New to the world of Smartphone and need some advice

[Guest xerxes]

Hi,

I'm new to the world of MS Smartphones but I am considering getting an SPV C500.

The problem is that my company uses Vodafone so I'll need to swap my existing SIM into the phone. I've done some searching and had a good look around the forums here but I'm a bit confused so I have a few questions.

1) If I buy a C500, buy out the contract and pay the unlock fee am I free to use a Vodafone SIM?

2) Would I also be free to add whatever software I want or do I have to do something else to achieve this?

3) Should I expect any problems in running a phone with an Orange ROM on Vodafone?

4) Would the Orange "Over the air" ROM updates still work after I have paid off my Orange contract and had the phone unlocked?

5) If I take a different tack and buy the Qtek from Expansys would I be able to get Qtek ROM updates from somewhere? If not could I use the Orange updates?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for the help.

By the way, from my browsing around today, this seems to be the most helpful and friendly forum I've seen for ages!

Regards,

xerxes

[Guest martin]

Welcome xerxes :)

1) If I buy a C500, buy out the contract and pay the unlock fee am I free to use a Vodafone SIM?

There are members on the forum who are better placed to answer this but as far as I know this should be possible.

2) Would I also be free to add whatever software I want or do I have to do something else to achieve this?

Yes you can install any software on the phone but you may need to apply the application unlock if using the Orange ROM.

3) Should I expect any problems in running a phone with an Orange ROM on Vodafone?

Problems are more likely to come from a network operator not gearing their services towards MS smartphones in general. AFAIK everything should work on Vodafone (except Live) but they could make future changes which dont accomodate the MS smartphone.

4) Would the Orange "Over the air" ROM updates still work after I have paid off my Orange contract and had the phone unlocked?

ROM updates are downloaded from the orange website and run from the PC so this shouldn't be a problem.

5) If I take a different tack and buy the Qtek from Expansys would I be able to get Qtek ROM updates from somewhere? If not could I use the Orange updates?

If you were to buy the QTEK 8010 or the i-mate smartphone3 then the ROM updates will be given from their own websites.

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

To expand on question 1, unless the pricing has now changed

you can swap networks if you pay up your contract and then pay

a further £20 for Orange to SIM unlock the phone.

[Guest xerxes]

Thanks for the advice.

Can anyone comment on whether Qtek or i-mate deliver ROM updates as quickly as Orange?

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

They all have a similar release speed ie not very fast.

The reason for this is they want to test the roms for any major

bugs. unfortunately bugs still slip through.