Smartphone Kudos....

My writeup earlier this week on accessing Sirius Satellite Radio content via an Internet-connected Windows Smartphone reminded me that I was remiss in providing more general feedback on my Audiovox SMT5600 (aka the 'Scoblephone' and the Orange SPV C500, also referred to as the Typhoon by developer HTC, although unlike these earlier variants the SMT5600 runs the Second Edition of Windows Smartphone 2003). Although this review has taken longer to publish than I would have liked, it's still relevant; according to DealNews, the SMT5600 is still available for $0 after rebate from Cingular.

However, the SMT5600's descendents are also in production. The HTC Hurricane (also known as the HTC Robbie, and as the Orange SPV C550) joins the SMT5600 in running Windows Smartphone 2003SE, drops the SMT5600's rocker button in favour of a more conventional joystick control, bumps up the 2.2" diagonal screen resolution from 176×220 pixels to 240×320 pixels and the RAM from 32MBytes to 64 MBytes, migrates from a Texas Instruments 200 MHz OMAP 730 CPU to the 200 MHz OMAP 750, and increases the camera resolution from VGA (640×480) to 1 Mpixel. The follow-on HTC Faraday (Orange SPV C600, and Cingular 2125) and Tornado (Faraday plus Wi-Fi) build on the Hurricane foundation with support for both GPRS and higher-speed EDGE data services, along with a migration to TI's 200 MHz OMAP 850 and the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.

One very important qualifier before I continue; my SMT5600 was originally offered by AT&T Wireless (prior to their acquisition by Cingular). I bought it brand-new off Ebay, got it unlocked by a third party, and am running it on T-Mobile (which doesn't officially sanction its use). My hands-on feedback will naturally reflect my opinions both on the phone and on my GSM provider; I'll try to make it clear when the SMT5600's stumbles are a reflection of its non-sanctioned status.

Bottom line: this is a feature-rich and easily tote-able phone with good standby and operating battery life (specifically when doing phone-as-phone tasks, and when in an area with strong GSM reception). I love having my entire Outlook contact, calendar and task databases at my fingertips, and being so easily able to keep them up-to-date. The phone's Windows CE operating system foundation, in combination with its abundant RAM and speedy ARM-based processor, allows it to smoothly multi-task among multiple concurrent-running applications. And a plethora of applications are available, in both free and low-cost variants. Programs I've got installed on my SMT5600, beyond those that came bundled with it, include:

• Connected Bits' Weather
• Ilium Software's NewsBreak
• Lawrence Patricio's Playlist Manager
• Leopoldo Bueno Castillo's Sci Calc and TankZone
• Nomad Electronics' Pocket Stars
• Omega One Software's Battery Pack Pro
• Opera Software's Mobile Browser (note, I haven't yet tried the free Opera Mini Browser, either on the SMT5600 or on my Java-capable Samsung SPH-A660 phone)
• PocketMind's PocketMusic Player
• Ray Vegafria's RJV Clock
• Resco's Explorer 2003
• Romeo Jimenez's Unit Converter
• SBSH Mobile Software's Papyrus
• Shape Services' IM+
• SiriusWM5
• Sprite Software's Backup for Smartphones
• Tweaks2K2, and
• Westtek's ClearVue Suite

Several of the programs listed above are Internet-centric, a fact which makes my T-Mobile $20/month unlimited data plan very attractive. It'd be even more attractive if the phone supported EDGE or some other higher-speed data service, but I'll get to that in a bit. And I got really excited when I started hearing about Spectec's miniSD Wi-Fi module mid-last year. Unfortunately, its longer-than-normal form factor, coupled with the necessity for an SDIO-compatible interface in order to use it, means it won't work with the SMT5600's under-battery miniSD slot.

Continued with '….Caveats….'….