The Audiovox SMT 5600 (aka the C500) arrives in the States
By Peter Rojas 
posted October 12th 2004 9:39AM
posted October 12th 2004 9:39AM
For reasons that are WAY too complicated to get into (it's also known as the C500, the i-Mate Smartphone 3, the Qtek
8010, and the Dopod 565, but here in the States it's known as the Audiovox SMT 5600) AT&T Wireless has just started
offering it for $199.99 with a two-year contract, $319.99 without. No matter what it's called, at just 4.24 x 1.82 x
0.69 inches in size the SMT 5600 is the world's smallest cellphone running on Microsoft's Smartphone operating system
and yet it still has a 2.2-inch, 176 x 220 pixel LCD screen, Bluetooth, a VGA quality digital camera, and a mini
SD card slot.
[Thanks, Naresh and Saquib]
The problem with this phone is that AT&T requires that you activate a data plan. You cannot buy this phone without a data plan. And you can't cancel the data service after buying the phone (AT&T rep told me this). Worst of all, this phone can't be used in a shared minutes plan because of the data plan requirement.
I want this phone for Outlook sync, bluetooth, and MP3 capabilities. Not data!
Maybe I'm just stuck in the stone age, but I don't care about having data access on my phone, and I certainly want the flexibility the cancel the plan if I don't like the data service.
Why does AT&T stink so much?! I can't wait until Cingular absorbs them. I'd go to Cingular right now, but they don't offer service in my state.
I've posted some comments about my experience with the phone on our weblogs. Short review, it's a near perfect Smartphone.
http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/gartenberg/archives/003897.html
just got off the phone with ATT. This phone will be in stores in Atlanta at all locations on Thursday Oct. 14th - currently they have demos phones to try out.
just got off the phone with ATT. This phone will be in stores in Atlanta at all locations on Thursday Oct. 14th - currently they have demos phones to try out.
Can anyone comment on whether the Audiovox SMT 5600 syncs with the Mac OS 10 Address Book and iCal (or any other Mac apps, for that matter)?
just ordered one from at&t over the phone. Rep hadn't heard of it, but was able to find the info...eventually.
C500 available free from Orange on a 25 a month contract which includes 120 minutes and 240 SMS texts. Its very rare that the UK gets a better deal than the US??
I've been waiting for the mpx220, but if this is anywhere close to how it's described I can't figure out why I'd pay an extra $150 for the moto.
Is there anyway to unlock this phone to use with Verizon? AT&T has terrible coverage here, but I've got some serious gadget lust going on.
It looks perfect: phone + mp3 player + removable storage = win. Now if they'd put a 1mp camera in there...'
Sadly, I won't get it until they ditch the required internet plan.
And I think I will forego the Mpx220. Their loss that they killed the mpx100 and have slipped the 220 so far out. The 220 does have Edge but I already have an edge card so I will live...
http://www.pocketmac.net/
i was wondering the same thing after seeing the mpx220 @ bestbuy yesterday... I found a program called pocketmac phone edition:
http://www.pocketmac.net/products/pmphone3/pmphone3.html
supported models:
http://www.pocketmac.net/products/pmphone3/phone3devices.html
it doesn't support the mpx220 but it says it supports all orange spv smartphone models. spv c500 == smt 5600, so i think it would work. I haven't found any information on how well the software works however.
also, on microsoft's website it says it has a 1.3mp camera. i guess that's a mistake?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/smartphone/default.mspx
Has anyone used pocketmac? How is it?
and data plan is not required.
Does anyone know how to change the name of the smt 5600 from "smartphone" to something else?
Please let me know if someone has a way of unlocking this phone to other networks (T-Mobile). Thx
Well, Windows Mobile is a LOT more confusing the Palm OS (I had a Kyo 7165). Just switched to AT&T and got one of these. Data plan is NOT necessary (unless you want the special rebate deal). I got one on a family plan with 4 lines with no problem.
While I have not figured out how to change the name of the phone per se from smartphone .. for purposes of ActiveSync Partnership naming ,, you can name the partnership to anything you want .. I made it my phone number.
The phone's name does not change, just the partnership.
This is unlike the behaviour of Activesync with PDA in which they have to be the same.
Don't know yet what happens when I get a second smartphone .. I hope it will see it as a diff phone and allow another partnership to be set up with it.
Frank Kurka
usedipaq.com
Looks like a cool phone. I am a huge fan of all phones Sony Ericsson, they were ahead of everbody elses, but they are beggining to drop the ball in terms of hi-tech phones you can get through AT&T. Their latest and greatest ,which arent usually available from AT&T until like 4-6 months after being released.
If you don't need a data plan to you sync with Outlook is it just a free feature and not counted against any part of a plan (neither data nor voice nor text)?
thx
Alan
I'm interested in the Audiovox SMT 5600 smartphone. What accessories are available for this phone (CLA, earpiece, data cable, case, etc)? I would like the model #s also.
$50 to get an unlock code on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43312&item=5731058228&rd=1), has anyone done this? Has anyone had any experience with using this phone on T-Mobile at all?
I tried to buy this phone at a Cingular store after the 15th ( effective date of AT&T/Cingular combination) and I was told that Cingular will not sell this phone. I am very depressed, if this is true.
You can unlock it to work with any network at www.imei-check.co.uk and click on C500.
I bought one of these (Audiovox SMT 5600) through an Amazon.com promo, it is an awesome little phone. It is compact, has good battery life and signal strength, a camera, plays MP3 files, etc. I can't believe Cingular is going to stop carrying this, I stayed with AT&T Wireless (and started a data plan) because of this phone. I challenge anybody to name a phone that can match its features and price.
I walked into an AT&T store yesterday and picked up the 5600 for $319 w/o any plan what so ever. I unlocked the phone @ this site for $36 www.imei-check.co.uk/ - I had no problems and am now loving every minute of using this phone on T-mobile.
BW, How were you able to purchase the phone without a plan? Where (store-location) were you able to get it? As to the unlocking, you have had no problem whatsoever? I am impressed. I very much want to be able to do the same thing. I would appreciate your input.
To anyone currently using this A-vox on T-mobile. Where are you located/using the phone the most? I'm in Chicago and looking at the great Amazon deal, but I'd want to unlock. Don't want to switch to Cingular or AT&T or whatever they're calling it this week (And of course they won't give their "rollover" mintues on AT&T phones)
PocketMac doesn't work very smoothly. My tasks kept getting transferred - except their blank, and everytime I sync I get a whole new bunch of blank tasks in Entourage. I'm going back to a Z600, which syncs better with my Powerbook.
if anyone is interested in a virtually brand-new, unlocked 5600, I'll sell it for $350 shipped. funkallero@hotmail.com
I'm using the 5600 w/T-mobile in Chicago. I bought the phone off of ebay, and got it unlocked for around $40. So far however, I haven't been able to get GPRS to work (phone calls are fine though). Anyone have the same problems.
i was wondering, if you get this phone and you unlock it to work with t-mobile, will you be able to use the internet explorer or messengers (like msn) or will you be unable to and if so how does teh billing work
i was wondering, if you get this phone and you unlock it to work with t-mobile, will you be able to use the internet explorer or messengers (like msn) or will you be unable to and if so how does teh billing work
I see several people asking about unlocking this phone but no one answering should I assume no one here knows?
Yeah i would like to know how to unlock it too. It seems that 30 is the going rate which is quite expensive. I'd happily pay 10 though
Hey, its been awhile since the last comment someone left. Here's a little update in case you didn't know. The smt5600 is currently at amazon.com for $354.20 (with no plan) I have found a local store where I live and found out that they sell almost any pda unlocked....they said they have the audiovox smt5600 and I'm going down there today to check it out!
I just purchased a new SMT5600 on eBay for $275. It is unlocked and I had no difficulty getting it to recognize and work on Cingular Wireless. The seller has 99% approval rating for about 900 sales and sells about 25 of these phones on eBay at a time. It arrived three days after I executed my "buy now". I am very pleased with the phone, it has many useful features.
I use pre-paid Cingular phone service and I slipped in my Cingular SIM card so that I do not have to change my phone number. I have purchased a 1GB mini-SD chip to store photos and music. I also ordered a bluetooth earpiece. My phone costs are running at about $10/month using pre-paid service on Cingular. Not a bad deal!
The phone has a very reasonable talk/standby time for a smart phone and there are some very good applications like "Papyrus" calendar that add to its usefulness. I had a wireless PDA before buying this phone but it was heavy and clunky by comparison. Get a good hard leather horizontal belt clip to carry it around or simply put it in your pocket - it's very light and the screen colors are magnificent!
It takes 176X180 pixels pictures and tags them to your contacts which I like and of course has many other features that you can spend hours figuring out on a rainy day. The manual is so-so.
I have had my smt-5600 since they first came out on at&t and I am still with at&t (loyal to at&t) because I cant stand cingular so I will stay on the blue side as long as possible. I have noticed that cingular is now offering the smt-5600 for $99 with a two year contract.
I am going to try and use the macsync software to sync with my mac but I have been using my SMT-5600 as a wireless modem for my powerbook (had to write my own modem script) and it works flawlessly although I am thinking about upgrading to an edge-compatible phone with the orange side of cingular so that I can get better connect speeds. Does anyone have any experience with using edge compatible phones as wireless modems as opposed to regular GPRS?
I would also like to answer someone's question about unlocking the smt-5600 to work on verizon. This is not possible because they are two diff technologies. Cingular orange/blue (blue = at&t) and
t-mobile both use GSM technology which is the technology the smt-5600 uses Verizon uses CDMA technology (very differnet). Sprint on the other hand uses PCS technology (again, very different from the other two). Most mobile phone companies outside of america use GSM although each country uses different frequencies on the GSM network (along with the different frequencies used by Cingular orange/blue and t-mobile or the different freq used by diff providers). This is why the smt-5600 is named differently for different parts of the world because it is actually a different phone in some cases. The smt-5600 is a tri-band (meaning 3 frequencies) phone and there are actually 4 bands (frequencies) on GSM (this is answering someone else's question) but depending on what part of the globe you live in or bought your phone from, is what three bands are going to be available on your phone and thus the different names for different countries. I hope this info could help anyone looking to buy the smt-5600 but is not on a GSM network because "unlocking" will not work for any other technology than GSM. If you need your smt-5600 unlocked, I would be more than happy to do it for anyone and I can also unlock all other technologies too. I provide my service for free ofcourse because I think it is rediculous that phones are locked to begin with. e-mail research@airspoon.com or visit AirSpoon.com (should be up in a couple of months) for more info.
--M.H.
R&D
AirSpoon Technologies
I have a audivox cell phone but the phone is useless mean while the phone is locked so i will be happy if you can provide me the unlocking code so that it can be opened.
I am using the audiovox smt 5600 in San Francisco(CA) on the T-Mobile network. It works better than any T-Mobile phone I've used. Unlocking it was a breeze. As far as some not getting the GPRS to work, just call T-Mobile tech support and they'll walk you through the set-up process, even if they say they don't support phones not belonging to them. Also, I have T-zones for $5.99 a month and can access the internet and check my email without any extra charges.
I have a locked Audiovox SMT 5600 that I want to use on the GSM AT&T network. It was formorly a Cingular phone but I went back to AT&T. Is there any easy way to do this? HELP?
I have a locked Audiovox SMT 5600 that I want to use on the GSM AT&T network. It was formorly a Cingular phone but I went back to AT&T. Is there any easy way to do this? HELP?