Nokia 6600 killer? MS Smartphone 2003 - Orange SPV E200 (Qtec 8080)

[steinje]

http://msmobiles.com/news.php/1585.html

Compare with Nokia 6600:
http://msmobiles.com/news.php/1566.html

What do you think?

[cali0028]

good links

[Dynamoo]

It's really a question of Symbian vs Windows and in my view Symbian is the best OS and feature set.

However, the SPV E200 is really unexciting, whereas the Nokia 6600 is quite sexy. Looks count for a lot in the mobile market and the SPV E200 doesn't have them.

From http://www.mobilegazette.com/orange-spv-e200.htm

There's nothing much wrong with the SPV E200 in technical terms, but it really does look like Orange missed the boat in design terms, as the SPV E200 is really a little dull..

and http://www.mobilegazette.com/nokia-6600.htm

Indeed, for some reason the overall look reminds us of Sophie Dahl.. slightly wide-bodied but very pretty

However.. take a nice looking phone like the Motorola MPx200 or Voq Professional and I think Windows looks a better bet. In particular, I think the Voq Professional is one of the cleverest phones in the pipeline with the neat keypad. The Voq was feature on MobileBurn last month (http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=491)

[Michael]

I've had some friends play with the voq, and they said it feels like a piece of junk. very cheap feeling, especially the keyboard. And as you might guess, hard to hold and type due to being unbalanced.

[Dynamoo]

Shucks.. that's the advantage of hands-on testing I guess :)

Probably Nokia have the right idea, either go for a full-blown keyboard like the 68xx series or Communicator or ditch it altogether like the 7700. The P900 does the job well too, but really I can't see the attraction in any of the Windows-based phones, especially not since you've blown away the Voq! :rolleyes:

[Claudius]

Originally posted by steinje
Compare with Nokia 6600:
http://msmobiles.com/news.php/1566.html


msmobiles say the SPV wins but this is not a fair comparison. msmobiles is a site geared towards SPV phones, MS smartphones and such, so I don't see them being very objective.

[RobP]

msmobiles is very much biased towards the MS smartphone OS. I notice in the comparison between SPV E100 and Nokia 6600 he only picked out the bits that were in favour of the E100 from Pagemakers' post.

No mention of the fact that the battery life is awful on the E100, or that the OS is buggy and slow...

[jolo]

The guy who runs MSMobiles used to work at Nokia - apparently he holds a grudge against Nokia. Sometimes some of the comments on the site are rather amusing.

[Dynamoo]

Well, if Windows Smartphone is so great, where are there so few takers?

Personally I think the problem is a fundamental one - all the handheld versions of Windows to date have been power hungry, slow memory hogs and although the interface is pretty and easy to use, there's no escaping that this is written by a company famous for its bloatware (e.g. Windows XP). Symbian is written for handhelds and scaled up to add features.. basically, it's easier to add features to an efficient OS than it is to try to make an overblown OS more mobile friendly.

Don't forget the David vs Goliath legal case between Sendo and Microsoft. Microsoft have a habit of losing these cases and being shown up to be gross violators of other's intellectual property. Microsoft recently lost a case about IP incorporated into Internet Explorer and as a result are going to have to do a major rewrite.. this is always the danger with the Windows Smartphone platform for any company that invests heavily in it.

[RobP]

The SPV E200 is meant to be a lot faster, someone commented that they didn't see the egg-timer (animated coloured circle thingy) once in their use of the phone!

Only problem is the phone looks pretty much identical to the SPV, which wasn't exactly inspiring. And I would expect that Microsoft have probably cured all the bugs from the previous phones and just replaced them with new ones!

I think it's a different philosophy; the smartphone OS and phone is meant as an extension of your desktop PC, while the Symbian OS is a more independent beast. For example, I can only access some options of the calendar, to-do and contacts list on my SPV by using Outlook on my desktop!

I'm still undecided as to what to go with next. I was looking at a 6600 but I'm a bit cautious now. SPV E200 sounds very good but I feel like having a change. P900 looks very sexy but expensive, and I only want basic calendar and to-do functions.

And I still haven't seen a comparison between the 3650/7650/6600 and P800/P900 which tells me what "PDA things" the SE phone can do over and above the Nokia phones. Anyone for a URL?

Edit: Look around and the only differences I can find are that the SE phones have a touchscreen and more memory. So I guess it's down to how much information you reckon you will be entering into your phone? For me, not a lot...

[hkhawk]

If the Siemens SX1 ever comes out that will be the 6600 killer! Same features and series 60 but it looks a lot smaller and cooler. Doesn't look as plastic either and I bet it won't be much more expensive, probably cheaper than an overpriced Nokia.

[lfchristian]

well i haven't used the sx1 yet, but i strongly disagree that it will be a 6600 killer. first the size difference is minimal not huge as you stated. in fact the 6600 is shorter in length than the sx1. as for price i was able to get my 6600 the first week it was released and it was $500USD and the prices i am seeing advertised for the sx1 are in the $800USD and up. as for a plastic look, other than the keypad on the sx1, the rest of that phone is plastic. the nokia 6600 has a really solid feel to it, very substantial. and speaking of the keypad layout, the sx1 will definitely have to prove that that side layout will work comfortably with a lot of consumers before it becomes mainstream, if ever. in my opinion the only thing the sx1 has that the 6600 doesn't is that it has stereo.

[Dynamoo]

Well.. there is no perfect phone for everybody and I guess this is why we have a choice :)

The Windows based phones have an advantage in corporates, especially those who already use Windows CE PDAs.

The P900 is ideal for someone who wants a PDA first and a phone second. There are lots of good SE phones that are more conventional.

The Nokia 6600 is great for someone who wants a phone first, but also wants good media support. Compare that with the 7700 where the priorities are reversed.

However, I still think the SPV e200 is pretty weak. Not least because it's tied down to one network, and corporates aren't going to switch mobile providers just for something like this.

[hkhawk]

Hey, the SX1 is the same length as the 6600 but less wide and a lot less thick too (19mm vs. 24mm -- the thickness being the major short coming of the 6600 in my eyes). I agree they are almost the same size but the SX1 is smaller, lighter and has the same features of the 6600 PLUS stereo sound, fm radio, and built-in mp3 player. Also, I just said it didn't look AS plastic. To me, the 6600 looks cheap, I like the looks of the SX1 much better. The 6600 looks too much like one of those cheap 3300 series models (plastic and fat around the middle).

http://www.nokiausa.com/images/phn/126x126/ph_3395_lrg_trans.gif

I think the 6600 is a good phone, I just think the SX1 is better and a more impressive piece of engineering. The new high-end Nokia phones are just too bulky for what they offer.

Oh yeah, and you can change the SX1 memory card without turning off the phone (or removing the back panel and battery for that matter). Why does Nokia insist on doing that. Do they think we'll lose our cards otherwise. The N-Gage mem. card system is insane, that's how to lose or break the whole battery or back panel. Sorry to be a pain but I just don't understand why Nokia didn't make what I'm sure is a good phone better. I think Siemens has managed this. The SX1 has EXACTLY the same features and more in a smaller package. It's not a huge difference, but it's enough when you're talking about something you carry around in your pocket.

[lfchristian]

hhawk - you've made several good points there and when all comes down to it personal taste is what will determine the popularity of each phone.
but, you didn't mention the vertical layout of the keypad on the sx1. i will definitely try that phone out when it is released. i can't help but think that is going to hurt the sx1.

[hkhawk]

Yeah, I agree, I generally dislike weird keypads. Hopefully, when the technology is more mature they can make a clamshell Series 60. That way, the keypad can be as big as the screen!

[Michael]

Sx1 keypad is horrible. Impossible to dial one handed.

I appreciate their trying something different, but that shouldn't have made it past the user studies.

[lfchristian]

michael - so you've had the opportunity to use the sx1? i really don't understand the theory behind the design. looking at that phone, you can see that there is all kinds of room below the screen for the keypad. instead they wasted the space by using it for those 6 selection type keys. it really is a shame, since the features on the sx1 are very nice.