Smartphone that works

I've had a whole bunch of Orange C500's over the last year and they
are incredibly unreliable (turning themselves off, failing to answer
calls; locking up; etc).

I'm currently trying the Orange M5000 - but that is even worse.

I love the functionality on these phones - I particularly want to be
able to synchronise Outlook Calendar & Contact items *in their native
form* - i.e. have the whole records synchronised back and forth - not
translated or condensed.

....however, the Microsoft SmartPhone OS appears to be the let-down as
being just too unrelaible - so has anyone got any better ideas for an
extremely reliable phone that has excellent Outlook synchronisation
support?

Would also like to have good connectivity/VPN/email support etc -
however, this isn't essential for many of my users.

TIA Kit

---

› See More: Smartphone that works

"Kit" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> I've had a whole bunch of Orange C500's over the last year and they
> are incredibly unreliable (turning themselves off, failing to answer
> calls; locking up; etc).

I have had my C500 for over a year, and can't say I have had any problems
with it at all! Sounds like you have been unlucky. How about to C600 when it
comes out?

"Kit" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've had a whole bunch of Orange C500's over the last year and they
> are incredibly unreliable (turning themselves off, failing to answer
> calls; locking up; etc).
>
> I'm currently trying the Orange M5000 - but that is even worse.
>
> I love the functionality on these phones - I particularly want to be
> able to synchronise Outlook Calendar & Contact items *in their
> native
> form* - i.e. have the whole records synchronised back and forth -
> not
> translated or condensed.
>
> ...however, the Microsoft SmartPhone OS appears to be the let-down
> as
> being just too unrelaible - so has anyone got any better ideas for
> an
> extremely reliable phone that has excellent Outlook synchronisation
> support?
>
> Would also like to have good connectivity/VPN/email support etc -
> however, this isn't essential for many of my users.
>

How about one of Nokia's smartphones running Symbian Series 60 (or the
series 80 "communicator" devices).

[email protected] declared for all the world to hear...
> ...however, the Microsoft SmartPhone OS appears to be the let-down as
> being just too unrelaible

I've had a C500 and now a C550, and also an M2000 since January.
Occasional lock-ups are to expected (and by that I mean once per month
maybe) but these are easily dealt with.
--
Regards
Jon

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 11:38:34 GMT, "illusion" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"Kit" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>
>I have had my C500 for over a year, and can't say I have had any problems
>with it at all! Sounds like you have been unlucky. How about to C600 when it
>comes out?
>
You are very lucky!

I have about 25 of these in my business and have to return each on
average every 4 to 6 months - in the main because they start turning
themselves off on a regular basis with no user intervention.

On Mon, 5 Dec 2005 11:58:06 -0000, "Matt Wheeler"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>How about one of Nokia's smartphones running Symbian Series 60 (or the
>series 80 "communicator" devices).
>

I've always been a big fan of Nokia for reliability.

I'm also with Orange - and they don't ship the Communicator, so I'm
quite interested in the 6680.

How is it's treatement of Outlook calendar/contact items, and have you
tried configuring VPN access & using Email on it?

On Mon, 5 Dec 2005 11:58:58 -0000, Jon <[email protected]>
wrote:

>[email protected] declared for all the world to hear...
>> ...however, the Microsoft SmartPhone OS appears to be the let-down as
>> being just too unrelaible
>
>I've had a C500 and now a C550, and also an M2000 since January.
>Occasional lock-ups are to expected (and by that I mean once per month
>maybe) but these are easily dealt with.
Does the M2000 suffer from one of the major problems I had with the
M5000 - that lockups frequently occur when you open the screen - so it
is trying to re-orient it whilst a call is ringing?

illusion wrote:

How about to C600 when it
> comes out?

Which, incidentally, I see now (finally) appears as 'Coming Soon' on
the Orange website...

[email protected] declared for all the world to hear...
> Does the M2000 suffer from one of the major problems I had with the
> M5000 - that lockups frequently occur when you open the screen - so it
> is trying to re-orient it whilst a call is ringing?

I keep mine on Portrait mode, I've never changed it. I also have an app
which runs on the taskbar which allows you soft-reset without having to
get the stylus out. I can honestly say it's a fantastic device. I use
sync all day every day, over bluetooth and the cradle and I also use VPN
to connect to my network drives at home, all of which "just works".


--
Regards
Jon

On 5 Dec 2005 04:15:17 -0800, "Mathew Newton" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
>illusion wrote:
>
>How about to C600 when it
>> comes out?
>
>Which, incidentally, I see now (finally) appears as 'Coming Soon' on
>the Orange website...

Our Orange account manager has just informed me that this phone is now
available, so I'll be trialling it in the hope that many of the C500
flaws will be rectified.

> I've had a whole bunch of Orange C500's over the last year and they
> are incredibly unreliable (turning themselves off, failing to answer
> calls; locking up; etc).

I've had mine for around a year and a half and it's been absolutely
superb. Only problem was when I accidentally stove in the keyboard and
had to have it fixed - it took them an age (more than 6 weeks) and I
was going up the wall without my precious Smartphone !

>
> I'm currently trying the Orange M5000 - but that is even worse.

The 5000's a bit bulky for me but I've just acquired an M500 and I have
high hopes for that...

> ...however, the Microsoft SmartPhone OS appears to be the let-down as
> being just too unrelaible -

I'm surprised you've found that to be the case - the only issue I've
had is ActiveSh*te refusing to synch things and then deleting the
latest version instead of the older version when I try to sort it out
:-/

> so has anyone got any better ideas for an
> extremely reliable phone that has excellent Outlook synchronisation
> support?

I don't think it's better but my Nokia 6310i has good Outlook support.


Regards,

David

[email protected] wrote:
>>I've had a whole bunch of Orange C500's over the last year and they
>>are incredibly unreliable (turning themselves off, failing to answer
>>calls; locking up; etc).
>
>
> I've had mine for around a year and a half and it's been absolutely
> superb. Only problem was when I accidentally stove in the keyboard and
> had to have it fixed - it took them an age (more than 6 weeks) and I
> was going up the wall without my precious Smartphone !
>
>
>>I'm currently trying the Orange M5000 - but that is even worse.
>
>
> The 5000's a bit bulky for me but I've just acquired an M500 and I have
> high hopes for that...
>
>
>>...however, the Microsoft SmartPhone OS appears to be the let-down as
>>being just too unrelaible -
>
>
> I'm surprised you've found that to be the case - the only issue I've
> had is ActiveSh*te refusing to synch things and then deleting the
> latest version instead of the older version when I try to sort it out
> :-/
>
>
>>so has anyone got any better ideas for an
>>extremely reliable phone that has excellent Outlook synchronisation
>>support?
>
>
> I don't think it's better but my Nokia 6310i has good Outlook support.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> David
>
seconded. mine's been bulletproof. to the OP: you're not installing
something odd on these handsets that's making them unstable, are you?
were they all from teh same batch?

ric

[email protected] declared for all the world to hear...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] says...
> > Occasional lock-ups are to expected
>
> You think?!?

Yes. I expect them on my computer, the phone is basically a computer,
it's easily tolerable.
--
Regards
Jon

"Kit" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've had a whole bunch of Orange C500's over the last year and they
> are incredibly unreliable (turning themselves off, failing to answer
> calls; locking up; etc).

My C500 has locked up once in 6 months. It hasn't switched itself off
nor failed to answer a call. It's the best phone I've ever had, which
doesn't help with you problem, sorry! :-)

Kit wrote:
> I've always been a big fan of Nokia for reliability.


reliability goes out the window with their series 60 phones.


--
Marc
http://www.iMarc.co.uk/ for contact details.