ATTN: Phone/Gadget geeks
 

Orange have come up trumps and offered me a new phone early - because I'm a legend obviously ;)

I can have anything they sell for nothing, with the exception of this bad boy, the SPV M2000 which will cost me £50.

Any self respecting gadget bloke would be after the best he could get his hands on with all the features you'll never use etc etc ;)

So, suggestions/tips/recommendations etc fire away. Inspire my future communications with your knowledge!

:devil: You want the new Sony/Ericsson W800i Walkman phone,it's the nuts.I've got a Nokia 6680,which is great,but big:devil:

You like the smartphone functionality so stick with what you've got or stump up for the SPV.

If you want to get spendy, have a look at the i-mate JASJAR or K-JAM.

Just noticed that Orange now carry the Treo. If you can get that for free then that's the one to go for.

[Edited on 18-10-2005 by chicken]

What about this baby for the house phone.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TOP-OF-THE-RAN...QQcmdZViewItem

Why the Treo over the SPV M2000?

910 i :cool:

better text entry, smaller than it looks (aerial sticks out a bit though) and more stable o/s. Several friends in the US swear by it.

If you really want to go Windows mobile then wait for a bit because a windows version of the Treo will be out in the next few months.

Hrmm ... I'm torn between going the full functionality PDA style animal and going for the smaller sexy looking thing.

My only thing about the PDA things is that my phone lives in my front jeans pocket or in my shorts or something - the M2000 and the Treo are still quite big. The SPV C500 that I have now is the smallest form factor Smartphone kicking around, which is cool.

Maybe I should just get the SPV C550 ... although the Sony-Ericsson W800i Walkman phone looks pretty cool and 'gadgety' :D

I wonder if it, being a Sony device, will have built in copyright checking etc ....

well if your not too fussed about the pda thing then the world is your oyster (and you can always link to a pda through bluetooth or wire).

We are putting the W800 through its paces now - not looking too bad at the mo (and we'll be doing a back to back with the Motorola i-Tunes phone in the next fortnight).

If music is your thing, there's going to be a raft of mp3 playing phones through xmas - so again it's a bit of a wait.

All this faffing about when you know you really want one of these puppies...

WTF is that?

I'm not going to wait, besides ... you need patience for that ;)

The W800i looks pretty cool, I've just been on it's website for a look.

I've got a treo 600 and wasnt overly impressed with it and bit on the bulky side. I've just swapped to a i-mate jam and I think its fantastic. Its not much bigger than a normal handset and has all the windows mobile functionality. Orange brand the phone as the SPV-m500. I've tried both the M2000 and the HTC Universal (orange m5000) but I think they are little on the bulky side for my preference.

Im just about to get a 1Gb card for the jam so I can have a fair selection of tunes and tomtom maps with me at all times.

TP, just make sure it was genuinely Orange that are offering you the phone... I had a call the other day from someone purporting to be from Orange offering me an upgrade. I thought, odd, so asked them to tell me how much my last bill was, and lo and behold they couldnt. the shops that flog you the phone can pass on your renewal to other companies so that they can try to steal you at renewal..... apparently.

stick with the SPV500, but get the latest model with Windows Media Player 10 in it...

Yeah I've had a few phone calls recently like that. One today was telling me that they are sending me a new phone and it will be here on Thursday - I couldn't believe it!

You mean the SPV C550? Yeah, I'm tempted .... I'm liking this walkman phone though, I'm just a bit suss on their calendar and contacts sync'ing though. And their music copyright protection.

Oh and it was definitely Orange, because I rang them. I even went through to customer loyalty, which I thought was unusual because my current contract runs until Jan - but they are happy to give me another 12 mth one from now, a new phone and a better tariff!

I'm liking Orange at the moment!

[Edited on 18-10-2005 by TP]

OoH! Can I have your old one cos my old Samsung is falling apart :lol:

I'm just waiting for these babies to hit the market. they've been on the cards for quite a few years now and were originally developed in Philips South Africa:

http://www.polymervision.com/

I've had the SPV C550 for a while now and I love it. I am upgrading to the M500 very soon though as my requirements have changed. If you are looking for a phone with PDA features then go for C550 or similar. If you're looking for a PDA with phone, then go for M500 or similar. There are some limitations of SmartPhone Pocket PC verses Pocket PC on M500 M2000 etc etc.

Saying that - there's a new SPV C600 out at end of the month - supposed to have wifi built it as well, using windows mobile 5.

Ah the choices!

[Edited on 19-10-2005 by ziggi]

Have a look here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php

Its for all the HTC devices that get re-badged by the network providers like Orange and O2.

Okay - this just in. Tesco is going to start selling these for £80 on prepay. There are enough cues there to make me think it is exactly the same phone as mine underneath the round pink exterior.

http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2005/10/tescos_pink_com.html

As camp as a row of tents ...

I reckon I'll give that a miss!

I've just gotten off the phone to Orange - aparently they've run out of the W800i with the deal they're offering me so it would have to be the SPV C550. I want the W800i now!!

Bastids. :(

Now what do I do ...

question - did Orange offer you any kind of half price line rental with your offer? or increase the number of inclusive minutes?

If not, then jump ship to any other operator - they are all offering it for free with around 9 months half price line rental.

Just give Carphone Warehouse a shout (they'll give you money for your decrepit ex-phone as well which will be useless to you going forward unless you pay up to remove the Orange sim-lock).

[Edited on 20-10-2005 by chicken]

I can't jump ship because I have 3.5 mths of contract left.

I asked about the 6 mths half price line rental just then and they said they couldn't do that as well, but would give me a £75 credit to my account.

I am increasing my tariff.

Well - the £75 is effectively cash as you will use up the credit (and saves the hassle of having to mail off for the rebate cheques).

Seems you are stuffed on the "no stock" front. Threaten to spit your dummy out and leave in 3 months if they don't get you one quick sharp.

There is stock in the UK. There is stock in Orange. There just isn't stock in the Orange phone service (the stores, the phone hotline, and the online shop are all different entities and have their own allocation).

Speak to the head of customer service and complain that they have stock in your local Orange shop who isn't willing to give it to you while you are still on contract.

Shiny Shiny a regular site of yours chicken ? do you like ur gadgets pink.:D

But Chass they don't have to give me my PAC code because I'm still under contract for another 3.5 months.

Right?

I actually think they are being pretty good for upgrading me, giving me the rebate and only 12 months. Most try and stiff you for 18 at this point ...

Actually, they do have to give you the PAC code, as long as you agree to continue paying the outstanding contract.

I'd not have a pda/phone combination myself, and a lot of people I work with (colleagues and customers) are ditching them now (and their crackberries too..) as they're too bulky and look "geeky".

Having said that, we've got some M5000's in engineering and R&D, they're pretty neat if you really want a PDA/Phone combination. Still look daft answering calls though, which is why I gave mine back. Not sure if they're publicly available yet though.