Overnight, I read an article on MSMobiles.COM entitled "STOP!!! Do not buy Orange SPV E200 !!! Motorola MPx200 may be better choice for you". An interesting choice of title, and one which you'd expect to have backed up by a serious article giving excellent reasons. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case.
Before I go on, I do read MSMobiles.com on a regular basis, and as a rule they are an excellent source of news and opinions. Unfortunately this time I feel they haven't considered their article fully before committing to it.
The article targets Orange's SPV e200, but bear in mind that this is the same phone as the QTek 8080, O2 XPhone, and PPCW.NET iMate Smartphone. Their claim is that the phone has serious problems for the following reasons:
- High price compared to Motorola MPx200
Motorola have an aggressive pricing policy - so what? Consumers vote with their wallet anyway - and it depends on the features you want. Motorola also have more production capacity, given that they are probably able to use their existing production facilities - rather than building from scratch like HTC must have had to do (and they have to then recover the cost) ... Mobile phones started out much more expensive than they are now, and much of this was recovery in the investment for both production of the phone, and of building the infrastructure. Things are better now, but for newcomers like HTC, the same type of problem will confront them as did Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, and everyone else. Competition with "real" mobile phone companies producing Smartphones will gradually shake things up with HTC phone pricing.
- Bluetooth "discoverable" mode causes the battery to lose considerable power
Not a valid comparison with the MPx200, given that it doesn't offer Bluetooth. We know already that the previous phone had relatively poor battery life. While we can hope that this improves, experience tells us that it may not. Instead, hope for an extended battery - perhaps from another supplier. Additionally, the fault for flaws like this primarily lie with HTC - the manufacturer- and Microsoft. Not Orange. In the meantime, turn off discoverable mode ... it'll help you avoid being "Blue-jacked" anyway. This is something you would mention in a review, and you'd mark it down for this reason. Otherwise, it's not that big a deal, on the surface.
- GPRS timed disconnect doesn't work (it just stays on)
I'm given to understand that this is the design of Windows Mobile 2003. It certainly occurs on my XDA with a WM2003 ROM, and Microsoft have been making a lot of noise about this feature. Given that people previously complained about GPRS being disconnected, it's obvious that this is an attempt to rectify the complaint. There's no pleasing some, but certainly the ability to manually disconnect (and perhaps to set a timed disconnect) should still be given. I will give them this - not having seen the phone in person, it's hard to comment if this is a feature offered that does not work. In this case, it would be a fair complaint (but not a showstopper).
- MSN Messenger doesn't work in France
Whose fault is that? The GPRS provider? The ROM manufacturer? MSN? Microsoft's Windows Mobile development team? Where's the additional information? If you were advising people in France not to buy this phone for this reason, perhaps that would be fair. Lots of people aren't in France though...
- UK version has strange shortcuts to what looks like debug applications, and a missing shortcut to IA Space Maker
I don't know that it's necessarily a missing shortcut. We've seen previously with the XDA (in the WM2003 ROMs) that there are often applications included in ROM as "hidden" extras. Sort of like an easter egg - it may be by design. Strange shortcuts are not necessarily a reason not to buy a phone, either.
- Orange shops not giving people extra SD cards with extra content as promised
That's a problem to take up with the retail shop, or the head company. Not a reason to tell people not to buy the phone (write an article about why it's not happening!)...
- Application lock prevents installation of some home screens
The phone is locked by design. If it prevents installation of some home screen, maybe there's a good reason - or maybe the home screen is incompatible with WM2003. More detail would be good. Alternatively, wait for the unlocked QTek 8080, O2 XPhone, or (I believe) iMate Smartphone. Is it definitely due to the application lock?
- Orange Help is hidden in submenu
"Many people returned old models of SPV because it was too complicated" - okay, fine. Could also mean they didn't read their manuals. Nonetheless, this is a problem which occurs in the "normal" mobile phone world too.
- Built in camera of poorer quality than its predecessor's snap-on camera
Yeah, that's a pain. Is it a showstopper? No. I'd take a drop in quality to avoid having to carry around my QTek 7070's snap-on camera. And I certainly don't rely on it as my main camera - I have a digital camera for shots I want to be of a good quality.
- Slow processor compared to MiTac phones
I thought this was a comparison with the Motorola?!?! In any case, the Motorola also has a 200Mhz processor. It's possible, you know, that HTC consider that the WM2003 version of Smartphone makes better use of the processor - so they kept the same speed. Or they may wish to do a "high-end" followup, such as that which occurs in the iPaq world. It's ridiculous to suggest that this will affect the ability for problems to be fixed. O2 Asia tried to make similar claims with their refusal to update the O2 XDA to Windows Mobile 2003. That was proven wrong very quickly.
- Very small number of Bluetooth profiles
It's a problem also in the XDA II, apparently. Yeah, that's a pain. It's also more than they had before with no Bluetooth. And if enough people asked, it's not unreasonable to think that they may update this (or someone might find a way to update this anyway). I really only want to use a Bluetooth headset at this stage anyway. Some examples of what else you'd like to do with the phone would be good! And, as mentioned, the Motorola doesn't have Bluetooth at all...
- Bluetooth dialup profile only allows you to connect your PC to the Internet - you cannot connect to the Internet using another phone via Bluetooth
Reality check - it's a phone. Maybe that's an important feature on an iPAQ, but you have built-in Internet access on this phone. Come on. Be serious. This is just a ridiculous "flaw" to bring up.
- ActiveSync over Bluetooth not stable or reliable
Fine. You still have infrared, USB, or serial. And they are stable and reliable. The Motorola MPx200 only offers these ... Yeah, you might want to do it. If it was the only way, I would be more concerned. But it's not, and I'm not.
So now we come to the most ridiculous part of the article. A photo of two Orange employees (Nick Balderson and Andrew Thomas). The suggestion that Andrew would be sacked by Nick if he read the article is ridiculous and potentially defamatory. It's suggesting that he's responsible for these flaws. Many of the flaws mentioned - where they are flaws - are more likely to be HTC's fault. Get off the guy's back...
I respect MSMobiles as a source of news and reviews. I choose to view this biased and bizarrely focused article as a momentary lapse into faulty logic. It's like suggesting not to buy a Holden Commodore because it costs more than a Hyundai Getz, and doesn't offer a built-in MP3 player, doesn't have a hatch, costs more in fuel, and has a few minor flaws. Yes, it's a different world, but the logic employed in the article is very odd.
I won't deny that there may be some problems with the phone. I simply take exception at such a poorly considered article which will receive far more attention that it deserves. I think that the MPx200 is going to be a good phone, but at the same time it is let down by the features it lacks. I worry about the intent behind this article, because it's damaging to Orange for very little reason.
Come on guys .. wake up and get back to your usual standard!
[UPDATE: The article appears to have been removed from MSMobiles. Nonetheless, this article addresses the points mentioned, and I have saved a copy just in case]