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Microsoft Orange SPV Phone Review
Ian Bell writes "HowardChui.com just posted a review on Microsoft's new Orange SPV which is the first commercially available Smartphone. The SPV stands for Sound, Pictures, Video and you can download games like Doom or listen to MP3s on the speaker or even chat to your friends using the built-in MSN Messenger. But for all that the SPV features, there is no Bluetooth support. It still looks like a killer phone and I like that it is smaller than the PocketPC phones currently on the market."
Your phone has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down
Either the phone is small or his head is really big. Hard to tell.
I was deriding the Yopy a couple days ago for having a chiclet keyboard. This thing's got a chiclet keypad. Make it bigger!
Add to that the fact that you're going to get face-grease all over the screen every time you talk on the phone. I don't see any reason to get one of these yet.
I have been pwned because my
Or does anyone here believe the sound, pictures and video won't be slathered with DRM bloat?
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
Must be a MS powered phone you have there, it was a little slow on the processing.
Guy says in the review that the audio isn't that great, thus flushing the functionality of mp3 playing and making its usefulness as a cell phone kinda crappy.
That's a shame too because it looks like an nice phone and has some decent feature.
I believe, as an Apple fan, that Apple should make a really good phone for all us geeks wishing we had big wallets. They could get Jonathan Ive to do it, and put a *scaled-down* version of OS X on it. Plus, they could call it the iPhone! (It has a *ring* to it, yuk yuk...) I would definitely buy one (if I had said big wallet).
Look at all the Pros. None of that makes a good phone. Who cares about a customizable today screen or an optional keyboard when the phone sucks.
He is obviously clueless...
"While it seems to lack a little bit of polish as the first commercially available Smartphone, the SPV is not a bad device. "
Erm, It isn't the first commercial smartphone. Symbian phones have been around for a while, years in fact - for example, Erccisson R380 (I think there was a version before this one?), and Nokia - the Brick - Communicator 9210 - and there was a version before this too.
With Symbian you get a rock solid phone and software, far more than MS can possibly provide. Symbian phones have far better security and their OS isn't bloated, as opposite to MS its in pathetic (toy) OSes.
That's just a little freaky in my books.
...no one's gone ahead and tried to run Linux on it yet...where's my modchip?
That phone is silver, not orange.
I would really like a phone to sync to my PC's PIM. I've seen a demo of a smartphone, and that was the coolest features by far...the dude just grabbed his entire contact list from outlook. I use my phone as my contact list, with no back up, because I'm too lazy to retype the whole thing. I could also see it's usefulness to send quick emails.
I'll agree with you on the games/camera/web browsing though.
Why the hell is it taking PDA/Cell Phone/MP3 Player/Keyboard/Mouse manufacturers so DAMN long to get bluetooth implemented as a standard across the board for syncing devices, which is what it's particulary good at - close distance, high bandwidth traffic. It's beginning to really piss me off since it has the implications to be so useful.
I urge for the day i can use my iPod as a clicker device to go to the next slide in a presentation, or when i can set my iPod next to my laptop and automatically sync it. I urge for the day i can walk into a room with a bluetooth keychain and have my pre-programmed computer automatically turn the lights on and start playing music ala Minority report. We *HAVE* the technology to do all this, why the hell are hardware manufacturers kicking their damn heals so much?
ok i'm done ranting
</RANT>
- tristan
It seems strange to me that there is no Bluetooth support... especially since it's from Microsoft. If they intigrate Bluetooth, they could definitely do a lot of cool things between it and a computer (or several devices for that matter). Maybe it's because Bluetooth isn't widely accepted yet but without the devices, how is it goint to become widely accepted?
The only thing that will stop you from fulfilling your dreams is you. - Tom Bradley
If I'm going to buy a phone, make sure it makes phone calls!
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
So why would anyone buy this phone at all?
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
Hi, The Orange one isn't the first commercially available Smartphone. It has been for sale from SMART (operator) in the Philippines for the last few months. I do not think it is selling as expected seeing that most people do not care about Powoerpoint, etc on their phones... CEO's tend to make decisions based on their own reference framework and not that of the market which they do not represent.
From ZDNet UK....slightly amusing...but a valid point, none the less.
Smartphone (with a capital S) is Microsoft's brandname for... smartphones (duh!). They've copyrighted the name, so that's what Howard means when he writes "first commercially available Smartphone".
I've played with the phone myself, and the OS isn't bloated compared to the Symbian phones (they're about the same). In fact, my Nokia 3650, which uses Symbian, crashes every now and then. I'm not saying the MS one doesn't crash, but don't think because it's made by someone other than Microsoft that it's automagically better.
I believe we have here another classic case of "integrating a shit-load of features into something small and utterly useless".
I guess they'll make a portable all-in-one X-BOX, DVD Player, cell phone, laptop with Windows XPee, tape recorder, CD burner, microwave, refrigerator, dishwasher, ass-wiper and "port-a-potty" device next.
This is completely useless and shows no innovation or creativity. I guess they're trying to take bloated software to the next level: bloated hardware.
I want someone to realise that I always carry around my wallet, my keys and my phone.
Why is it, therefore, that we don't see a combination smartphone/pda/wallet? An average wallet is large enough to put a decent-sized LCD screen and a keypad in (after all, many wallets are quite similar in design to a clamshell-type 'phone).
This would be a kick-ass device because it'd have a big screen *and* reduce the amount of space everything takes up in my pockets. Surely it's the obvious thing to do?
Hang on - given it's obvious, I'll just off and patent it...
Microsoft's new Orange SPV which is the first commercially available Smartphone
All this time, I must have been imagining commercially available smartphones like the Handspring Treo and the Kyocera Smartphone.
You don't need a Microsoft-powered 'phone to do that. I've been synching my contacts and calendar from Outlook to my phone(s) for years.
FusionOne used to offer a free service to give you synch across many devices (including many mobile 'phone types).
If you want free stuff and have a Nokia, you can get software from their web site which lets you do this. Other manufacturers also have synch software these days too.
All you need is an IR-port (USB ones are sub-$20) or a data cable for your phone (which will probably be more than that).
That is because of Orange. They are the cell phone manufacturer after all. Microsoft is just providing all the add on cr@p that a cell phone doesn't really need (mp3 and video).
Button size, signal receiver, lack of RF, lack of BT (keeps size and price a bit smaller), those were choices made by Orange. No J2E is Microsoft. Although I am not sure why no J2E is bad, but that might just be me.
as the first commercially available Smartphone
Smartphones have been around for several years, based on Symbian and PalmOS. And the term has been around for a number of years as well. Microsoft should really not be able to take out trademarks on generic terms like "Windows" and "Smartphone".
Looks more like a lemon to me.
You make a good point, but taking Names (TM) that already has a meaning and copyright it is stealing from the commons.
They steal the meaning that this name already have. There is nothng wrong with picking a name that helps you in the beginning you just need to undertand that what helps you now will hurt you later so take your pick.
It like the Trademarking of the word Windows. WTF. This was picked percisely because it had a well definied and undertaood meaning. The name helped yuo in the beginning now you are stuck with something that is generic and should be allowed to be trademarked.
Nothing wrong with Smartphone but as a trade mark give me a break. Maybe we need to rename Gnome or KDE SmartWindows.
Help fight continental drift.
a lill bit OOT but... ,this guy always put his face along with the phone.
anybody noticed that on all reviews on his site
like he wanna be famuos or sumthin?
d035 7hi5 100k 1ik3 4n l337 5i6 2 j00 ?
I really don't see any decent reason for packing cell-phones with so many features. How about making the cell phone have better reception so call-drops are less frequent, instead of being able to download mp3s to play them on the cellphone speakers. It's extra features like that which turn it into more of a novelty item than something that could have pratical use. I would like my phone to dial numbers, call people, and sound clear... I really don't see the use in downloading quake or Microsoft patches for security so no one can run illegal scripts off my cellphone if I happen to be using it for a server or something.
SecondPageMedia - Wha
I actually have one of these, I've had it for a few weeks. I'm perfectly happy with it, especially since the handset cost me £30 (when I renewed by Orange contract, which I was going to do anyway). Audio is fine through the headphones, the built in speaker is a little crappy but certainly no worse than on the Sony Z7e I had previously (which was a piece of SHIT.) The OS is easy to use, OK not blindingly fast) but the screen is excellent, file browsing is a piece of piss and it Active Syncs with my PC like this - *plugs phone into provided USB cradle* *removes phone from cradle* No probs. My only gripes are that the keypad is RIDICULOUSLY small, and while I could have got the plug in keyboard for an extra £25, I can't be arsed carrying it around for the sake of SMS and navigating files etc. Second gripe is that to download and install non-official software you have to 'unlock' the phone (Orange do freely give you instructions on how to do this on their site) by modifying and reuploading a config file. Then it's Doom, SNES emulators etc a go-go. I haven't done this yet due to lack of time, but I shall. Once I unlock it and get a decent sized SD card, this is going to be a pretty handy budget PDA style device which is easy to use, very portable (it really is tiny) and to be honest, just as reliable as any other mobile device I've ever owned. While it is great fun to bash MS, if you want user experience, this phone hasn't once behaved badly and I've been giving it heavy daily usage. So there you have it.
Hmmm.
Been using it for the last few months and it is AWFUL !
Sure it sounds great, colour screen, plays mp3s, core PDA functionality, web browsing and email using GPRS (I signed up for 7 megs a month because I thought this would be useful).
But it is terrible !
So what's the problem ? Well it hangs. All the time. I get busy cursors when all I'm doing is navigating the menus. It hangs when I'm trying to make a call (it seems to get its knickers in a twist if an incoming call arrives whilst your starting an outgoing call.
Personally I'm really pissed off at having skipped the Ericsson (which I thought was too big) for this pile of shit. Been very happy with every Orange 'phone I've ever owned (been an Orange customer since they opened up here in the UK) but the SPV stinks. Edward
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
I fail to see any references to your claim that Symbian has no security features, and that Windows SE has .. :) Care you elaborate?
.sis-files (Symbian installationfiles) are signed, as an example.
I'm quite positively sure that
it's in my head
These things have been out in the UK for so long that version 2 is being released!
Granted, this is because version 1 was so poor that no one brought one - less than 100k units were shipped (which considering that there are about 10m sales/yr of high end phones in the UK is terrible). And that number was _after_ they started giving them away for free with a £25/mnth contract.
Microsoft fucked up by making a bad phone - not really a surprise - and the only people who brought them were the XBox-modder wannabe-techie types who wouldn't know the different between C and Cobol.
The most amusing part is that the only reason these phones sold _at all_ was because the DRM functions (you can only run executables signed by Orange and Microsoft) were broken by hackers very quickly - in fact for the French version it only required a reboot to execute. Now thats great security!
Annoying never fixed bugs include numbers stored in a different way from Outlook/OE so that when you sync your phonebook you can't dial the numbers it downloaded, text messaging that randomly doesn't work, out-of-memory errors, and a phone so large and butt ugly it belongs in 1980.
Another stunning victory then - Nokia must be quaking in their boots.
Beep beep.
I had a Psion 5MX (uses a version of the Symbian OS) for about 5 years. It went about 3 years without crashing and I used it every day. Other people have reported similar or better experiences with the version of the Symbian OS built into phones. Seems to me that this is cause to suggest that Symbian phone is likely to be more stable than an MS based phone.
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What idiot modded this as a troll. As an ex Psion Revo+ owner, I have to say that the EPOC OS (now known as Symbian) is the most stable, polished OS I have ever used. I can't remember having to reboot my Psion, EVER.
Saying that MS phones crash and Symbian phones crash is like saying "Windows 98 crashes and Solaris crashes". Yeah the statement may be true, but it's deliberately misleading. In reality, the two products aren't even in the same league as far as stability goes.
Example of people discussing Symbian's reliability:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=42924&thresho
Life is too short to proofread.
Just imagine when the vira start spreading on this. When you are not using it, the phone is busy phoning outer mongola and sending obscene messages to the president!
(Why this review now? It's an oooold phone around here...)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating