Guest Pagemakers Posted May 20, 2003 Report Posted May 20, 2003 I purchased my SPV the first day they came out. Overall I am very pleased with the product. I am gadget mad and have owned my fair share are Palm, Pocket PCs and mobiles to be able to form a fair opinion. I became fed up to the back teeth waiting or not waiting for the SPVx to arrive so I decided to fly to Prague from the UK and purchase Eurotel's Smartphone which is the same as the Orange SPVx/Tanager. http://www.eurotel.cz/site/en/phones/mobil...tml?phoneId=213 Full details about how I purchased the phone can be found elsewhere in this newsgroup. For now I will just concentrate on the 2 phones. The SPV and the Tanager. The opinions are my own and based on my own first hand experience with both phones. Eurotel supply the phone unlocked (they give you a code to enter when you first boot the phone up. It is NOT software locked at all. The Bootloader screen still contains an option to Save IPSM. I won't go into too much details about the aesthetics - we have all sent the pictures. Build quality is about the same. Maybe the SPV pips the post here. In the Box The Eurotel Smartphone ships with the same accessories as the SPV with the following differences: The MMC card is 32MB and is full of Sunnysoft and Hexacto software. The manual is accurate and in English. The charger does not include the charging base, just the charging cable and USB cable. This is the only disappointment. The Tanager does not fit into the SPV cradle. Apart from that, the box contents are the same. Turning On One of the hardest things I found with the SPV was actually turning the thing on. It always took 4 or 5 presses of that stupid on/off button to make it work. The Tanager's button is far more "clickable" and it turns on first time every time. The Eurotel phone emits an irritating start up sound which I am sure I can remove using Reg Edit. The Screen Yes, the screen is noticeably better. The old SPV's screen looks dull and blurry in comparison. The Tanager's screen however still does not demonstrate the clarity of the "Matrix" Samsung V200. The Action Button Far far better. I took to it like a duck to water. The Buttons For me the worst thing about the SPV was it's nasty, tiny, hard to press irritating buttons (can you tell I don’t like them). The Tanager's are 100 times better. Bigger, easier to read and comfortable to use. The buttons alone would make me buy a Tanager. The Software The Operator Software version: 1.4.1.57 Manufacturer: 1.4.1.57 Microsoft: 3.0.13037.0 File System: 3.0.13037.0 Basically it is a very slightly different version to Orange's update. The colour of the screens are slightly different and the start up logo is obviously different. IA Album is part of the ROM and can not be un-installed. There is no Picture or Sound manager software, not that I ever used it! T9 text is now remembered even after turning the phone off and removing the battery. There is no SMS counter, but I don’t write long messages anyway! When a new message arrives you still receive the notification sound even if there is existing mail in your inbox. The speed of the phone is faster than my SPV, but not dramatically so. There have been no lockups since purchasing the phone. The Tanager does not constantly buffer whilst playing streaming audio files. Obviously not being an orange phone, there is no Orange Backup or Orange Update - never used that so no loss there. The Flashing Light I am sure the green flashing light on the SPV indicates that the battery has charge left in it (I stand to be corrected). On the Eurotel phone, it is amber when charging, slow flashing green when you are in a signal area and fast flashing green when a new message arrives. Conclusion So was it worth it - flying from the UK to Prague just to buy a phone......Sad I know but the answer is YES. The phone is far better than the SPV. It's not perfect and if I'm honest unless MS upgrade the software, include Bluetooth and a built in camera (not that I want that), do something about Java and get a few more big operators/phone manufacturers to take up the Smartphone platform, sadly I think the Smartphone may slowly disappear from the public's glaring eye. PS - Anyone want to buy an SPV. Network and software unlocked. Just swapped by Orange today. Phone is as new with all accessories, manual and boxed. £190
Guest madu Posted May 20, 2003 Report Posted May 20, 2003 That is COOL man!! I'd rather stay in Prague overnight - a few beers, lovely Chechs etc... Anyway, I want a Tanager! Full stop. But I might wait for something else till my contract runs out - then I will be happy to get something very good even if it's gonna cost me :) Good effort though, I like your dedication!!
Guest adam Posted May 20, 2003 Report Posted May 20, 2003 Sounds better then the spv, but it seems more of a getting rid of annoying features of the spv rather than a great leap forward.
Guest Pagemakers Posted May 20, 2003 Report Posted May 20, 2003 It's just the lovely lovely Tanager buttons. I'm in Love. No more blisters on my fingers :) Forgot to add: The Bootloader screen still contains an option to Save IPSM.
Guest awarner [MVP] Posted May 20, 2003 Report Posted May 20, 2003 And how much this cost etc can be found here But the main part is.. It was simple and only cost a few quid to get there and back. I flew from East Midlands airport with www.bmibaby.com outbound at 1045. Arrives 1345 local. Ticket price from £35 I flew back with www.easyjet.com returning at 1655. Arrives East Midlands 1805 local. Ticket price from £35 That gives you about 2 hours to get to the Eurotel shop and back. There is a store in arrivals but they were out of stock. I got a taxi to the Eurotel's Evropská 690 store (+420267011550 they don’t answer the phone much!). Taxi cost about £10 each way and took 10 minutes. The taxi even accepted credit cards. Back to the airport to complete a short VAT return form and claim the VAT back in cash there and then! Cost of the phone ex VAT 15569.70 CZK (about £331) with no contract!
Guest Pagemakers Posted May 20, 2003 Report Posted May 20, 2003 awarner - I made 2 separate postings because they are 2 separate topics. One about how to get there and one about the phone itself. Thanks for other closing the topic. I won't bother next time.
Guest awarner [MVP] Posted May 20, 2003 Report Posted May 20, 2003 awarner - hope we're not getting jealous here! I made 2 separate postings because they are 2 separate topics. One about how to get there and one about the phone itself. Thanks for other closing the topic. I won't bother next time. jelous :roll: All the information has now been kept in one post as explained, Numerous comparisons have been posted before. One post is sufficient. end of subject.
Guest HungrySPV Posted May 20, 2003 Report Posted May 20, 2003 Hey mate you are famous. Your story is on http://www.coolsmartphone.com/index.php
Guest skimask Posted May 20, 2003 Report Posted May 20, 2003 Fair play to that!gotta be a first, flying to another country to buy a phone! As for smart phone platform fading away, I wouldn't worry too much mate, I work for one of the top mobile manufacturers and was playing with their smart phone prototype yesterday, looking good I must say. (p.s. don't worry about awarner too much mate, from what I've seen he takes his job WAY too seriously :) )
Guest awarner [MVP] Posted May 20, 2003 Report Posted May 20, 2003 If you going to do a job you might as well do it seriously or why do it at all? :)
Guest nickcornaglia Posted May 20, 2003 Report Posted May 20, 2003 I used that advice in the past....it absolutely killed my career as a comedian!
Guest Pagemakers Posted May 21, 2003 Report Posted May 21, 2003 Something I forgot to mention in the original review. 1 - The Tanager does not constantly buffer whilst playing streaming audio files. 2 - The Tanager comes with a charging cable but not the cradle. The Tanager and SPV's charging cable ARE interchangeable, but the Tanager will NOT fit into the SPV's charging cradle.
Guest Pagemakers Posted May 22, 2003 Report Posted May 22, 2003 And something else - I think the SPV has a slightly BETTER battery life!
Guest Pagemakers Posted May 25, 2003 Report Posted May 25, 2003 Oh well. Its been a week and what a surprise, all my T9 saved text has been lost, just like the SPV. Maybe the Tanager is not so wonderful after all :)
Guest Big Ron - No Longer a Mem Posted June 4, 2003 Report Posted June 4, 2003 Fame at last - see http://www.guykewney.com/articles/030602-grey.html !
Guest Pagemakers Posted June 4, 2003 Report Posted June 4, 2003 Cheers Ron. I gonna frame that. Maybe I should charge a fee :lol:
Guest Pagemakers Posted June 8, 2003 Report Posted June 8, 2003 I can definitely confirm that on the 2 Tanagers I purchased recently, the battery life is considerably less than the SPV. I would say about 70% as good. Now things have settled in I am not using my phone any more than I used my SPV, but the battery life is noticeably worse. Other points to note - T9 saved text has been dumped several times since I have had the phone. Although it is retained after a power cycle, I do not know why the dictionary occasionally resets. Apart from these 2 narks, I stand by my original review. When you get the chance, upgrade to a Tanager. It is a much better phone overall.
Guest tooney Posted June 9, 2003 Report Posted June 9, 2003 One question...why the F**K is the v200 a matrix phone?????? I watched the film and all I saw was the 'Matrix' phone samsung are now selling in the USA not a v200 in sight...how did it get the title of matrix phone????? Come to think of it how did the Nokia 7110 become a 'Matrix' phone when the 8110 was in the film????? Obviously we are all dumb....rant...rant...rant
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