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."

It should be the DRMSDRMPDRMV phone

[corebreech]

Or does anyone here believe the sound, pictures and video won't be slathered with DRM bloat?

Poor Audio? What's the point then?

[orthancstone]

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.

Pros vs. Cons

[ELCarlsson]

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.

Re:ridiculous phones

[LordSah]

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.

Is it just me or...

[Dr Caleb]

He gave the phone 2.5 out of 5 for poor sound quality. So it makes poor phone calls. Therefore it fails as a phone. So why would I buy this as opposed to a gameboy?

If I'm going to buy a phone, make sure it makes phone calls!

Not the first commercially available Smartphone

[alwynschoeman]

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.

useless junk

[ravinfinite]

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.

Re:Anyone else

[Geek of Tech]

I think you've actually got a point.

First Microsoft went for the OS market
Next came the browser wars
This was followed by the battle of the servers and PDAs.
Soon afterward came the battle for the gaming console.
Now, I believe smart watches and smart cellphones.

I'm havin trouble thinkin' of anything in my life Microsoft hasn't tried to take over. (All of which they've lost so far. I use Linux, Mozilla, No Server or PDA, Nintendo 64, Casio Watch and Motorola Cellphone)

I don't cherish the thought of having one all-seeing, all-knowing presence touching every part of my daily life.

Course maybe privacy is a wee-bit old fashioned.

Re:ridiculous phones

[Anonymous Coward]

> Is there anyone else out there that thinks these all-in-one super go go gadget phones are totally stupid?

probably...even the stupidest opinion will find support somewhere...

> Don't you realize there are billions of people starving in this world?

yes I do.....what's your point?

Re:Apple should make one!

[gotr00t]

Usually, Apple couples a service with each of their products, like the iPod has the music store service, and their Mac G4/iMac/eMac computers all have the .Mac service avaliable to them. It would be unlike Apple to make a new phone without making a service for it or something. Though it would be very nice to see them try to make one, it would look schweet indeed.

I doubt, however, that OSX can possibly be scaled down to the cell phone level, as it appears unlikely due to the heavy system requirements, and lack of flexability, versus Linux, which can be scaled up or down easily.

Moreover, I think that a catchier name would be iTalk, or iDial (as opposed to iPhone, which sounds a bit cliched), something that describes an attribute of the product instead of the product itself. If they just blantently named everything by it's name, then you'd end up with products like iComputer or iAAC/MP3player.

if the phone sucks

[BigBir3d]

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.

Re:Big deal.

[phillymjs]

Why is it, therefore, that we don't see a combination smartphone/pda/wallet?

Because identity theft is enough of a problem already, without some pickpocket being able to get your wallet, keys, and phone with one deft move.

~Philly

Microsoft stealing from the commons

[bstadil]

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".

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.

hes looking for his 15 min of fame

[crux6rind]

a lill bit OOT but...
anybody noticed that on all reviews on his site ,this guy always put his face along with the phone.
like he wanna be famuos or sumthin?

Call Me Crazy But...

[aerojad]

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.

Re:First one, huh?

[bucketoftruth]

I have a Treo. It is awesome. I have an SSH client, an IMAP client, a web browser and it plays all those stupid popcap games. It doesn't play MP3s, but I think the sony Clie version does. I'm extremely happy with it. I need nothing else.

Re:he's clueless... or not

[Marcus Green]

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.

Re:It should be the DRMSDRMPDRMV phone

[Anonymous Coward]

Why the hell did this get modded up? A quick Google search will reveal the inner workings of the SmartPhone OS. DRM will only be on __protected__ WMV content. There was code signing for program code but Orange disabled that after customers complained. The parent should be modded as flamebait. Nice going mods; mod up someone who spews shit out of his mouth.

Re:Security

[Troed]

I fail to see any references to your claim that Symbian has no security features, and that Windows SE has .. :) Care you elaborate?

I'm quite positively sure that .sis-files (Symbian installationfiles) are signed, as an example.

Re:Call Me Crazy But...

[kris]

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.

I have had a cellphone now since 1996 or so, starting with a Siemens S4 and I am currently the Siemens ME45 and I can count the number of calls that have terminated due to bad reception or network failures on a single hand. I really do not understand how you can view cellphone connection stability as an issue?

Kristian

Re:he's clueless... or not

[theLOUDroom]

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.

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&threshol d=-1&commentsort=0&tid=100&mode=thread&pid=4501603