Due an upgrade in 2 days.....

[Guest salfordred]

What should I do ?

I have a C500 right now, so should I get an upgrade now, or wait for something that is due out in the next couple of months ? It doesn't necessarily have to be a Smartphone, but does need to be on the Orange network.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Edited August 15, 2005 by salfordred

[Guest mupwangle]

Personally I'd get the M500 (Imate Jam) cos I just would. ;-) The c550 doesn't seem to be much of an upgrade to me - except for the screen - but getting a phone so new might just be an exercise in bug-finding. Can't think of anything desirable out on Orange soon - but then again I've become a bit of a smartphone fanboy of late so I wouldn't want any of them anyway.

[Guest mcwarre]

I agree go for the M500. IF you don't like it you have a 7-day return option (upgrades) or sell it on eBay

[Guest Xenzo1990]

I also say m500. If you dont like it, exercise that 7 day return option. It will be months before a new SPV is out, I wouldn't hold your breath. c550 screen is a problem for compatability I guess, who wants a black window round most of their games? Thats the reason I am going for the m500 in 4 days.

[Guest Confucious]

I went for a C550 - I don't play many games (jawbreaker works fine with more balls so you get higher scores!)

It depends if you want a smartphone or PPC.

The M500 is the best PPC, the C550 is the best smartphone. Anything else isn't worth considering :)

[Guest Phil Lee]

I was due an upgrade at the end of the week. I've decided to switch to t-mobile and get an MDA Compact as an upgrade to my C500. T-mobile definitely seems to offer better rates for low users like myself.

[Guest Confucious]

Aren't T-Mob's data rates prohibitive though? (even more so than O)

Edited August 15, 2005 by Confucious

[Guest Phil Lee]

£4.50 for a 6Mb bundle doesn't seem too bad. I hardly ever go over my 4Mb limit on Orange at the moment with my C500.

[Guest Confucious]

That's better than O's £4 for 4Mb - I didn't realise T-Mob had such good rates. :shock:

Edited August 15, 2005 by Confucious

[Guest spacerace]

I've phoned up Orange twice to complain about their data rates ! TMobile now offer unlimited data (1GB/month cap) for approx £49.00 per month and on Orange their unlimited is at approx £87 !

Then Vodafone announce an unlimited data tariff at guess what - approx £49 ! Orange are slipping in competitive pricing for data...

The discrepancy goes all the way down to lower tariffs to.

[Guest Phil Lee]

These are the data bundles for monthly contracts taken from the T-Mobile website at http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/pdf/files/MC17275_NonStandard.pdf. Bundles are not available on Mix It or U-Fix.

1Mb: £2

6Mb: £5

12Mb: £10

20Mb: £15

Extra data charged at £3 per Mb

55Mb: £25

110Mb: £40

Extra data is charged at £1 per Mb

256Mb: £55

512Mb: £70

1024Mb: £90

Extra data is charged at £0.75 per Mb

These are the Orange data bundles:

Orange World Access 4 4MB £4

Orange World Access 10 10MB £8

Orange World Access 25 25MB £16

Orange World Access 80 80MB £41.13

Orange World Access 400 400MB £52.88

Orange World Access MAX n/a £88.13

Edited August 16, 2005 by Phil Lee

[Guest spacerace]

I was looking at their Internet on the Move section T-Mobile Internet on the Move which allows you to add GPRS bundle of unlimited amount (subject to fair use etc.) for £40 / month. I spoke to a T-Mobile customer service bod who confirmed this tariff although aimed at Laptop users with GPRS cards could be used as a standard GPRS add-on for Smartphones.

Also their Email Solutions Section T-Mobile Email Solutions allows you to tag on 50Mb worth of GPRS data to your Voice Plan for only an additional £10 !

[Guest Tunney]

T-Mobile offer decent rates if you buy them as part of a bundle. If you don't buy a bundle then you get charged £7.50/MB! ;)

Personally, if you want a Windows smartphone then I'd go for the M500. It's very small for a Pocket PC and very powerful. I don't really think you'd be too wowed by the C550 after the C500. The C550 is definately the better phone, but there's not that much new to it.

Away from Windows smartphones, you might want to consider the Sony Ericsson K750i (small, great camera, excellent UI) or Nokia (am I allowed to use that word here? :)) 6680 (symbian smartphone, 3G, very good camera, mobile TV).