Lets try and look at this sensibly

[Guest coFFinDodgeR]

Taken from my post on microsoft.public.smartphone

I have had my SPV for 4 days now and I think its an excellent step in the

right direction. But as with al things new there has to be a but. We see in

the SPV the coming together of handheld PC technologies and the mobile

phone. It is innovative and to have all of these apps and features in my

hand can offer nothing more than productivity gains. I am impressed that

Orange and Microsoft have launched the product but yet again I am

disappointed that a product has gone to market with obvious problems/flaws.

So 4 days in I am now being faced with a number of problems. Power on

problems, slow menus, hangs (crashes) etc .. all of which I starting to make

me doubt my investment so early in the products life. From a usage

perspective I know have both a handheld organiser and phone that work most

of the time. Organiser I can live with .. but my phone should be there 100%

I now have 10 days left on my 14 day money back guarantee and I'm looking

for advise or comment from other visitors to the news group to assist in my

impending decision.

Do I stick it out or do I take it back ?

Does anyone know when we can expect an update patch? Do we have a list of

what the patch will address?

From the group I can see I am not alone. What work around really work? Is

the delete all from the start-up folder really as good and as safe as I have

read?

Does not using the Orange home screen make any difference?

I have many other thoughts bouncing around my head but feels most have

already been raised within the group. Don't get me wrong I'm not slating my

SPV (well sort of) I want to keep it. I can see the great advantages it

could bring. Yes, I appreciate we are early adopters of the technology but

surely its should work!

I don't want to return my SPV, but equally I don't want to have to carry a

backup handled (ipaq) and a second mobile phone?

What do others think?

[Guest Emad]

Turn off handset tones (annoying as they are), put your home screen time on never, put your layout in the home screen menu onto full, then see how your menu navigation is. I haven't tried deleting the startup folder as mine works like a charm - just make copies of the things in it on your pc by moving them from the folder onto your pc using windows explorer if you're unsure - nobody appears to have had a problem with the phone, but I think it may be something to do with maintenance..

Mine makes calls, doesn't crash (only had it 2 weeks though!) and has replaced my palm for everything except ebooks/avantgo - I organise my life with it.

Orange will be releasing an update either at the end of december/january by all accounts - this will almost certainly improve the stability of the system as well as dealing with various niggles. I'm sticking with mine myself - things can only get better :D

[Guest coFFinDodgeR]

Thanks for the reply. For the record I am sticking with my SPV :D

[Guest deiwise]

I have to agree. I've had my phone for about 3 weeks now, and after altering the home-screen and ring-tone setup etc it's generally a bit faster. It's crashed once, and I'm using it all the time. I've found the battery life much more acceptable than I first thought I would and all in all am absolutely delighted with it. The calender is basic but brilliant for my needs; sending emails is quick and simple; it's just what I needed and I can't praise it enough.

Fair enough it has a few bugs, but if this is the future of Microsoft phones then I'm pretty excited - and I'm not at all sad about not getting the P800, which I'd been waiting for for months. It looks over-sized, and quite frankly I love my SPV!

Will

[Guest tiita]

Fair enough it has a few bugs, but if this is the future of Microsoft phones then I'm pretty excited

if it was a few minor bugs i would have to agree but this is not the case.

The phone has some serious problem:

hardware (battery, dust etc)

software (lots)

image and PR (licensing software for instance)

you say it is the future.... but from a logic point of view, is it worth wasting time and money on the beta version?

wouldn't be more sensible to get a WORKING phone and only when the SPV is a bit better, consider about buy/upgrading?

microsoft, beta version since 1986 :shock:

[Guest xanadu]

Bah Humbug....

We're all doomed.......... !!

[Guest deiwise]

It's a working phone from my pov. It makes calls; receives them; sends text messages. The battery life is fine in my opinion - I've always put all my phones on charge every night, and have done the same with the SPV and haven't noticed any difference.

Perhaps we shouldn't be too critical - this is the first Microsoft phone so, arguably, there are going to be a few problems. It can only get better...

Will

[Guest Emad]

I was switching from O2 to Orange anyway (no reception in my room in London or in Oxford, odd..) and picked up the SPV for free (switching from O2 100 to Orange OVP O2 100 :D). Not really a big investment for me - this is after all ridiculously cheap when compared to a colour Samsung/Nokia (and having used hte Nokia 7210, far more stable (!)).

Taken as a phone it works great - good reception/microphone, fast finding of contacts (my favourite feature) - I've been out and about using it over this last weekend and the batteries held up great despite about 30-40 hours with no charging and about 2 hours of calls. The non-phone aspects will improve - currently there aren't really any other alternatives for those features anyway (except the 7650, which is a brick (P800 is about the same size)), so be glad for what you have.. Of course, whinging is fun :(

[Guest barncourt]

The calender is basic but brilliant for my needs; sending emails is quick and simple; it's just what I needed and I can't praise it enough.

Will

Rumour has it DeveloperOne will be releasing AgendaFusion for Smartphone in the new year. If its as good as their Pocket PC variant it should resolve the issue with having a basic calendar.

[Guest coFFinDodgeR]

AgendaFusion ... now that would be nice