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Orange SPV C500: a first look

Sandra Vogel ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 11 Jun 2004

Dubbed ‘the world’s smallest smartphone’ by Orange, the C500 weighs 100g and has an overall size of 46mm wide by 108mm deep by 18mm high. This is certainly small, undercutting the company’s other smartphone the SPV E200, which comes in at 120g and measures 48.7mm by 116.7mm by 23.3mm. The differences are not huge, but the reduction in size may help its pocketability.

Orange's SPV C500 will run Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Smartphones.

The operating system is Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Smartphones, which was announced in March but has yet to make an appearance in a retail device. This updated operating system adds a number of capabilities to those found in the first edition, including support for varying screen sizes and orientations, and the ability to customise the home screen. Orange has taken advantage of these features to offer a new home screen design with icons arranged vertically.

Orange's new home screen design for the SPV C500 has icons arranged vertically.

The C500 phone will be tri-band and incorporate 64MB of internal memory plus a mini-SD card slot for expansion. Battery life is expected to be in the range of 8 hours talktime, and up to 4 days on standby. In addition, the C500 includes Bluetooth and has a built-in digital camera.

The SPV C500 joins Orange’s Signature range, which brings a number of customised services, including Orange Backup and Orange Update -- both 'over-the-air' services. The emphasis on ease of use in the Signature range helps Orange drive up its average revenue per user. The SPV E200 (running on Windows Mobile Smartphone software) and Treo 600 (running on the Palm operating system), both exclusive to Orange and in the Signature range, deliver more than double the company’s average monthly revenue per user for non-Signature phones of 50 euros.

The SPV C500 will be available, later this summer, in eight European countries -- UK, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Pricing is not available at the present time.

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