Microsoft Smartphone Qs / Thoughts / Comments

sidekick

Does anyone know where I can get a SIM/contract free C500 Smartphone phone? Orange sells them in UK but only with a contract

Thanks.

flywheel

Orange offer a developer version through ORA for purchase which is sim/contract free, although there is currently a delay shipping them

the i-mate version of the handset should be available in the near future and would be SIM free and not operator branded

BrianG

lotas

there are 2 imate phones that are out and shipping now from expansys. the SP3i which is the same as the SP3 but with a joystick insted of the big button thingy. Also, theres the SP3 which is the SPV 500, as DubWireless was talking about. I have the SP2 at the moment and it is one hell of a phone. i have been talking to people with the SP3 and SP3i and they say it is a lot better. the processor upgrade (SP2 has a 132Mhz chip, the SP3 and SP3i are 200Mhz) is pretty sweet. i bought mine about 3 weeks before the SP3 came out. typical! :rolleyes:

sidekick

Thanks for the details folks. Yes I've seen the details from expansys and with the SP3i shipping in just 2 days I'm very tempted to buy it...

TCP/IP

i am buying one in the morning also thinking about get a bluetooth/gps system as well for the phone.

lotas

sweet. theres some cool apps that work with GPS like MS pocket Streets and trips. lots of cool stuff comming out for the smartphone. its a good time to buy!

flywheel

just an FYI, noticed the i-mate SP3 is listed on expansys.ie's 'today only' offer for Eur 345 or expansys.com's 'today only' for GBP 230 (plus shipping)

BrianG

TCP/IP

If anybody wants advice wait for the SP3i should be in next week it includes the jostick and is classed as a better phone

Mr E

I agree, TCP/IP. If they do a "Today Only" special on that phone when its released, I'll probably get it.

TCP/IP

Smartphone

Thinking of buying this tomorrow what does anybody think heard it is better than the C500/SP3

jesus_thats_gre

Saw a review of it somewhere a few weeks back. Its meant to be very music player orientated, i.e. its one of the few handsets to have dedicated media player buttons.

flywheel

T-Mobile have brought out two SDA models the T-Mobile SDA 'music' with the special buttons (ref: T-Mobile DE, MobileBurn) and the more 'regular' T-Mobile SDA which is similar to the other HTC Feeler models (but branded for T-Mobile)

would wait (or make sure) to get an non-operator specific / branded model of the device i]HTC Feeler[/i e.g. i-Mate SP3i to save any hassle unlocking or removing any restrictions (cert/registry) and have to deal with operator tweaked updates in the future

HTC Typhoon (e.g. C500/SP3) / HTC Feeler (e.g. SP3i) - basically the same phone (inside) with a different outside, button layout and pad vs joystick - you can get the spec sheets of both on the i-mate site to fully compare their implementation of the devices

BrianG

secret_squirrel

Does anyone own one? what do you think of it?? What are the pros and cons?

How are the pda features on it? How well does it play music?

Thinking of getting an Imate SP3i to replace both my axim and my current moby.

No M$ comments please.

hshortt

Hullo there,

I've owned three incarnations of Microsoft Smartphones, the last one being a Motorola MPX200 which was a great phone and very useful.

However for me the Software was slightly lacking, for instance activesync on the devices did not support syncing Outlook notes which is a feature that I use a lot. There was a third party utility to do this, but of course that meant more money... There were a few other negatives for me, one was that I have used pda's for years and they've always been touch screens, I found that using the keypad only was a shortcoming. Also, reading webpages was painful, it's barely manageable on a 240x320 pda screen as it is!

Anyway I sold it and moved onto an XDA II and I've had this one for nearly a year and it's fantastic. I'm on Vodafone with it. I see that O2 will have available the XDA IIi and XDA IIs on November 1st. You might like to check them out before you settle for your C500 or SP3i.

I've used a C500 and can very positively report that it's a solid device, much improved battery life and really excellent screen. The difference between the C500 and SP3i is the navigation button. Otherwise they are the same.

There's lots happening with Smartphones at the moment, check out www.msmobiles.com for some news, but be warned that the guy running it is a little bit nutty.

cheerio
Howard

Mr E

I'm getting an iMate SP3 in the next few days, I'll let you know what I think of it.

Currently have a Motorola MPX200. Apart from poor battery life, its a fantastic phone (battery issues have been addressed in the new iMate phones, thank god). I knew a few days after to using a windows smartphone, I don't think I could ever go back to a 'regular' mobile phone. Once you start syncing with outlook, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

Pros of smartphones (in general):
- Syncing of contacts/calendar/tasks
- Customisability (you can customise homepages, hack the registry etc.)
- Support for SD cards (I suppose this is common with alot of the newer phones, though..)
- Mediaplayer / Betaplayer / DVD To Smartphone
- Emulators

Cons
- Relatively poor battery life
- Requirement to download/buy additional software to make up for shortcomings of Windows Mobile (Smartnotes, Betaplayer, Power Calendar, eWallet)

I'll put up a review of the SP3 at the weekend (if I get the phone before the end of the week). Shipped yesterday, so I'm hopeful.

secret_squirrel

Cheers keep them coming...

TmB not wanting to ruin your joy in your new phone but the SP3i is due in about the 1st of Nov......thats what I am waiting for.

Already know some of the extra program buying pain from my PocketPC!

Mr E

The SP3i has a joystick and different buttons, and thats it......
I prefer the look of the SP3!

Dr. Dre

Everyday there seems to be a new smartphone slated for release, tis making my head spin
I'm at the point now where I don't know which one to get to replace my trusty old HTC canary (Orange SPV100). I await the verdicts here with anticipation.

Mr E

OK, I've had my new iMate SP3 about 24 hours now, and its a big improvement on the Motorola MPX200. The phone is TINY, but the screen is bigger than the MPX200. Its a really nice weight too - not too light. Obviously its too early to judge battery life, but I have high hopes....

Nice things about the phone - T9 (BIG improvement), crisp screen, nice form, considerably faster OS (probably down to the hardware more than the OS), stereo headset/hands free kit included.

Initial gripes about the phone - no SD card shipped with it (I'll buy a 512mb myself on eBay anyway, so its no big deal). No cover for the ports - the headset socket and mini-USB port are exposed.

All in all, I'm a happy camper... I can't get over how small the phone is!

TCP/IP

if you could post some pics taken with the camera that would be great also what colour is it and were did u get it

Mr E

Hi TCP/IP, I got it from mPhone: http://www.mphone.co.uk/acatalog/sp3_sim_free.html

It looks exactly as pictured on that site (silver, with a black trim). I'll post up some pics later. I'm not blown away by the camera (640x480 is the max resolution), but thats what a real digital camera is for.......

TCP/IP

thanks for that mate i am waiting for the sp3i cant wait to get my grubby hands on it just like the styling more. Does the outlook sync work well. Any other reports you have on the phone would be great

Mr E

Outlook sync works well (exactly the same as my MPX200) - same version of ActiveSync, so I'm not expecting any changes there.

Windows Mobile 2003 SE still doesn't sync Notes. So I tried installing SmartPhoneNotes and can't get that to work (SPN worked on my previous phone). I'll figure it out, though.

I also had trouble getting eWallet to sync, but the developers sent me a fix this morning which sorted it out for me.

sidekick

Hey TmB - can you post some photos from the camera so we can see the quality? Any additional feedback on the phone now that you have been using it for a couple of weeks?

Mr E

Sure. Have to go out now, but I'll post some files and feedback tonight.

Mr E

OK, so I've had it for a couple of weeks now. Verdict? I *still* love it!

I can now vouch for the battery life. Its only gone down 25% from a full charge in 48 hours (and I've made 2 calls, sent a bunch of texts, and had a few games of freecell)

Pocket Internet Explorer is much better than previous incarnations.

My main original gripe still stand (no covers for ports). I got an SD card from shop4memory.com, and it works a treat (if buying one, make sure its a mini SD card - a regular sized one won't fit!)

The nav button (which is a 5 way switch) takes some time to get used to - you have to push it in to select an option, and its very easy to accidentally move up or down while pressing it in.

Still very happy, though. Its cool watching new southpark episodes on your mobile phone.

Some pics: Screen, Desk, Outside.

- Dave.

sidekick

Hey TmB - thanks for the posting the feedback and the photos. Quaility of the photos looks quite good for a camera phone. I'll probably opt for the SP3i -just need to find somewhere selling it.

Cheers for the details - sidekick.

TCP/IP

Hello Everybody,

Just to let you know expansys have the imate SP3i now in stock over 300 of them. Shame it was not two months ago when they promised them. I am waiting for my Sharp 902 next week. Still a great phone though.

Cheers,
TCP/IP