2006-05-19
04:52
Orange SPV M1500 Review
Latest Update: Added a little update at the bottom, after living with it for around five months, and added a link to Gary’s update on his M2000.
We recently upgraded our mobile phones with Orange UK – I got an SPV M1500 this time, a Windows Mobile PDA/Phone. When I was looking around at what to get, I didn’t find much information about this model, but I can do something about that now I have one…
What Is It?
It’s a SmartPhone, running Windows Mobile. Like the other SPV phones, it’s an Orange (UK mobile TelCo) branded version of an HTC device – the HTC Alpine. In the UK, it’s available from Orange as the Orange SPV M1500.
What Sort of SmartPhone?
There’s a few different types of phones that are referred to as ‘SmartPhones’…
Nokia’s SmartPhones run their own OS based on Symbian, which originally came from the old Psion organisers. These commonly run Series 60. I’ve never actually used one of these, but they’re pretty capable devices, with a fair bit of software becoming available for them. The Opera web browser is available, and is included as standard with quite a few devices, and my favourite book reading software, eReader is available too.
Windows Mobile SmartPhones are the smaller type of ‘Windows’ devices, like the SPV 500, 550, and 600, or for US readers, the AudioVox SMT 5600. These run a cut-down version of Windows Mobile, and can’t run software designed for ‘full’ Windows Mobile.
Palm-based Treo 650 (and the older 600) – running the full version of PalmOS. I’ve used Palm devices before, and liked them a lot, but the Treo seems expensive for what it is.
The M1500 is really a combination of the Windows Mobile SmartPhones and a full Windows Mobile PDA. It runs a version of Windows Mobile, with various phone features, but it’s not the cut-down ‘SmartPhone Edition’. That means you get the full Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts programs, and can run any Windows Mobile software.
Spec
- 128Mb RAM – more than my iPaq hx4700 had, and gives a lot more space to work.
- 240×320 screen – standard on a Pocket PC device, but it’s a quarter of the VGA hx4700 that I used before.
- Bluetooth
- WiFi – not mentioned anywhere on Orange’s consumer site, but it does have WiFi.
- Speakerphone
- SD Card slot – so you can carry plenty of extra files around – useful if you use other devices that use SD cards.
Bundled Software
- Outlook 2002. Yes. 2002, not 2003. You get an outdated version of Outlook. Still, since you need outlook to sync the phone with your PC, it’s better than not getting any version, and the phone does cost less than a copy of Outlook on its own would cost, so I guess I can’t complain too much.
- ActiveSync 3.7. ActiveSync 3.8 has been out for a long time now – over a year, at least – and it’s faster and more reliable. Don’t even bother with the CD for this, just download version 3.8 from Microsoft’s web site and install it that way.
- Some fairly decent-looking utilities for managing Bluetooth and WiFi, though I’ve not actually tried WiFi at all yet.
Failed-to-be-bundled Software
- According to the manual, there’s a copy of SPB’s GPRS Monitor, which would be useful, but doesn’t seem to actually be included.
- There’s also supposed to be some software in there to let you send and receive faxes directly from the device, but that’s not actually on there or on the CD.
- Also missing is the software that’s supposed to let you do voice dialling, so using this with a bluetooth headset is a bit problematic. You can use a headset, but you still have to prod the screen to dial.
Bundled Hardware
- Handsfree Kit – that’s what they call the little wired headset you get supplied. I’ve not even opened this to try.
- Cradle – they actually include a cradle rather than just a cable – nice. It’s a bit more upright than I’d really prefer, but it works just fine, and it was a surprise to find one included at all.
- Case – a surprisingly decent faux-leather case is supplied. The only downside is that the phone in the case is roughly as thick as a small car. Really. You’ll need big pockets. Keep the phone out of the case, though, and the big touch-screen is very vulnerable. I kept mine in my pocket with the screen facing inwards, but the screen started developing odd patterns – didn’t seem to be doing any damage, but I’d rather not risk it. Just get a bigger car to tow it around. At least there is a case supplied – I didn’t expect to get one at all, so grumbling about it is not allowed.
As a PDA
I like this device a lot as a PDA – it does very nicely. The spec is plenty high enough that it runs quickly and smoothly, and never seems to run short of memory. The fact that it has an Internet connection right there inside it is pretty handy too.
Memory
The 128Mb of RAM is fairly generous – the only other Windows Mobile PDA I’ve used was an HP iPaq hx4700 with only 64Mb, and that could get really tight – you couldn’t sync too many files, and opening programs often closed other programs in the background to make room. With 128Mb, I’ve yet to run into any such problems, though it may help that I’m used to working with much less.
Although there’s 128Mb or ROM too, which should be plenty for an upgrade, Orange have stated that this device will not be upgradable to Windows Mobile 5.0. From what I’ve heard about it, though, this might not be too much of a hardship from a PDA point of view. Most of the changes have been making it better for use on phones, though, so on this device, it could have been a good thing. Maybe someday we’ll upgrade our iPaq and see what it’s like, but until then, I can’t compare.
Connectivity
The GPRS is not always connected, which is what I’d expected. It just brings the connection up automatically whenever it’s needed. This means that although you don’t need to do anything, there’s a short delay whilst it establishes a GPRS connection before you can start browsing or checking your mail. It’s not bad, it’s just that I didn’t expect it to be there at all, and it’s not really much quicker than using a separate bluetooth-connected phone.
There’s WiFi, too, and that works well.
It wasn’t obvious to me for a while how to get this thing to use the ActiveSync connection it had by default, rather than trying to bring up the GPRS connection all the time. At first, I’d assumed that this was because it was hardly in Orange’s best interests to make it easy on you to use anything but GPRS. It seemed like it was all set up to make it difficult to switch connections, so you’d end up using GPRS more, which Orange then make money on.
What really should have been included, I thought, was a nice simple utility to switch connections between GPRS, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Unfortunately, this would cost Orange money to either develop or buy in, and would lose them money on the GPRS usage for everyone who bought this device.
However, Orange seem to have done the decent thing on this, and just such a utility is included – it just took me a while to find it. In the bottom right corner of the Today screen, there’s a little ‘Wireless’ icon, that looks a bit like a piece from some board game I vaguely remember (Cluedo, perhaps? (Update: Sam says it’s “Sorry!”, but we think Cluedo might have used the same design too)) – a cone with a ball for a ‘head’. You tap that to bring up the WiFi monitor. At the bottom of that screen, there’s a little green icon with a ‘W’ – tap that, and you get a nice simple utility with three buttons, which will let you switch wireless connections around.
When switching to Bluetooth, it actually offers to create a new connection, because it doesn’t see the ActiveSync connection as being a Bluetooth connection, but I just declined to create a connection, and the ActiveSync connection started working – free Internet connection from anywhere in the house 
It actually turns out that after doing this once, I’ve then not needed to switch again – presumably, once Bluetooth is turned off, it knows to use the GPRS connection instead. So now, I have the device working exactly as I wanted it all along – if I open the ActiveSync connection, it uses that. If I don’t, it just uses GPRS. Free connection when I’m at home, GPRS anywhere else.
Switching to WiFi works just the same way – tap the WiFi button, and it will connect to whatever it finds. Certainly worked fine connecting to my parents’ network whilst visiting.
As a Phone
So – the big question – do I feel a complete idiot walking around talking into a PDA that I’m holding to the side of my head?
Well, do I?
Yes.
I do.
Sorry, but this device is a bit odd to use as a phone. It just feels too big and too wide, and you know it’s the same device you were just using as a PDA.
To be honest, it doesn’t actually bother me much. I use a PDA a lot, and only use a mobile phone a little, so I can deal with it being this way, but if you use a mobile phone quite a bit, and are wondering if it’s worth getting one with a bit more PDA about it, there’s probably better choices. The Treo might be worth the extra, or make do with a Windows Mobile SmartPhone – or just go with a high-end Nokia. If you mainly use your mobile phone as a way of connecting your PDA to the Internet, this could be ideal. Except in that case you’d already have a PDA, but this might be a decent upgrade 
The Phone Application
The phone functionality is actually just a little Windows Mobile application that runs when you press the green ‘handset up’ button. There’s no actual buttons, so the screen becomes a touchpad with big buttons. You can also go to a contact in the standard Contacts application (or in Pocket Informant if you have that) and dial from there.
It does feel like a bit of a taped-on afterthought, but it works ok. You can set speed-dials for your most used numbers, and you can get to them (along with recently-dialled numbers) using the ‘joystick’ controller, so most of the time you won’t need to use the keypad anyway, but if you mainly want a phone, get a phone.
Verdict
I’m pretty happy with this device – it does just what I want. I like having and using a PDA, and don’t get a lot of use out of my mobile phone, other than connecting the PDA to the Internet. With the M1500, I get exactly what I want – a very cheap way of getting a fairly well-spec’d PDA, and no need to carry a phone around too. If that sounds like you, then go for it. It’s not perfect, but at £50 it’s a bargain for a good PDA and a somewhat odd phone.
If you want a few more features in your phone, but you still mainly want a good phone, then I don’t think this is it. I’d suggest either the Treo, which looks like it integrates the phone a bit better, or getting a phone and a decent PDA. Either of these options will cost you more, but at least you won’t be seen walking around with a PDA stuck to the side of your head.
Update, After Almost Five Months
My opinion hasn’t changed much. I still think it’s a reasonable PDA for not much money, but not a very good phone.
The screen is very vulnerable, so you need to take a lot more care with it than you would with most phones.
I’ve actually stopped using Outlook recently, and without Outlook on the desktop, the syncing isn’t all that useful. I can still send it Word docs and such, but none of my contacts, tasks, etc are synced any more.
Occasionally it locks up, especially when hanging up a call, but not quite enough to be much of a problem to me. If I made more than one or two calls a day, it might get annoying.
M2000
The M2000 is similar to the M1500, but has a neat slide-out keyboard…
- M2000 Review on Thumbrella – Gary’s first impressions.
- M2000 Update – see what Gary thought after he’d been using it for a while.
Hi,
i’ve tried to get my SPVM1500 to work with both TOMTOM NAV5, and VIA Michelin, bit neither recognise my bluetooth GPS antenna… yet, when I run the BT GPS software, the SPV
seesthe GPS Unit, and all seems well.. its the NAC software that’s doesn’t seem to want to work.. Any ideas ?The phone is running OS version 3.11.1.167
Cheers Alun101
Hi,
just seen your old thread… I am having trouble with TOMTOM5 software on my SPV, and have been advised to upgrade to WM5… are you sure it will work, and what problems should I expect if I do it ?
Cheers,
Alun101
Hiya guys, I work for Orange and was just browsing this and thought I’d throw in what I know. The SPV M1500 is NOT wi-fi compatible for browsing the internet or making calls, although other operators versions may have been.The only WLAN/Wi-Fi enabled SPV is currentely the SPV M5000 if you want to browse the net. As for ringtones, I would recommend using WMA instead of WAV/MP3 – although the easiest way is of course to download directly from Orange World or other provider.
On another note, where Orange has told you that You won’t be able to load Windows Mobile 5 onto this, that’s a lie. I was at the training camp where a representative from Microsoft told us to tell people that! Is doable!!
Hi Dale,
Thanks for the extra info. The WiFi works just fine for web browsing, though – I’ve used it a number of times. It should probably be capable of making calls too, with Skype or similar, as long as Orange aren’t blocking Skype of VoIP traffic. I’ve not tried, but I’m pretty sure our friend Gary has used Skype on his M2000 over WiFi without any problems.
Yes indeed – much to the chagrin of my uber-tech-savvy friend who was trying to instill the benefits of Skype into me. When I told him that I first used VOIP 3 years ago and spoke direct to Jeff Pulver (google is your friend) he paled and shut up. Now he asks me what is new in the world of tech.
Thumbrella – Words to A Void
Little Feat Covers Annexe
Hi,
Recently bought
ViaMichelin Navigator 4satnav software, and a bluetooth GPS unit. After installing the software with the SPVM1500 connected for sync.. it installed ok. but… 1. The GPSINFO.EXE program works fine, captures the GPS unir through bluetooth and locks onto a multitude of satelites. so far so good. 2. When you run the satnav software and go thesetuptab, you select GPS setup, and it can’t find the GPS unit ?i’ve checked the bluetooth setup and it must be working because the SPV
seessats ok, so it looks like a software problem withVia, unless somebody else has had similar probs.. any ideas ?Guys, Just found this thread. I’ve had the spv1500 for about a year on Orange. I use it for a lot of calls with voice dialling via Voice Command, also wifi web browsing and Skype. I use Hitchhiker software to find wifi access and regularly use gprs for both web browsing and to get traffic updates when running tomtom (v5) satnav connected to the GPS via bluetooth. It is a great device, but it would not be as useful without add-on software. For the record, I also use pocket mirror pro by Chapura to synchronise with multiple contact lists, but can not find a decent way of synchronising with multiple outlook inboxs
Hi everyone I’ve just found you too. Been looking for something to help me with my bluespoon which pairs but then will not connect. Apparently the next thing to try is updating the software but I can’t find anything anywhere, so far. Does anyone know where I can get hold of updates? Thanks in advance
Hi Tim,
I’m having more and more problems with mine rebooting itself recently, but I never run Messenger. My reboots usually seem to be related to turning wireless connections on or off.
I’m not aware of any different software versions – nothing much has changed with Windows Mobile 2003 since it came out – but I’m no expert on these things.
Hi
Ive had an SPV1500 for about 8 months now the first one i had proved to be great flying through all programmes including the internet and MSN Messenger but unfortunately i sat on it and the screen broke. I got a new one and since ten have had a total of 5 SPV1500 handsets from Orange as they keep locking freezing and going very slow. I WANT MY FIRST ONE BACK has anyone heard that the earlier ones had a different software package? It seems that MSN Messenger is the cause of the freeze ups but orange say they dont deal with MSN although they sell the phone stating its part of the package.
Hi
Thanks for that although doesnt help a great deal its worth noting u have similar problems. Im really getting hacked off with the whole phone it just acts weird and makes no sense think im going to ask them for an early upgrade.
[...] Our PDA and phone expenditure has been pretty much zero for quite a while now. I bought an iPaq hx4700 when they first came out, and used it for quite a while. When I was at home and Sam was out at work, though, I gave it to her – her need was greater than mine, and I had a tablet PC to use around the house. For quite a while now, she’s been using that in conjunction with a Nokia 6111 phone, and I’ve been using my Orange SPV M1500. [...]
I brother had Orange SPV M1500 but lost the software CD which comes with PDA and now I cant connect it with my PC can any one help me to get one.
I am waiting for your reply.
Thanks in advance if you can help.
My SPV M 1500 is using windows mobile 2003 second edition version 4.21.1088
Can I upgrade my SPV M1500 to mobile 5.
Please tell.
No, not an spv m1500, but a spv m2000 with a sliding keyboard thingy. there is a great review here
which I found after my inner and outer geek’s interest was piqued by your excellent piece. I’ll keep you posted (after I blog it myself, of course!) http://www.thumbrella.blogspot.com http://www.featcovers.com
Now that does look nice. Quite similar to the M1500, but the addition of the keyboard should be a big help for text entry.
yes, it seems easy to enter text on the keyboard as well as using the transcript function – it recognised most of my test words straight away. I’m having trouble getting the GRPS not to come on – i was at College in Stockton tonight where I know they have wifi – i got a wifi connection, but when i tried to connect to the ‘net, it opened up the grps connection. When you talk about Active Sync, what exactly do you mean? I thought Active Sync was simply the way to synchronise data between the SPV and the desktop PC. Guess I could always RTFM! – Reply by mail, if you don’t wanna clog these comments. http://www.thumbrella.blogspot.com http://www.featcovers.com
Hi Gary – sorry about your comment getting eaten again – I think we need to have some words with the spam filter. It’s a bit too hungry.
Yes, ActiveSync is just the syncing software, but when the device is connected by ActiveSync (in the cradle, or syncing over Bluetooth) it gets an Internet connection through the host PC.
At first, I couldn’t get it to use that connection, but the “Wireless Manager” program seems to switch between things nicely. You should be able to go into this, and just tap the WiFi button to change the default connection. You might have to change it back when you’re done, but it might just switch itself back once there’s no WiFi.
(Oh, and I’m fine with clogging the comments – the discussion is just as likely to be useful to someone as the review.)
Gotcha. So you mean I just went down the street and splashed out £70 for a new wireless router/modem to enable me to surf wirelessly through the house, (yup, I really did!) when all I really needed to do was dust off the bluetooth adapter I picked up on ebay 2 years ago for a fiver (I knew that would come in handy!), plug that in, sync away at no cost to myself? Bummer! http://www.thumbrella.blogspot.com http://www.featcovers.com
Yes, pretty much. Bluetooth doesn’t have much range, though (cheap USB things might only be 10ft range, even without any walls in the way), and WiFi is faster, so it’s not really a waste. We can’t afford a WiFi thingy at the moment, so Bluetooth has to do. Works well enough for browsing from the, er, bathroom, though
I thought you just had dial up down at Pog Cottage? http://www.thumbrella.blogspot.com http://www.featcovers.com
No reason we couldn’t use WiFi for the internal network, though, still.
Just a reminder that I did a follow up post to my initial review – I’m not clever enough to post a link to that exact post here – but it was sometime in February – check the archives cheers! Gary ‘Guitar’ Grainger Thumbrella – Words to A Void Little Feat Covers Annexe
Blind Lemon Grainger’s SPV Update
Sam Harris (Coming April ’06 – Re-branding!) Creative Wanderer and Wonderer You’ll have to excuse me, it’s the hormones.
Hi,
I’ve just taken delivery of an Orange SPV M1500, and like yours it did not have any voice dial software… although the manual says it can, orange says it cant use voice dialing ?
Do you know, or have you had the chance to load any software on yourself yet ? I am looking to buy or download a decent voice recognition package that allows voice commands over a bluetooth headset. any ideas ?
I’ve seen packages available from both Microsoft and Fonix.. as well as a couple of other ones.
Hope you can help,
Alun101 bristol
Hi Alun101,
I’ve not actually tried anything like that – I’m mainly using it as a PDA – it’s just handy for me that I don’t need to carry a phone too.
I had to do a hard reset a while ago when it started playing up, and tried not to put much software back on it at all, and I think I’m going to have to reset it again soon – it won’t connect GPRS now until I put it in flight mode, then back out again. Every few calls I make, I have to soft reset, too.
It’s not the best PDA around, and I don’t think it’s a very good phone, but as a cheap way of getting a PDA and avoiding carrying a phone too, it’s not bad.
Had a question,wanted to know if i wanted to connect to a projector whatkind of a cable would i need as in what in to what out(sorry for the clueless verbage),did not know what the phone port is called
Hi,
Pocket PCs don’t have any sort of VGA output, so there’s nothing to plug a projector in to. I do remember reading about a software/hardware combination you could get for the Palm, that plugged into the SD card slot, and ran software that could output a Powerpoint file to a projector through the special adaptor, but I don’t think it was cheap, and I’ve no idea if it was ever available for the Pocket PC.
There’s certainly nothing you could do with just a cable.
can u view pdf’s on this phone?
Yes – it comes with ClearVue PDF viewer, which will view most PDFs ok, but has trouble with anything complex. You can also download Adobe’s own viewer for Windows Mobile, which does a better job for more complex files.
I’ve often wondered about putting the phone into “speaker” mode – surely it can be done?
Thumbrella – Words to A Void
Little Feat Covers Annexe
Certainly can on mine – you just press and hold the green ‘handset up’ button for a second or two whilst on a call. Same again to switch it back off.
hi, is it possible to change the ringtone to mp3 music track instead of the boring ones the have on there at the moment, cheers
I haven’t tried adding a ringtone – I like boring ones. Sam wrote a post about adding your own ringtone to the C500 – it might work in a similar way to that. If so, it’s a matter of converting the MP3 to a .wav file, and sticking it in the right folder.
You can change it go to file browser and than in windows folder there you will get rings folder just paste the mp3 file in that folder now you can change your ring tone to mp3 one instead of boring once.