Thinking of going for an SPV, but i have a few questions!

[Guest studiosonic]

OK, before I start this, I don't want any replies saying "don't bother" or something along those lines. I've done my research and I've had a quick demo of one in an Orange store, so I'm pretty set on getting one. However, I do have a few questions on aspects of the SPV, and smartphones in general, that I'm not clear on.

I was looking at a review of the now defunct Sendo Z100, and I like the fact that it had java support, an amiga emulator and word/zip viewers. What I'm not clear on is if any of that was actually built into the phone, or was it just something that they installed on it that, if Orange certified it, could also be installed on the SPV? I'm presuming this is the case with the viewers, but is the amiga emulator just an app that could be loaded onto an SPV? What about java support? Is this a thing built into the hardware of the Z100, and could only be used on the SPV with a software workaround?

I'm just trying to understand how much features are dependent on phone hardware. So if a new Smartphone comes out in a few months time, I don't want to see it have a load of things on it that the SPV can't do. How true is it to say that ultimately the SPV and further 1st gen Smartphones are just the basic computers to run the windows software? I mean, if i had 3 different computers running XP, they could all do the same things, they just may do them faster depending on the pc specs. Is this the same for the phone? Smartphone Windows 2002 is presumably going to last for a while, with the hardware getting better? I wouldn't want to see smartphone windows 2002 version 2 coming out in a few months time that suddenly means the SPV becomes obsolete. I hope u can understand what i'm asking here!!!

Second, how much of a loss is it not to have java on the phone? Everyone talks of all the apps and games that could run, but i've seen very little, and other than java games, what kind of apps would actually be of any use? If Orange reassess certification, i think this won't be a huge loss anyway.

I know a lot of people complain about it being a bit slow or not quite finished, but it doesn't bother me too much. I've been using an Ericsson T65 for the past year and that can be really slow, but i live with it. To be honest with you, i hardly make any calls on it. I text way more than speaking!! I really like the integration with Windows that the SPV offers though. I would have no use for a full blown PDA at work, but i think the SPV could be of use to me in that department. The net access was great when i tried it out and is such a major step up from the wap on the T65. The fact that it's an MP3 player too will also be of use on train journeys etc..

I have to admit though that the thing that first made me thing "wow" to the SPV was seeing that Links and Worms were going to be available on it, and seeing how amazing they looked. I still can't quite imagine playing something as good looking as a smartphone version of links when waiting for a delayedd train!!! Do u guys have any ideas when these are going to be released and the rough price?

I'm also happy to accept that we may be paying to be in a beta test, but then i kind of like that. Seeing how the latest tech develops. I enjoyed that with OnDigital, when new channels would come through, and they'd start to test new services. Let's hope that the Smartphones don't go down the OnDigital route though!!!!

I hope i haven't mixed my questions in too much ramble!!!

Many thanks!

[Guest dom]

I beleive that the software Sendo had on the Z100 was developed in-house (I gather that they were not happy that they had to do a lot of the development work themselves for things that they felt should be included in the base software). As far as I'm aware the stuff they did was software and (barring certification) should run on any MS Smartphone. These are just assumptions and observations on my part - One of the people who actually had a Z100 development kit may be able to help more (try www.smartphonedn.com or the msdn smartphone developer newsgroups).

Since Sendo has moved over to Nokia/Symbian, I'd think you're more likely to see the software they developed for the Z100 on whatever Series 60 based phone replaces it or that the software will be binned. I can't imagine them releasing the software on an MS Platform now even if it would be easy for them to do so.

I'd guess that any phone that runs SP2K2 will have pretty much the same capabilities (MS may well require it), the more generic the platform the easier it is to support and maintain.

As far as software prices go, pre-release there were a load of titles available and they ran in at between £6.70 and £20 - Whether those prices will be the same when we do actually get some downloadable software for the phone I don't know.