Pauls C500 Review - Updated 12/08 23:45

[Guest fozzie]

One new feature that I've just noticed. Once email headers have been downloaded, as soon as you select one for download, GPRS is fired up and the download starts automatically. :)

[Guest Brody]

I thought my E200 did this?

[Guest mavisdavis]

I know my E200 does this also,he may not have owned one?Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest fozzie]

Yeah, I went straight from original SPV.

Posted from my C500 SmartPhone!

[Guest QBall68]

Can anyone tell me the actual battery capacity (in mAh) of the battery that comes in the C500 kit?

[Guest bosshogg]

Can anyone tell me the actual battery capacity (in mAh) of the battery that comes in the C500 kit?

1050mAh according to the back of mine

[Guest pmassop]

Does anybody now what cable I must use for GPS with My C500?

I have an Haicon Haicom Hi 204 S mouse, that I use with my SPV Classic

[Guest alimoir]

Hi Paul

You said

And FINALLY... yes, my Exchange Activesync mail DOES still arrive automatically - mysteriously for no apparent reason! Maybe we'll never know why...

Can you tell me how to set this up? I can sync at regular intervals with my exchange server, both cradled & uncradled, but can't get it to update when new items arrive??

Hope you can help? :roll:

Regards

Ali

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

If I knew how, I would tell you. But I don't, it just happens, and I have no way to stop it :)

P

[Guest London101]

Hi,

A couple of quick questions re HSCSD on the C500 please (there's nothing about it on the Orange site spec list)...

1) Can I use HSCSD to dial in to my ISP instead of GPRS when using the C500 as a modem for my laptop?

2) Less importantly, can I also use HSCSD with the C500's internal apps (E-mail, IE Browser etc) thus not needing GPRS at all?

I tend to download a lot of data on the move with my old Nokia and have found Orange HSCSD a much cheaper option. Can I do without a GPRS subscription for my C500?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Richard.

[Guest jesmel]

Great review, just ordered one at the online orange shop to upgrade from my e100 :)

[Guest mattbunce]

Hi Paul

You said

And FINALLY... yes, my Exchange Activesync mail DOES still arrive automatically - mysteriously for no apparent reason! Maybe we'll never know why...  

Can you tell me how to set this up? I can sync at regular intervals with my exchange server, both cradled & uncradled, but can't get it to update when new items arrive??

Hope you can help?  :roll:  

Regards

Ali

I think the system works like this :

1. Email arrives in Exchange Server Mailbox

2. Exchange generates an email with a certain code to predefined email to sms address i.e [email protected]

3. Device receives this as SMS and tells ActiveSync to do a sync.

4. Email is downloaded to SPV Inbox

If I am right, something has to be set on the Exchange Server to enable this. I plan to do this with my C500 when it arrives on Monday so will let you know how I get on.

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

That's all great, except Orange.net can't provide compatible SMS alerts.

P

[Guest mattbunce]

Do you know anywhere that can provide compatible SMS alerts? What does it need to support to be compatible?

"]That's all great, except Orange.net can't provide compatible SMS alerts.

P

[Guest London101]

Hi, Further to my last message, I stopped by an Orange store today and asked them about the HSCSD data on the C500. Their response, "No sir, HSCSD high speed data is being discontinued on all new models except the Nokia 6230. The best option for you is to keep the older handset."

I'm not sure I want to believe this. My HSCSD data link on the old Nokia gives me downloads to my laptop at GBP 0.40 per MB whenever I need it, with no monthly GPRS subscription required.

Anyone care to comment on high speed data on the C500??? Is it still available? Anyone tried it??

[Guest fozzie]

I read on the Orange List today that HSD (or HSCSD as it used to be known) is definitely ending. I've deleted the summary but I'm pretty sure that you can't get it any more ona new contract and its' complete demise is pretty soon.

[Guest London101]

Thanks fozzie...

This international link suggests that the C500 hardware will do HSCSD but I think it is in error:

http://www.orange.ch/offers/orangePhones/spvC500

I believe that the Orange High Seed Data contract is being phased out for new subscribers, but surely not the actual technology?? I just dial up to my ISP on my normal pay-monthly account and it works - fast and cheap.... Other handsets (eg newer Sony-Ericsson's etc) still seem to have high speed data listed on the Orange UK site.

My latest understanding is that the C500 can do CSD but it and other Windows smartphones cannot to HSCSD. I would still be able to dial in to my ISP cheaply but will only get 9.8kbits or maybe 14.4, rather than the 28.8 I'm accustomed to. Unless anyone tells me otherwise, I'm sticking with my ancient 6210. No C500 for me :?

[Guest Michel Merlin]

PMJI, may be this question has been asked...

I don't see if the C500 has SpeakerPhone (talking on the phone with microphone and loudspeaker, so my wife or whoever next me can hear at the same time). Could you try this and add it in your review? Thanks BTW for this very useful review.

Paris, Fri 10 Sep 2004 15:21:10 +0200

[Guest Michel Merlin]

I didn't find info about the sensitivity of the C500 (We have some areas receiving pretty bad in french country). Do you have some? Can you add it to the review? TIA,

Paris, Fri 10 Sep 2004 15:25:45 +0200

[Guest Michel Merlin]

Also, from several french paper magazines I think this device (Orange

SPV C500) still needs improvement:

- probably too quickly brought to market, too many bugs: The PocketTV Team's

workaround only cures the GAPI bug for the games that implement it; the

(so far unsolved) keypad

multipress problem; others unsolved in the Bug List.

- needs that the mini-SD card can be taken out/inserted without removing the battery

- needs WiFi (802.11g), FM radio, 128MB (only has 32).

Paris, Fri 10 Sep 2004  16:00:40 +0200

[Guest aristoBrat]

You do know that the C500 is a phone, not a PocketPC, right? :)

[Guest Michel Merlin]

You do know about convergence, right? :)

You have thought of which side it will most efficiently come from, phones or PDAs, right? :lol:

You have thought that others, when modestly and concisely submitting something, are not necessarily idiots, and not necessarily implying you are one, thus not necessarily explaining all those useless premises, right? :lol:

Then since you have thought of all those things, let's come back to topic, please.

Paris, Sat 11 Sep 2004 00:35:20 +0200

[Guest beersoft]

Michel im guessing you didn't read the transcript of the chat with orange held a few weeks ago, or any of the other C500 threads?

the gapi bug will be fixed with an update provided either as a rom flash or OTA update.

the other software bugs will be resolved over time, orange/HTC/microsoft will fix them

the multipress key thing is hardware and won't be fixed in current device

the sd card is internal due to a design descision made by htc, it does stop the sd card falling out when you drop the phone, and also helps reduce the form factor

why does the phone need 128 meg of ram? its just a phone and mini sd is cheap enough

hmm, wifi, lets go from 5+ days standby/ 4 hours network usage time to 2 hours max of wifi and maybe a day of standby, and who needs 56mbps data transfer to the phone? dont say VoIP, as that can be done over 4kbps (look at the gsm codec)

fm radio???????????? who uses a fm radio on there phone????????? jeebuss it was just a rumour that it had one, and that was disproven hours after it was started

and in my book convergance is voice and data over the same transport or voice and data on the same device, but before you moan about "ohh the pocketpc can do this that and the other" you have to think of the market for the device and the design requirements for them, a pda is firstly a pda then maybe a phone, a smartphone is a phone then a pda but this isn't the place for that 'friendly chat'

i need to get some sleep, and the C500 rocks

later

Owen

[Guest Michel Merlin]

Michel im guessing you didn't read the transcript of the chat with orange held a few weeks ago, or any of the other C500 threads?

Your guessing right - I didn't.

the gapi bug will be fixed with an update provided either as a rom flash or OTA update.

I saw that, but I also didn't see a date for those fixes, that still need to be done, and won't cure the number of C500's that are already in shops. Meanwhile, there is only the software workaround I recalled.

No date told either for the other software bugs.

Thanks for confirming that the multipress key and the mini-SD bugs won't be cured at all in the current version of the device.

For that mini-SD thing, of course as any other misconception his author(s) has plenty reasons to explain; it remains a bug IMO (and in many others').

WiFi-g, radio-FM, 128MB: I am surely not the only to want to stop carrying a phone, a PDA, an MP3 device, and to prefer if all those were in just one. I join the majority who seem to think that the phone is the best path to that convergence; and now is the time to do it.

Ths C500 sure is very good (note that I didn't tell to not buy it); but evolution needs to continue fast, so next steps must be thought of right away. There are plenty phones much cheaper than C500 that already have radio-FM; WiFi should not add so much juice consumption if the software is done right; WiFi-g will even consume less than b if software done right; 128MB is a little thing by now (I have 576MB in my PDA).

i need to get some sleep, and the C500 rocks

I too have to go to sleep... Good night!

Paris, Sat 11 Sep 2004 02:28:15 +0200

[Guest midnight]

kind of agree and disagree with both of you here...

wifi on a very cheap ms smartphone???? not likely, that would drive the cost up, and most likely the size and also kill off battery life when in use (the c500's most appealing features in my opinion)

128mb ram???? it really doesnt need it, as beersoft said, mini-sd is pretty darn cheap these days, and again, 128mb ram would up the cost again.

Mini SD, advantages for and against its use under the battery.... Its safe, it aint gonna fall out accidentally thats for sure, and isnt gonna get stolen, it also means that without need for an ejection mechanism means the device is smaller, however, if you have an sd card reader then this is a real pain, not just cos of the time taken to remove the mini sd, but i'm sure over time the battery and cover is gonna become loose (which will be a constant annoyance). Either way, it most certainly aint a bug, its a design decision.

As for the other stuff, there is an update coming soon, when i dunno, but they have fixed the GAPI issues and so no other method of fixing is really required. But the hardware problems cant be fixed, but then, O still insist its a business device, and so the current scroller style joystick is better at quick application navigation.