Official C550 Press Release

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

ORANGE LAUNCHES NEXT GENERATION MUSIC SMARTPHONE

Orange SPV C550 Great for Music smartphone with Windows Mobile™ software on sale this month

London, 13 July 2005

Orange today announces the launch of the Orange SPV C550 Great for Music handset. The compact mobile pairs the power of a state-of-the-art smartphone with the user friendly functionality of a digital music player, which features its own dedicated play, rewind and fast-forward keys.

The Orange SPV C550 will go on sale in Orange stores, from www.orange.co.uk and retail outlets across the UK this month, free on selected service plans.

Matthew Kirk, Director of Devices at Orange said:

“Since the launch of the first SPV handset three years ago, Orange has led the development of smartphones and provided its customers with a choice of the latest and most powerful devices. The Orange SPV C500 was the world’s smallest smartphone and today its successor provides the first realistic alternative to carrying around a separate MP3 player, phone and PDA.”

The Orange SPV C550 features a sophisticated brushed aluminum design, has the capacity to store up to 170 Music Player tracks and is ideal for style conscious music lovers who want to get more from their phones. Pre-loaded with Orange Music Player, the handset enables customers to download and enjoy the 300,000 music tracks available on the Orange World portal while the award-winning Fireplayer application lets SPV C550 users remix their favourite tunes as ringtones.

SPV C550 key features:

• Great for music: Orange Music Player offers over 300,000 tracks in aacPlus. The handset is also compatible with WAV, MP3 and MPEG-4 formats

• Remix your own ringtones: Download and remix tracks on Fireplayer to create your own individual ringtones

• Manage your life: leading voice, text, email, data, calendar and connectivity capabilities allows total control over your business and social life

• Image intensity: Integrated 1.3 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom provides high-quality still and video imagery on a 64K TFT colour screen

The Orange smartphone is a Windows Mobile™- based, delivering a powerful set of features that bring PC like functionality to this small but perfectly formed handset. The SPV C550 synchronises easily with your PC giving you access to your online contacts, diary and calendar and also the ability to send and receive emails from your mobile. The combination of a powerful 1.3 megapixel camera and large high resolution screen delivers crisp digital images and allows for crystal clear viewing of documents, files and emails.

A huge range of exclusive film and sporting content, travel services and gaming applications are available on Orange World; all supported by the Orange smartphone. The SPV C550 includes a removable 128MB mini SD memory card giving you the space to store your music and entertainment files while built in USB, IrDA and Bluetooth offer unparalleled connectivity to your PC, laptop or mobile device.

The SPV C550 joins the SPV range of Windows Mobile-based devices, which are available exclusively to Orange customers and include the SPV C500 phone, SPV M2000 PDA and the recently-launched SPV M500 mini PDA.

At the end of March 2005, Orange UK had over 14.3 million active customers, more than any other UK network, making it the UK’s number one.

In October 2004, Orange UK won the Mobile Choice Consumer Awards - voted for by readers of Mobile Choice magazine – for Best Network Operator for the fourth year running.

Information about Orange can be found on the Orange website at www.orange.co.uk and media information can be found at www.orange.com

For further information, call the Orange media centre on 020 7984 2000 or 07973 201911

I know it's been posted about already but here is the official line from Orange

[Guest RazorD]

,Jul 14 2005, 12:55]...and the recently-launched SPV M500 mini PDA.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We wish! :)

Edited July 14, 2005 by awarner [MVP]

[Guest Flubster]

I WANT ONE, hurry up and expire damn contract!

Flubster

Edited July 14, 2005 by Flubster

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Here are the official SPV C550 specifications

great for music

familiar Windows Mobile software

Bluetooth and infra-red connectivity

1.3 mega-pixel integrated camera

availability: UK, Switzerland and Netherlands

music

MP3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA)

stereo sound video streaming

Packet Video

progressive download

camera

integrated

1.3 mega pixel

maximum resolution: SXGA (1280x1024)

zoom: digital x 4

sound

ring tones: Poly 32 +

poly formats: SP-MIDI/SMF

wave formats: WAV/MP3/AMR

other formats: AAC, WMA

vibrator

open mobile alliance (OMA) standard digital rights management (DRM) support

screen

resolution and type: 65k TFT

pixels: 240 x 320 pixels

dimensions: 3.66 x 4.58 cm

voice

headset

hands free “speaker phone” function

radio

GSM: 900, 1800, 1900

GPRS: Class 10

operating system

Smartphone 2004

design

weight: 107g

dimensions (mm): length 108 x width 46 x height 17.5

form factor: bar

dedicated music hard keys

manufacturer: HTC

autonomy

talk time: 4 hours

stand-by time: 6 days

memory

internal memory: 64 Mb

external: Mini SD

conectivity

IrDA

Wired: USB 1.1

Bluetooth: Version 1.1

SPV C550 specifications

summary of Orange customisation

Item Comments

Homescreen

The Orange Homescreen is a unique feature of Orange Signature

phones providing consistent, simple and intuitive access to key

services on the phone.

Orange Help

Orange Help guides users through the functions on the phone and

the services that Orange has added helping them make the most of

the SPV C550.

Packet Video

PacketVideo provides an innovative progressive download service

for smoother access to video.

Orange Back Up and

Downloads

Back Up enables users to safely store information on their phone by

synchronising contacts, calendar and any other applicable data onto

the Orange network and then, when required, restore the

information on a different handset that supports Back Up.

Downloads enables Orange customers to preview premium content

offline before purchasing such as ringtones.

URLs and numbers

To make it simple for our customers, locally relevant URLs and

numbers have been loaded onto the SPV C550 such as directory

enquiries, Orange customer services and direct access to key

online services.

Orange Email solution

With the Orange email solution you can set up an email account

(POP and IMAP) so that you can send and receive email with

And the question everyone asks "What's in the box"

handset

battery

mains charger (mini USB connector)

stereo headset

CD (Microsoft Outlook and ActiveSync)

Mini SD Card

sync cable (mini USB connector)

user guide

integrated camera

optional accessories

car kit (simple) – Bluetooth

cigarette charger

carry case

keyboard (third party)

serial sync cable

GPS (third party)

Mini SD memory cards

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Not sure about the Smartphone 2004 OS though

cannot say I've heard it called that :|

[Guest RazorD]

I have to admit, i'm actually rather tempted.. My contract expires Monday, i just pray the M500 is out by then :) I know i suck at being able to be paitent, ill prolly end up with one of these.

Edit: Theres something about one of its specifications being "Vibrator" that just makes me laugh :D

Edited July 14, 2005 by RazorD

[Guest muff]

at least this time they've not even attempted to claim it's a gaming phone

but that is also a sad reflection of O's perception of mobile gaming :)

[Guest bosshogg]

Not sure about the  Smartphone 2004 OS though

cannot say I've heard it called that :|

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What is the OS on the C550? I'm guessing it's not WM2005 - but is it a later build of 2003SE?

[Guest deo]

mine came today, free upgrade & next day delivery. also came with 128mb mini sd card....its charging now....feels much lighter than my e200.

[Guest TheBadger]

mine came today, free upgrade & next day delivery. also came with 128mb mini sd card....its charging now....feels much lighter than my e200.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What are orange playing at..... mine should have been here now. But they tell me they're out of stock. You're one lucky shopper deo.

[Guest gazbert]

What are orange playing at..... mine should have been here now. But they tell me they're out of stock. You're one lucky shopper deo.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mine arrived today too. Just discovered it supports sending files over bluetooth and IR so no need for 3rd party utilities.....now if only TomTom would work.

[Guest morpheus2702]

The emphasis for Orange seems to be much more on mobile music rather than gaming - which given the dedicated media buttons seems fairly obvious to me now!

I'm guessing that HTC have seen the way the iPod has caught the imagination rather than look at what the NGage has (or hasn't) done sales-wise.

I'm just wondering if those fiddly little keys directly below the screen can be remapped - a review I've read thinks that the back/delete button will be a pain when it comes to texting?

[Guest deo]

What are orange playing at..... mine should have been here now. But they tell me they're out of stock. You're one lucky shopper deo.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yeah looks like it, ordered it midday yesterday, screen is fantastic. fizz bill looks odd uses a 1/4 of the screen obviously because of new resolution, still works though. so much better than my e200

[Guest Microsoft]

Here are the official SPV C550 specifications

And the question everyone asks "What's in the box"

handset

battery

mains charger (mini USB connector)

stereo headset

CD (Microsoft Outlook and ActiveSync)

Mini SD Card

sync cable (mini USB connector)

user guide

integrated camera

A camrea integrated in the box???!

[Guest alexmwnteanu]

And, ladies and gentelman, the price is?

P.S.

Or the price for C550 is top secret?

[Guest Confucious]

And, ladies and gentelman, the price is?

P.S.

Or the price for C550 is top secret?

It depends where you buy it from and on what contract. Mine was free. It's not available SIM Free or PAYG yet.

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=122521

SIM free for a cool £244 :)

[Guest Confucious]

http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=122521

SIM free for a cool £244 :)

The qtec 8100 is the same as the t-mob sda (Amadeus?) - it is not the same as the C550 (Hurricane) it only has the 0.3Mp camera and does not have the QVGA screen. It is basically a C500 with media buttons.

HTH

[Guest Pondrew]

Confucious is right Mono. Although alot of people are making the same mistake.

Even the Modaco Shop posted suggesting they could offer the C550 when in fact it was an 8100 (which definately does not have QVGA nor 1.3meg camera, nor the extra memory)