the job! ;-)

[davidhines]

I am confused...

What is the definitive answer as to whether Line 2 is available on the M2000?

Review says - no
'Official statement' from Orange says - no
Official user guide from Orange says - YES!!!

Look in the index: Line 2......page 50

So I understand that there is no way of switching lines - shame - the smartphone shortcut of press-and-hold-hash is useful.

But if the M2000 doesn't support Line 2 then why is it mentioned in the user guide? Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

Anyone know whether this was an oversight and whether a s/w update will 're-enable' this rather important business feature??

Sounds like a minor thing, but this will be the deciding factor on any impending purchase.

Thanks to anyone able to shed some light on the matter.

[Dade]

Line 2 does NOT work!

I have a Sim card with Line 2 and I have tested this with the M2000. While you can receive calls on both numbers you can ONLY make calls from Line 1.

[davidhines]

Thanks Dade for your response.

Did/does the M1000 support Line 2?

With your knowledge of these devices, past and present, is this a feature that has been forgotten and is it likely to be added at a later date with an upgrade?

I use Line 2 for business and Line 1 for personal.
I guess I could enquire about switching numbers between Lines - if that is possible and isn't too much effort for Orange.

Thanks again for your help.

I look forward to hearing your views on the above.

[Billy Marrafyass]

Thanks to all for helping me decide which phone to upgrade to from my e200! the m2000 looks like a winner: it's great that a 9-way joypad is enabled but bizarre that a 3.5 to 2.5mm plug isn't used - any news as to why???
i've been going slightly mental looking at smartphone variants - anybody in a position to compare the m2000 to the motorola mpx - apologies if covered elsewhere but like i say i am going crazycomparing and contrasting...
the m2000 does look like the one but i heard good things about the p900 and oh christ, a few others - help me decide please!!

[Pondrew]

Well, the Pocket PC PE community seem to have dismissed the MPX as unusuable due to the ridiculously low memory (32meg). This apparently has resulted in it being very unstable, or at least that's what I read on another forum...

Can't really comment on the P910i as I'm rather biased and don't think I'd ever consider a non Windows device.

EDIT: Just remembered, unfortunately deciding upon an M2000 isn't the whole battle. You've now got to find one in stock somewhere. I've been trying to get the MDA III (the T-Mobile badged M2000) and like the M2000 it's out of stock with no estimate on when it'll return.

Edited by Pondrew, 16 January 2005 - 03:08 AM.

[fraser]

Pondrew, on Jan 16 2005, 03:10, said:

You've now got to find one in stock somewhere. I've been trying to get the MDA III (the T-Mobile badged M2000) and like the M2000 it's out of stock with no estimate on when it'll return.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm holding off for the M2500 now, partly because of the stock issue. It's the same as the M2000, except the screen resolution is doubled, the camera is now 1.3 megapixel and it's a faster processor. Also known as the XDA IIi, try googling and all you'll find is the XDA III (damn case-insensitive google!). I've seen it called the XDA 2i as well, or you could look for HTC Alpine.

No due date as yet...