When a new phone comes out i will...

[Guest beersoft]

ok, a quick poll for you lot

everyone, well not everyone, the vocal few are moaning that the last few phones released dont have wm5 on or this new feature breaks that old feature, and the this doesnt work and that works funny

so what are you going to do when we get wm5 and more hires devices come out?

mountain, molehill here i come

later

Owen

Edited August 8, 2005 by beersoft

[Guest nedge2k]

Bah, i dont care, i still say the C550 sucks and im glad i sent it back for an M500.

More to the point, why shouldnt we moan? It is too much to ask that a new device actually works the way it should!? Or are people just resigning to the "i own a WM Smartphone, therefore i am and always will be a beta tester" idea.

Fair enough when we all had the SPV1 it had its problems and we accepted them because it was the first Smartphone but come on, do we still have to put up with this crap almost 3 years on?

I dont care if im pissing off Orange or anyone else for that matter, the C550 is a stop-gap phone, there is nothing remarkable about it and it certainly isnt worth getting a new contract for.

Dont get me wrong, QVGA and a 1.3MP camera are steps in the right direction (albeit rather late) but the lack of WM5, 3G or WiFi is inexcusable.

And whats next? The C600, exactly the same as the C550 bar the media buttons and with the inclusion of EDGE. Whats EDGE? Essentially it will give the same transfer rates as CDMA (3G), 384kbs. So why the hell release the C550 when the C600 is in the pipeline!? STOP-GAP PHONE!

(Yes i am aware that this post isnt device specific but i know what Beery is hinting at :))

Edited August 8, 2005 by nedge2k

[Guest beersoft]

And whats next? The C600, exactly the same as the C550 bar the media buttons and with the inclusion of EDGE. Whats EDGE? Essentially it will give the same transfer rates as CDMA (3G), 384kbs. So why the hell release the C550 when the C600 is in the pipeline!? STOP-GAP PHONE!

ok EDGE, its GPRS+, and can maybe in a lab environment do 384kbps, is that the same as GPRS will do 115kbps,

CDMA is nothing like GSM,, and EDGE is the GSM association having a last ditch attempt at milking the gsm spectrum before its turned off for the UTMS, EDGE is a stopgap, any phone with edge is a stopgap

and the c600 is just the c550 without the media buttons and has edge added, and your going to tell me thats less of a stopgap than the c550?

later

Owen

Edited August 8, 2005 by beersoft

[Guest nedge2k]

Hangon, YOU'RE moaning about EDGE being a stop-gap!? Why Mr. Smith, does one detect a touch of irony? :)

EDGE may not be CDMA but its a hell of alot better than Class 10 GPRS. Besides its gonna be a fair few years before GSM is switched off.

No what im saying is they should have forgotten about releasing the 550 and gone straight to the 600, it would have been a bigger improvment and less of a stop gap.

I really dont know what HTC (or Orange for that matter) are up to. They're getting like Nokia. Here's a tip guys: One or Two excellant phones a year are a hell of alot better than an average phone every five minutes.

[Guest Confucious]

I love my C550 - it may not be a major step up from my C500 but it is curently the best Smartphone available. I don't want a PPC.

With the number of people moaning about it you'd think it was a pile of crock rather than the fantastic device it is. :)

[Guest scott2eyes]

Nice poll....

I don't understand why anyone was expecting the C550 to be anything other than a slight improvement on the C550. Surely the clue is right there in the title? (And if not there, then on the spec sheet. It's not like it was being advertised as having something it didn't, like the MPx200 was, is it?)

If someone were looking for their first non-Nokia/Ericsson/bog standard "phone and text" phone, is there any reason to reccomend the C550 over the C500?

[Guest Confucious]

The screen and camera are both better. Why recomend what is now an old phone, unless, of course, it is cheaper.

[Guest chucky.egg]

I'm torn between a C550 and an M500 ATM

The only reason I want a new phone is that my current one looks and feels kinda old now

But the choice seems to be:

(1) Another C500 and no improvements

(2) A C550 and what I suspect are ugly looking apps and no TomTom

(3) An M500 and having to replace apps altogether

None of them a very appealing, and so I'm also considering [whisper]a Series 60[/whisper]

IMO, and I know bugger all about anything, MS should have included something in the OS to better handle apps designed for the old screen res - they defined the specs after all!

Waiting for all the developers, especially the freeware/cheap software developers, to update their apps for other screen res ...

[Guest Confucious]

Chucky, the registry hack gets TomTom working and helps with some other display problems. I think the main things still having problems are games but I could be wrong.

I went for the C550 and love it. My C500 was looking a bit battered - I'd had my replacement for a month :)

[Guest Geeklord]

I have one rule of thumb when it comes to technology and gadgets:

Unless you're one of those who need to up-to-date with the latest gizmo, the best buy is usually the model before. Its price drops because of the more recently released model. The newer model usually has not enough advancements worthy of the price. And the newer model will have some bugs to work out.

So if you ask me, when a new phone model is released, I will... ignore it and save my money for a PS3 :)

[Guest mavisdavis]

I think the last option speaks for itself.lol

You really need to get out more mate :)

[Guest drblow]

The question at this stage surely is how many people will say that they don't moan in this poll, and then go post 20 complaints about how crap the c550 is! :twisted:

I have to laugh at the number of posts about the c550 being a stop gap, not worth upgrading etc, from people who obviously don't have one. I got a c550 because I am a smartphone geek! :) Its a good phone. The screen makes it feel like a whole new device (you really notice it when you then switch on the old c500 which now looks like a small toy phone). There's a couple of nice wee enhancements like the clock display on the unlock screen (which I actually find really handy), and I dont see many people commenting on its memory useage, but with smartmonitor on my homescreen on my c500 the memory displayed at around 40% on startup, gradually degrading to about 25% before I would reboot. The c550 starts up with a humungus 72% memory on start up, and slowly degrades to around 60%. I dont think I notice any major effects on using apps - but then again there aren't many apps that work on the c550 yet so its not been extensively researched. But the homescreen works much better - my c500 was always freezing up with all my homescreen swapping, and so far the c550 has not done it at all. I dont know for sure, but I think thats a memory issue.

Unfortunately the forums of late do seem to be full of complaints about small issues. In the good old days of the first SPV this forum was great - everybody was basically trying to figure out what could be done with the strange new device called a smartphone! Loads of tweaks, apps, screens, etc etc came out & the forum felt like a dynamic, happenin kind of place! ;) It does seem now that it has become a sounding board for complaints, without very much positive action. The tendency seems to be to come to modaco & post away, without really ever investigating whether or not an issue has been discussed 60000 times before, and without any real intent to try to fix things unless someone else can do it for you. It seems a shame, but I guess thats what happens as something gets bigger, eh?

Anyhoo - I'm away to write a complaining post on a microsoft forum about how my new laptop is completely rubbish because it doesn't have windows longhorn & 6000MB of RAM, and it doesnt come with built in free broadband access, and how when I hit the enter key sometimes it takes slighly longer to react than other times ... :(

[Guest anna]

is it true that the C600 will have Windows Mobile 5.0, has this been confirmed? The C550 has 2003 second edition like the C500? Or am I completly in the dark here?.. :idea:

[Guest nedge2k]

I have to laugh at the number of posts about the c550 being a stop gap, not worth upgrading etc, from people who obviously don't have one.

erm :?:

[Guest drblow]

:) Calm down dear! I did read your post above you know, and was not referring to anyone in particular by that statement, more to my general impression of the posts before & after the release.

Sure, some people have got a C550 & then sent it back. Fair play to you for excercising your rights! :( But there is always a percentage of posts around a new release that completely slate the product (& not always from actually having used one, but on spec sheets found weeks before actual release etc etc). If it doesnt work for you, sure you can come on modaco & get it off your chest - and I'll be the first to defend your right to complain! :twisted: But I think complaints should at least be fairly balanced with consideration between personal user preference & desirable features that are not included, and actual system bugs or features that are included on the spec sheet that are missing.

Modaco can be a great source of consumer info for someone thinking about spending potentially loadsamoney on a new phone. But sometimes it comes across as just a sounding board for complaints without a great deal of thought behind it. And again Nedge, thats not a personal insult directed at you personally! Or is it!? ;)

[Guest drblow]

I'm torn between a C550 and an M500 ATM

The only reason I want a new phone is that my current one looks and feels kinda old now

But the choice seems to be:

(1) Another C500 and no improvements

(2) A C550 and what I suspect are ugly looking apps and no TomTom

(3) An M500 and having to replace apps altogether

None of them a very appealing, and so I'm also considering [whisper]a Series 60[/whisper]

IMO, and I know bugger all about anything, MS should have included something in the OS to better handle apps designed for the old screen res - they defined the specs after all!

Waiting for all the developers, especially the freeware/cheap software developers, to update their apps for other screen res ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here's the way I figured it. I got the C550 upgrade for free. I have Orange premier which will allow me to upgrade again in 9 months - so it didnt cost me anything, and I can change it in 9 months if there's something that much better out.

The C550 is fine for me. OK, its not really that much different to a C500 except for the new screen - but being a homescreen freak I like it! ;) I felt the same about my bashed up old c500, and the c550 looks quite different because of the screen rez, so it satisfied the desire for that 'new phone' feeling. :)

Sure, loads of apps don't work - but the important ones for me like papyrus, John Cody's alerts, orneta notepad, mini lyrics and now citytime alarm, do work ... even if bits of them look funny. And most of the developers are currently working on things for the screen size.

All of the above is personal preference really. As far as actual performance, as I said above, I dont really notice any difference between this & my c500 except for the aparently better memory usage. But it definately looks great! I haven't actually encountered a bug yet so as far as I'm concerned it does what it says on the box. It might not be the best phone for someone inexperienced with smartphones purely because previously purchased apps may not work at all or at least look funny, but hopefully the updates will start coming out soon.

[Guest nedge2k]

:) Calm down dear!  I did read your post above you know, and was not referring to anyone in particular by that statement, more to my general impression of the posts before & after the release.

I know, just yanking ur chain ;)

[Guest drblow]

You yanker you! :)

[Guest NX5]

I voted for "Get it on the day of release and moan that some of my apps dont work propperly on it (like i do with every other device i have ever owned)"

Because lets face we all get a little pissed when then dont work properly. Having said that my C550 is the best thing since sliced bread apart from the WMP sync thing, I knew a lot of apps werent going to work and I upgraded knowing this.

I dont care about the apps because I know that when QVGA updates come out everyone is going to want a C550. The battery lasts forever compared to my previous SPV's and you should see the envious looks I get when watching episodes of CSI on the commute to work!! :)

[Guest drblow]

CSI on your phone! Excellent! :)

[Guest Pagemakers]

Well!

Firstly I love the Smartphone platform!

1) The SPV was the first and I accepted most of its shortcomings. Since its release I've owned every single model and a few others too. They were all progressions but the C550 is the smallest progression.

2) The C550 is not a first generation product. It's not far from the original SPV with a better screen.

3) There is VERY little excuse to release the C550 with all of the bugs it has. It has bugs that the C500 does not and bugs don't even relate to new features.

4) I found many of the "issues" within 3-4 days of owning the phone. Why didn't Orange or HTC?

5) If I pay £200 a month for a phone that does not work as advertised I feel I do have a right to moan. No I don't want a Nokia. I want a great Windows Mobile Smartphone that works well.

6) Do I think the C550 is any better than the C500? No not really. If I were Orange/HTC I would have skipped the 550 for a true progressor to the C500. The C600 is not that phone either. Where's the WiFi, the 2-3 Mega Pixel camera. Radio. Etc

7) Constructive criticism is not a bad thing. In my job I am assessed every second of every day. If I don't perform I am told about it in no uncertain terms. And I expect to be.

8) Like I said above. I think the Smartphone platform is the best available. It's a pity that Microsoft has paid so little attention to many of the postings on this forum, which in my opinion is the foremost Smartphone forum.

9) My perfect phone? A C500 with a decent keypad (after all that's the primary man-machine interface). A better screen. Better battery life. WiFi. A "Delete all" email menu. And all other functions working as they should. Then I would be 100% moan-free.

10) Think about it. We fly to the moon. We operate on peoples brains. We clone each other. We build tunnels under seas. We build aircraft like the Airbus A380. Is it really too much to build a mobile phone that has all of the advertised features working as advertised?

11) If you were in charge of the C550 development would you have released it as it is? Hmm...

Stands back for the "PC" army to invade!

Nice posting Owen ;)

Edited August 10, 2005 by Pagemakers

[Guest nedge2k]

Couldn't agree more :)

[Guest Pondrew]

How can the first Smartphone with QVGA (thereby being a ground breaker) be the smallest progression yet in the SPV range?! I couldn't disagree more there. After all, the ONLY improvement of the SPV E100 over the original SPV was the clearer screen. Same memory, processor, resolution, rom, os, still no camera, still no bluetooth, etc etc.

The C550 has more memory and higher resolution screen then the C500 so to claim it's not a progression makes no sense to me...

Oh, and I know I've been away a while but is the C600 no longer expected to have wifi? Cos I thought it was...

[Guest Pagemakers]

I agree the screen is better.

It has more memory but it runs slower - Doh!

Looks like the new QTEK models will be the natural progression for me.

[Guest Confucious]

It has more memory but it runs slower - Doh!

My C550 is noticably quicker than my C500 ! :shock: