Orange has updated its SPV range of high-end mobiles by releasing a new smartphone and a connected PDA. The SPV C500 smartphone has a similar feature list to its predecessor, the SPV E200, namely Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone and applications such as Pocket Explorer and Outlook. It has the E200's VGA camera and its Bluetooth facility. The key difference is that the C500 is smaller and has a faster processor. The only mis-step is the awkward switch that controls the phone's menus.
The connected SPV M1000 PDA (£350 with a contract), is almost identical to the XDA II from rival network O2. The key difference is that the M1000 doesn't share that model's excellent secondary interface to network services. With its superb, large 64K-colour screen, fast processor and 128MB of storage, the SPV M1000 is one of the best specified mobile devices available. Its only real weaknesses are its bulk and the fact that Pocket Explorer is no match for Opera.
