Is C500 enough to bring me back to Modaco?

[Guest ArtyCarl]

Some time ago I purchased an original SPV and despite the many niggles I enjoyed the little bugger. I also enjoyed reading posts on Modaco until reliability issues forced me to change phones and I left Modaco for distant forums.

I tend to switch phones a lot and I suppose i'm searching for something that hasn't been invented yet.

I like the small size of a normal phone but I crave the expandibility/playability of a phone/pda.

I've recently had the xdaII which is a lovely gadget but still a little large for normal phone use.

I just happened to enter a CPW recently and saw this little black phone with silver keys and large screen and when I saw it was a Smartphone I had to have one.

So my question is this...has the C500/Windows Smartphone software inproved in terms of reliability and would anyone put me off swapping the xdaII.

[Guest the_ugly_north]

I will swap you a C500 for an XDAII :wink:

[Guest chucky.egg]

C500 is way better than my old E100 was.

No stability problems on my whatsoever this far (about 6 weeks in I guess)

Battery life is great

Gaming is a small issue to me (bigger issue to other people I think)

And the "roller" type joystick is still something that I don't much like

Apart from that it's a great phone

[Guest Saracen]

I'm in the exact same boat. I had the original SPV from its first days. I could live with the niggles, and that infamous first firmware update did help a bit. But then I fell on it and smashed the screen, and it wasn't insured, so I just waited for my contract to draw to a close, using an old phone, then got the SE T610, as the E200 was just too big.

Now I see the C500, I am waiting till November when I should be able to get a free upgrade. It's great, been reading about it for 4 weeks. So people, is it really a far cry from the original SPV. I'm really worried that I've just forgotten how annoying it really was!

[Guest chucky.egg]

:)

I know what you mean Saracen!

I was nervous coming back to MS Smartphone from Symbian (which was totally stable and reliable)

Your best bet might be to buy from a website, because you then get 7-14 days (depending upon who you ask!) to try it out and throw it back if it sucks.

I bought from a store because the manager said (in writing) he would match that 7 day return period.

[Guest Saracen]

Yeah, I'm planning on getting the upgrade from Orange over the phone (in the hope that I can get the Select 750 tariff). So I should get the 7-day guarantee thing.

The funny thing is, all phones have their niggles. Even the SE T610 I use now really annoys me sometimes. Looking for the details of a contact takes lots of presses, SMS is slow, phone does stall sometimes. So I guess it's not as bad as it always seems.

[Guest Chaser81]

I joined Modaco shortly after getting my e200 but didnt post on here once because I quickly took a dislike to the e200's battery life and software faults and ended up selling it after two months. I now have a C500 and I am posting on here happily. See that? Happy with my phone now.

[Guest pisquee]

AFAIK the 14 days return thing is not applicable to upgrades, as part of the idea of this time period is to see if the network service is OK in your area - as you are upgrading onthe same network, then you already know how good the service is.

Although the distance selling thing comes into play - I am not sure how long this is, maybe 7 days.

You could always buy one from Argos (if they do the C500 PAYT yet?) and then you have their 28 days period to take it back.

[Guest Saracen]

Yep the 14 days doesn't apply, but the 7-day distance selling does. That's why I'm upgrading by phone rather than in a shop, oh and trying to get Select tariff too :)

[Guest chucky.egg]

Dont forget that a new contract might offer you the best deal.

Most people probably dont know your number, it's in their phone and so they don't need to remember it, so you can use half your first months free messages to tell everyone your new number, and still have plenty to spare.

A while back I bought memorable numbers on eBay, ported them to O to get the best contract deals, and sold the free handsets (E200s) on eBay again. I reduced my monthly bill, got more minutes and SMS, and made a profit on selling the phones. You gotta play them at their own game - they dont care too much about existing customers, they just want to add new customers all the time.

[Guest drblow]

as per the original question - although many people are happy with the c500, i have had just as many software 'niggles' as with previous spvs. i would say i am a very heavy phone user, i spend hours every day surfing the web, playing mp3s, changing homescreens etc. - but i have had to hard reset 4 times in as many weeks through total lock ups. the game issue is pretty major + no one has yet confirmed if it is even fixable. that said, for battery life + responsiveness its the best yet. but if its reliability your after, this in my opinion, still way short of 100%.

although anyone round here will confirm my status as biggest moaner! :0) Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest Exploited]

I have found some really big bugs in the C500 and the stability is a lot less than on my previous PDA's (Nokia Series-60 and Treo). If I spend more than 2 hours on my SPV C500, I have to reboot - typically microsoft.

But I'm not complaining. The phone offers more functionality than my previous machines for less cash and what I want it to do, it does.

Far it might be from perfect, but I still feel it is the best offer out there.

[Guest ArtyCarl]

Unfortunately I tried to buy one on Ebay and was scammed out of £205 so this morning I ordered a payg version from the Modaco shop. If only i'd waited a week and seen that announcement on here...oh well I told the mrs I was selling a £400 phone and buying a £200 one and have been in good books ever since....how shall I tell her its gonna cost £405 now????

[Guest midnight]

drblow and exploited, what are you doing to lock the phone up???? i have only had it once and that was cos of the game issues (which we know of, and drblow, yes, the timeout and flickering is fixable and has been fixed, just need to wait for O to release it), but seriously, i use my phone for homescreen development, phone calls, mp3/wma's, game development and testing and it just doesnt crash, is VERY reliable. The only major flaw i can see with it is the no multipress issue, which is a hardware problem and so cant be fixed, and, as far as i know has been a huge issue for most Nokia phones for years now (still no excuse, but shows how much phone manufacturers care about games).

[Guest Mal]

I stuck with the origimal SPV for over 18 months because there was nothing else that I wanted, and only the e200 was a real upgrade in terms of the os.

When I heard that the c500 was on its way, my first thought was 'at last, something to upgrade to'. I had my unit the first weekend it was available, hasnt locked up or crashed yet. By now on my first SPV, I had experienced gprs problems, phone locking up, and other problems. In comparison, the c500 did everything out of the box with no problems.

Its even tempted a few Nokia fans at work to take the plunge!

Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest Mal]

I stuck with the origimal SPV for over 18 months because there was nothing else that I wanted, and only the e200 was a real upgrade in terms of the os.

When I heard that the c500 was on its way, my first thought was 'at last, something to upgrade to'. I had my unit the first weekend it was available, hasnt locked up or crashed yet. By now on my first SPV, I had experienced gprs problems, phone locking up, and other problems. In comparison, the c500 did everything out of the box with no problems.

Its even tempted a few Nokia fans at work to take the plunge!

Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest Mal]

I stuck with the origimal SPV for over 18 months because there was nothing else that I wanted, and only the e200 was a real upgrade in terms of the os.

When I heard that the c500 was on its way, my first thought was 'at last, something to upgrade to'. I had my unit the first weekend it was available, hasnt locked up or crashed yet. By now on my first SPV, I had experienced gprs problems, phone locking up, and other problems. In comparison, the c500 did everything out of the box with no problems.

Its even tempted a few Nokia fans at work to take the plunge!

Posted from my SmartPhone!