HTC Build Quality

[Guest Macker1973]

As I am a long term SPV owner previously owning the original SPV, E100 and currently the E200 with orange. One trend which I find worrying is that not one of these devices actually lasted a full year without developing some fault. Even more worring is it seems to be getting worse with my 10 month old E200's number 4 key sticking and it randomly ringing people. My phones are well looked after and as a previous owner of other phones from other manufacturers with no problems.

After contacting orange they offered to send me a refrubished however my E200 is very personalized and I don't want to replace it with a second hand phone for a month. So I will have to live with these problems for another month until my upgrade.

After seeing other posts here with other people reporting the same build problems and design issues such as the only 4 directional joystick on the E200. The problem for me is HTC through the evolution of there devices from the original SPV to the E200 in my opinion the build quality has actually become worse.

Now reading about the C500 I still see similiar problems such as the whole graphics library fiasco and reports of dust getting in below the screen. Already alarm bells are ringing, if I upgrade to the C500 is the build quality just as bad. Will I have the same problems in another 10 months. I am seriously thinking on dumping smartphone and going for one of the new Sony Ericcson phones instead.

[Guest Confucious]

The dust problem has been fixed by HTC and the build quality of my C500 seems as good as any phone I've owned. Only had it a couple of months but it is by far the best phone I've ever owned and I, for one am a happy customer :lol:

[Guest philgriffiths]

Under one of the threads concerning dust under the screen on the C500 there is a link to the HTC site that allows you to get your HTC device completly refurbished (cosmetic only) for 15 pound plus postage and packaging, perhaps this could help your problems? I plan to take advantage of this when i upgrade and need to sell my E200 as its a bit battered at the moment due to one or two droppages on drunken benders. Try searching for posts regarding dust under screen on C500 i think the thread also has in title 'update from HTC' so take a look. I will try and remember to post the link to the website when i get home, if someone doesnt do it for me first.

[Guest Confucious]

Thread here.

[Guest darren22]

I've just upgraded to the C500 after having the original SPV since November 2002 (still wows them in the office).

My original SPV has never developed any serious issues (other than some dust under the screen, pain in the arse to switch on) and the occasional reset.

Having just received the C500 last night, initial impressions are build quality far superior, screen fantastic. I just hope mine has had the dust issue resolved.

The rest of the bugs I'm prepared to put up with. I'd rather a HTC device than a Nokia phone anyday.

[Guest Macker1973]

after handling a c500 for a while I decided not to upgrade with orange and instead elected to buy a sony ericsson s700. This phone despite the sivel design feels very solid, much more so than the c500, with much better sound quality.

As a heavy user of bluetooth with the limited Microsoft stack I was always struggling with conections and the work arounds should not be needed, the SE s700 actually works as the bluetooth standard should. The screen is much sharper than the c500s by a long way, though I do admitt the c500 screen is excellent just like the e200 so this is really no problem for me. Even though the T9 predictive text has changed in the c500 using it for a while clearly shows it still has problems. The e200s four directional joystick clearly caused quite a commotion amonst its owners as it made some games unplayable so the c500 joystick replacement clearly makes even more games incompatable. As my e200s sd card could not be used in the c500 it was pretty much useless if I upgraded. I am tired of my keys sticking, I am tired of the vibrate sometimes not working, I am tired of my T9 dictionary not remembering words automatically.

I really liked my e200 though with some pretty standard improvements such as fixing the T9, implementing a full bluetooth stack that allows me to simply send and recieve contacts to other phones regardless of the brand and improving the sound quality. First and foremost I need my phone to be a reliable phone. The c500 has tried to address some of these issues like the t9 and sound quality, but they are still nowhere as good as the s700.

Maybe next year I will return to smartphone but since simple things such as T9 have been a mess since the first SPV I doubt things will be much better. bye bye smartphone, welcome symbian s700.

[Guest capt_janeway]

Agree with the posts above in general.

SPV was ok build quality, my e200 was dropped a fair number of times and looks a bit battered but no major issues - but the c500 is a real beauty.

Solidly built, lightweight with a fantastic screen!

[Guest ronny]

after handling a c500 for a while I decided not to upgrade with orange and instead elected to buy a sony ericsson s700.  This phone despite the sivel design feels very solid, much more so than the c500, with much better sound quality.  

As a heavy user of bluetooth with the limited Microsoft stack I was always struggling with conections and the work arounds should not be needed, the SE s700 actually works as the bluetooth standard should. The screen is much sharper than the c500s by a long way, though I do admitt the c500 screen is excellent just like the e200 so this is really no problem for me. Even though the T9 predictive text has changed in the c500 using it for a while clearly shows it still has problems.  The e200s four directional joystick clearly caused quite a commotion amonst its owners as it made some games unplayable so the c500 joystick replacement clearly makes even more games incompatable.  As my e200s sd card could not be used in the c500 it was pretty much useless if I upgraded.  I am tired of my keys sticking, I am tired of the vibrate sometimes not working, I am tired of my T9 dictionary not remembering words automatically.

I really liked my e200 though with some pretty standard improvements such as fixing the T9, implementing a full bluetooth stack that allows me to simply send and recieve contacts to other phones regardless of the brand and improving the sound quality. First and foremost I need my phone to be a reliable phone. The c500 has tried to address some of these issues like the t9 and sound quality, but they are still nowhere as good as the s700.  

Maybe next year I will return to smartphone but since simple things such as T9 have been a mess since the first SPV I doubt things will be much better.  bye bye smartphone, welcome symbian s700.

I'm sure that you will miss the tweakability of microsoft phones. :lol:

[Guest Macker1973]

No doubt. Though the funny thing is I think the best thing about smartphones is the support from the people who actually own them. All the best stuff on my phone is free software provided by guys on here. If only orange, HTC and Microsoft put half the effort into MS smartphones as the people who buy them. However I need a good reliable phone foremost, its this that smartphone is not so good at delivering.