[Cell Phone] Orange SPV C550 Smartphone

[Danny]

What is it?
It's the current windows supported smartphone from Orange

How much?
I picked mine up for £110 on Ebay.

Pro's

• Great windows OS interface.
• Lovely hi-res screen
• Doesn't weigh a great deal
• Memory card system- I have space for 20,000 photos AND a huge amount of songs on my 2.0GB memory card (which I bought for £50. The standard memory card is 256mb)
• Integrated Windows Media MP3 player (with skins)
• Excellent sound quality
• Intuitive and simple to use
• Put PC games onto it
• Extremely simple to connect to computer (it comes with a USB cable)
• Good picture quality
• Voice recordings and Note storage
• Great online support
• Just like a tiny PC you can makes calls on and keep in your pocket. And I mean just like a PC.

Con's

• Freezes, just like a real PC. Not often, mind, but it does.
• Bluetooth is a hit-and-miss affair
• Some functions take a while to load up. Not good if you need the camera quickly.
• Headphones seem to deteriorate in physical quality. I mean that eventually you need to keep pushing the headphones into the socket to keep hearing it.
• Not as modern looking as other cellphones, although that could be a positive for some people
• No, and I mean NO replacement for a pocket PC.
• Expensive, even used.
• Lights are constantly flashing, which annoys me at night.
• Don't EVER switch it off. You'll be a year older by the time it's loaded up and ready to go.

My highlight- Having more songs on my phone that my friend has on his iPod.

Rivals- None that can match the versitility of this, although a Motorola Q might grab your attention.

Ease of use-8/10
Camera quality-7/10
Features-10/10
Memory- 10/10 (since you can upgrade to your hearts content, AND have the phone's internal memory at your disposal)
Styling- 6/10
Musicality- 10/10

Overall- 9/10​

Final Verdict- Occasionally infuriating, mostly excellent. The few negatives fail to detract from the quality of the phone. If Orange can improve it's replacement, that's my next phone guaranteed.

 

[Jondot]

Final Verdict- Occasionally infuriating, mostly excellent. The few negatives fail to detract from the quality of the phone. If Orange can improve it's replacement, that's my next phone guaranteed.

Exactly how I'd describe them. I had a C500 (right up until I left it on the bus), and it was great most of the time. I loved how it handled like my PC and I had all my emails next to my texts, but it constantly frustrated me that NOTHING WAS WHERE IT SHOULD BE! Can you tell me the point of separating a phone with a 16mb memory into folders like your computer? All I want is 5 simple things. Photos, videos, sounds, themes and memory card. Not difficult, is it... So why do I have to place any ringtones under some impossible folder? It's just niggly things, really. Like the 300 steps to sending something over bluetooth (connect to the device, select a passcode, let them verify it, then find the file, open it, then close it to folder view, select options, send via bluetooth, then select the device). In comparison, my SE K700i does it in 3 steps: open photo, then select send via bluetooth, and then select the nearby device and it sends it. Takes 3 seconds instead of 3 minutes. You just don't bother in the end.

Summing up I'd really call it "the phone that thought it was a PC". Hard to describe it, really. It has things like picture and fax viewer separate from explorer (but identical to look at), so you begin to wonder why an option isn't in the menu (send over bluetooth, for example).

Ooo, btw, there's a replacement around - the C600. Can't see much of a difference myself, they just add a better camera and a new design.