Advantages: everything you will ever need from a phone and pda
Disadvantages: might be heavy for some users

...******* Introduction ******** I am what you would call a bit of a gadget freak from satnav to pdas and mini wireless cameras,gadgets have always appealed to me an the orange SPV range as always been one of my favourite range of products.the introduction of the orange spv m3100 is by far one of the best phone/pda combos i have had the pleasure to own,not only does it perform well it looks absolutely fantastic and is sure to turn a few heads.I will attempt to give a personal review that will help to guide you in making an informed decision on whether you think this is the product for you. ********Technical Specifications******* ***Connectivity *** 3G, EDGE and GPRS HSDPA ready: compliant with future network upgrades to allow for 1.8Mbps downloads,WiFi 802.11b,Quad band (GSM),tri band (3G),IrDA, USB 1.1 and Bluetooth® 2... Read review

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Advantages: WIFI, External Memory Slot, Full Keyboard
Disadvantages: Internet button is easily pressed...

...I've been using the SPV range of phones and PDA's since the original was launched by orange. They are all made by the same Thaiwanese company, and the specs and quality have just gotten better with every new release. The M3100 is roughly the same size as it's predecessor the M500, but somehow they've managed to cram a full keyboard into the design too. Boasting a 400mhz Processor and 64 MB of Ram, it offers more than enough umph to run the most demanding pocket PC applications. Orange have tinkered with the design of the home screen, which is a vast improvement on the built in windows layout, your main program categories have been moved to the side of the screen, so you can access most of the important features on the phone within 2 button presses using the jog dial. The phone performs very well, and voice quality has... Read review

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Advantages: A good size Pda Phone
Disadvantages: Using the phone part can be tricky!

...I have been a big fan of the spv range for quite sometime. Seemless connection via activsync to outlook means you can sync your contacts, e-mail and diary within minutes of getting it out the box. It is a much better size to fit in hand and doesn't feel like a brick which many other pda phones in its class can feel like. The sliding keyboard is a good addition. Good things about the phone is bright screen, a bit easier to make calls and you don't need two hands. Wide range of Pocket PC aps you can load onto it. Bluetooth, Wifi and 3g also mean it can be used a a pocket web brouser. I've even used it with skype (VIOP) and made a few voice calls over the internet connection. Bad things! Can fall over if you are running more then one app! Not so great if you want to put some sat nav software on it. Reciving calls is greatly... Read review

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Advantages: screen estate, connectivity, touchscreen
Disadvantages: bluetooth settings, slow changing between apps

...Got this on contract with Orange. Mostly, it has been a good phone, offering all the smartphone capabilities I need - wi-fi, Skype, Word, PDF etc BUT (-) I am now on my second handset as after 8 months or so, the first one started to freeze up continuously and I couldn't make or answer phone calls, or do anything with it as all I could see was a white screen. This wasn't always solved by rebooting so it went back. The second one occasionally exhibits the same malfunction as well as being very slow to move from one application to another. I thought it might be a firmware problem as I got the phone when it was very new on the market, but with it happening with the second handset too, I'm not so sure it has been resolved. Another minus is that it seems very difficult to change the default settings for bluetoothed files eg they go... Read review

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Advantages: Phone, PDA with keyboard, Camera, Camcorder, SatNav capable, Wifi, Touchscreen, MP3 Player, Video Call…
Disadvantages: The name is boring

...‘civirazzi’ out there) Bad Points: 1) Orange call it SPV M3100? It sounds like a name given to a contagious virus; I like HTC Hermes which a competitor called it but that still doesn’t conjure up the magnificence that this is. 2) Needed to get a 2gb microsd card – but they are so cheap nowadays. A 2gb card gives you over 2 hours of video and that’s with having all my tomtom software and maps on it. [3) I like to physically touch the screen so I have to wipe my fingerprints off it all the time – I suppose this isn’t really a fault of the machine]. Conclusion I love this multivice and although it deserves to be in everyone’s hands as it does so much I hope it doesn’t (I like being of the select few to have this dark shimmering technological beauty).... Read review

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Advantages: Easy to use, A nice selection of software
Disadvantages: Heavy and Bulky, sometimes stops for a second or two, poor battery life

.... The keypad isn't too easy to use but the amount of features on the phone isn't anything to complain about and I'm sure it'd make a nice phone for someone who would like to combine a PDA system into a phone. The Phone does really need to be charged every night though, as the backlight especially seems to drain the battery like nothing i've seen before, but I have had the phone running for 2 days on standby before. Things to check out: www.orangesp.co.uk - A good resource for unlocking the SPV as well as a supplier of ringtones, videos and themes for the SPV www.microsoft.co.uk/Smartphone - Microsoft's official Smartphone site. www.orange.co.uk - Orange official site. xetranet.free.fr/xbar2/ - Xbar 2 utility http://www.surrealservices.dsl.pipex.com/gnuboy.html - GNUboy, Gameboy emulator for Smartphone... Read review

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Advantages: Features.
Disadvantages: Microsoft!

...Well, I'd hate to sum up the review in the title section, but it does serve well as an indication of what I would like to say about this phone. Firstly it does everything under the sun. It lies somewhere between a PDA and mobile phone, with (maybe unfortunately) the emphasis higher on the PDA functions. To be brief in the disection of it's features (which you can peruse at length on the Orange website...) the SPV incorporates: A camera built in MP3 64,000 colour display internet instant messaging speakerphone pocket internet explorer windows media player triband wap gprs infra-red vibrating alert email client voice memo predictive text downloadable games SD (secure digital) memory cards Well, there you are! But a list of features gets you no closer to discovering... Read review

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Advantages: Digital camera/Video Camera, Windows Smartphone 2003 operating system, Bluetooth
Disadvantages: Very poor battery life, have to buy SD/MMC card

...and, my favorite, watching videos. With a big enough SD card (a costly extra) you are able to put whole movies on it and watch it on the move. (Or even on the plane as you can switch the radio signal off and just use the SPV as a PDA) Camera The camera can be set to different resolutions - 160x120, 320x240 and 640x480. The camera takes good pictures but you need to find the right ambience setting for it - as using "dim" or "daylight" when not needed will make the phone have a green or orange tint to it. The video capture is a great bonus but is not of very good quality. (However, the camera on the Nokia 6600 is MUCH better and even the video capture is quite good.) Programs There are many programs that you are able to download to your phone - whether by GPRS or to your PC. This allows you to choose for a huge variety of games... Read review

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Advantages: Email, camera, music player, wireless
Disadvantages: Takes ages to boot, sometimes very buggy, poor email integration.

...I got this phone a few months ago, and having been a regular SPV user, i was thinking that going for a more PDA based device would be a logical step forward, especially with the let down of the SPV C600. I got a free upgrade for this phone, so straight off, I guess you could say it was good value for money. However i was forced into an 18 month contract, this was mostly due to the tariff i chose more than the phone i think. The phone itself is a nice size, not too bulky, but small enough for a jacket pocket or even a decent sized pocket in a pair of jeans, it comes supplied with all sorts of goodies int he box, handsfree, proper 3,5" headphone adapter, a 512meg SD card, spaer stylii and a belt-clip case. Good start i thought. Upon booting the phone for the first time, i had no troubles with getting it to sync with my Outlook... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent Introduction to PDA's - if you've not had one before.
Disadvantages: Poor battery Life

...I've just upgraded to the SPV M600 - it's the first non Nokia phone I've had and it was something of a struggle to get my head around all of the features and to get used to the somewhat different way of doing things. I won't try to list all of the features- if you've had plenty of features on your phone before, suffice to say it's got most of them, although I was disconcerted at first to find no radio, stopwatch,countdown timer etc, which I had found very useful on my old phone. However, this is where the different way of doing things comes in - many features are available for purchase as extra programmes to be run via the pocket PC software, which forms the basic operating system for the PDA function of the phone. Alternatively, you can download and install Java Midlets - if you can find one that works.... To be fair, this model... Read review

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