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Orange SPV C500
Price: £0 - £80 inc VAT (depending on contract)

Features
Performance
Ease of use
Value for money
Overall

Reviewed By: Andrew Craig

This review updated: 15/11/2004
Featured in magazine:
Issue 95
Manufacturer Contacts:
Supplier: Orange
Tel: 0500 802080
Web Address: www.orange.co.uk


When we saw the first SPV two years ago we knew it had potential, but there were two main problems: size and ease of use. Step forward the SPV C500, a smaller, lighter and altogether more satisfying version of the phone that will amaze you with its capabilities. Email, web access, shooting photos and video, managing your diary, instant messaging and games are the highlights in an impressive array of features. It also makes phone calls, by the way.

Features
With its large, sharp colour screen there's plenty of room for accessing Wap sites, web pages and photos, which you can shoot with the built-in camera. Extra storage can be added using a mini SD card, which is slightly more expensive than a standard SD card, as you'll discover once you've outgrown the supplied 16MB card. You'll need to dismantle the phone to access the card though, as it's hidden behind the battery. Little luxuries like Bluetooth, a speakerphone and a light-sensitive keypad add to the phone's appeal.

Performance
The phone is a solid performer, with applications loading quickly and no system freezes during our testing. Battery life was also impressive. Expect a delay when first connecting to internet services, but once you're connected with a GPRS signal, the performance puts most computer dial-up connections to shame. Orange's own pre-configured web content is easy to navigate, but many other websites are not resized and require too much scrolling to make them useful.

Ease of use
It's inevitable that a device as clever as the C500
is going to take more than a minute to master. Getting the phone up and running is easy, but configuring features such as email and ringtones, and discovering hidden extras like the calculator, file manager and voice dialling, takes a good deal of clicking around. The main problem we had was with the keypad, which is squashed at the bottom of the phone fascia making one-handed text typing tricky.

Value for money
Thankfully, the price tag has shrunk as much as the phone's physical dimensions, with the C500 available free on contracts over £25 a month or £80 on a £15 a month deal. This compares with £200 plus contract for the previous version. You'll need to consider optional extras such as £3 a month to send 15 photo messages, and £4 a month for 4MB of internet access, but overall the C500 is as affordable as it is desirable.

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