Hands-on with the Audiovox SMT 5600

It's only been out for a couple of days, but the first few reviews of the Audiovox SMT 5600 (known as the SPV C500, the i-Mate Smartphone 3, the Qtek 8010, and the Dopod 565 in other corners of the globe) have started trickling out. Besides being the smallest handset to run on Microsoft's Smartphone operating system, the SMT 5600 is also the first with the new mobile version of Windows Media Player 10, and PC Mag gives it high marks for its good battery life and tight integration with Outlook (not to mention the built-in digital camera and Bluetooth). Available now from AT&T Wireless.



Read - PC Magazine
Read - Smartphone Thoughts

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

My heart sank when the first review mentioned a maximum of 256mb on the miniSD.

[Justin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

id get it if ATT Wireless' reception in NYC wasn't straight pooooopy.

[MS Mobiles @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

the biggest miniSD card available now is 512 MB and such size is already available in some online shops for immediate purchase. ON the other hand in future we can expect that it will be 1GB or more...

[Frank @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

There's another nice review of this phone over here:

http://www.infosyncworld.com/reviews/n/5332.html

Wish it had a better camera and I would upgrade immediately.

[Jen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Does anyone know how to change the name of the smt 5600 from "smartphone" to something else?

[Joy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Has anyone been able to purchase any of the accessories for this phone and if so, where?

[Jason @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Hey all, I just bought a 512 mb mini sd card by ATP and it works fine (I've loaded it with 105 mp3s)....also, I bought a bluetrek G2 bluetooth headset that is amazing. Don't believe the rumors that the limit is 256 with the memory, because I have tested a 512 card and there hasn't been any problems whatsoever.

[James Talbot @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

So give me some really good feedback on the camera? Is it any good?

[David Shaw @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Also want to add that a 512 miniSD card works just fine on my phone.

The camera is really only fair, as is the camcorder (you can take fairly long videos with the 512 Meg card). But the combination of features--phone, complete Outlook integration, email and web access, camera, camcorder, and MP3s--makes this a pretty great phone.

[Brett James @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

I bought the MiniSD (512) and have installed it but the phone doesn't seem to be recognizing the disk space...

When I go to "About" on the phone, it says only 27MB available. Any Help?

[Raul Saucedo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

You have to go to the task manager. From there, you can choose Menu > System Info. OR, you can download the XJ SMonitor from the modaco.com website under wallpapers.

[m sprouse @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

ordered 1 gig mini sd card, will let you know if it works.

[killcuz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

hi all,
does anybody know if there is a wireless headset/headphone (one or two earbuds, i dont care) that i can listen to mp3s with AND use to talk/listen on phone.

also, how easy is it to switch to phone while listening to mp3? can i set it so a phone call will interrupt my mp3 listening? that would be so nice...

thanks for any responses.
please kill my cuz

[PedsDoc @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Hi y'all,
Do you know if this phone will work in the UK (London)?
I may be travelling there and would like to take my phone with me.
Also, if anybody can point me to a good site that unlocks this phone, I will appreciate it.

[RbeforeE @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Where do you reside PedsDoc? I know a great place in San Diego for unlocking phones. I was told by Cingular that it would work in the UK if unlocked :D

[RbeforeE @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Where do you reside PedsDoc? I know a great place in San Diego for unlocking phones. I was told by Cingular that it would work in the UK if unlocked :D

[Timothy Tripp @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

This is the best phone I've ever owned BY FAR.

The 1GB Mini-SD card works perfectly. As for a wireless headphone solution, I haven't seen one, but what you could do (if you have a bluetooth headset) is plug external speakers for the music (you can get an adapter at RadioShack to convert to standard headphones for about $4). If a call comes in and you answer it with the Bluetooth headset, the music will pause and the voice will be routed to the headset. When the call is done, music will resume. I also use it for Audible (audiobooks) and it behaves the same way.

The camera is about as good as other cameras on phones I've seen. Good outdoors; poor in low-light (as any camera without a flash is). Good in a pinch but get yourself a real digital camera.

I already have a contract with T-Mobile so I unlocked the SMT5600 when I first got it (cost an extra $38) it now works great.

One other note, as a bluetooth modem for my notebook this phone does exceptionally well. I've done this with an N-Gage QD, Motorola V600, and Nokia 3650 and the performance on the SMT5600 is noticably better. Not 3G or anything but about as good as a good 56k dial-up connection.

And one other oft forgot feature: It's a great phone! Sound quality and loudness is perfect. Speaker phone is the best I've used. Windows Mobile takes a few hours to get used to but the dialer alone (you can type in part of a name or part of a number and it auto-filters your contacts as you type, then you just select and dial) is worth making the switch.

You won't go wrong with this phone. Everyone who's seen it wants one.

[Diona @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Hey RbeforeE! I am looking for a place in SD to unlock my phone (LG ATT), can you direct me to your great secret place to go? Thanks!

[JD @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Hi guys,

How do you do file transfer via Bluetooth (or USB) on this phone? Not syncing, just simple file transfer. If anyone knows please email me at jtd at starkruzr dot com.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

I use a 1 GB card and it recongnizes every bit of it. The outlook sync is great and I have not had a issue with running out of memory (other than OS memory -- seems you can't have everything running at once :) ). This is by far the best phone I have owned. I am now trying to find the best bluetooth head set as the factory wired headset, while great for music, is a little much for phone conversations...

Anyone know of a keyboard for this bad boy??

[Jypson @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

What Bluetooth device do I need to have the wireless ear piece. I have a Motorolla one, but it doesn't want to find it. Thanks.

[Dan F. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

I just bought and installed a 1 gig memory minSD card for my audiovox smt5600

[Lee Mack @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

What is that place in San Diego who unlocks phones rbeforeE?

[droppedd @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

can't say for sure if it works as i haven't done it yet but check out http://www.selberg.org/unlock-an-audiovox-5600-for-free/ as far as unlocking the 5600 goes.

[Dan Kaufman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

I have a new site up that uses videos made with the smartphone. Please send yours in!

http://alloureyes.com

[pb @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

same question

Hi guys,

How do you do file transfer via Bluetooth (or USB) on this phone? Not syncing, just simple file transfer.

[DP @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Just got the 5600 two weeks ago and I've gotta say: it's the best phone I've owned.

Battery life is exceptional, especially for a phone with so many options and large screen size.

Ringer is very loud (which was one of the downsides to my previous Samsung SD300).

Sync with Outlook is seamless; I've got Outlook 2003 both at home and at work and this phone is a perfect synchronizer for all my scheduling.

Windows Mobile 2003 OS takes several hours to really get used to (it's a cross between Windows and say, Samsung OS), therefore many things aren't as straight-forward as you'd expect and others are completely obvious.

Signal strength is very good. I haven't dropped any calls yet.

OS can freeze up. I have only frozen once so far. It IS running Windows, after all. The included Task Manager (again, a la Windows) helps deal with these rare occurrances. I must give warning, though: there are quite a number of software floating around the net to customize Windows Mobile, but, like your desktop PC, if you tinker with it too much, you're liable to make the OS unstable.

Action button is cumbersome and takes several days to get used to. The Action Button is basically the Up/Down, Left/Right directional button. However, depressing the whole button towards the inside of the phone performs the selected command. If you don't press down at exactly the right angle, you could be shifting the selection Up, instead. And worse, you could move the selection Up and then execute the selection if the Up/Action combo was mistakenly triggered. Just buy the phone. You'll get what I mean, and it won't be as bothersome as it sounds. =)

The screen resolution is great! Crisp and vibrant. Bright backlighting, too. Also, it's easily read in bright daylight.

The built-in camera does what it needs to. I would have preferred to NOT have a camera included, as I know I'm paying for something that I'm not going to use. Basically, if you're looking for a good quality camera, BUY A GOOD QUALITY CAMERA. I don't see why people are expecting or demanding that phones have good cameras. There are plenty of decent quality and small digital cameras out there. Check the Sony DSC-U20 or DSC-U50. They're old, but they're damn small and can take pictures that are leaps beyond any cell phone.

The T9 is the best I've used and makes adding text extremely quick.

If you need a PDA/phone without the bulk of a Treo or Blackberry, you NEED to get this phone.

[Sam @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Excellent Phone.

[Love my V3 RAZR @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

I got my Motorola V3 unlocked with Unlockcellphone.com they are located in San Diego. Great service and very knowledgeable
technician.

[Rob @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Where do you get the "mini SD" cards. The ones I've seen don't look like they would fit under my battery (more like those real thin cards for digital cameras). I'm hoping for a 512MB. Thanks.

[Rob @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Where do you get the "mini SD" cards. The ones I've seen don't look like they would fit under my battery (more like those real thin cards for digital cameras). I'm hoping for a 512MB. Thanks.

[Vick @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

I was wondering if anyone has tested the 2GB mini SD in Audiovox SMT 5600?

[Cherie Machler @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Where do I find the directions for using the SMMT4500 as a Bluetooth modem for my Dell Inspiron laptop? Thanks in advance for any advice

[Dracco @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Is there any way to lock the keyboard? I keep pressing keys by accident.

[paul @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

You lock the keyboard by holding the "hang up" button from the home for a few seconds.

[Dracco @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Thanks. The phone didn't come with a manual. Only a quick start card.

[brooks @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

The manual is a pdf file on the activesync cd.

[Margie @ Dec 19th 2005 12:05AM]

Anyone know where BEST to purchase the proper mini SD cards for the phone? I would like a 1GB. Thank you.

[Mags Ingval @ Dec 31st 2005 3:34PM]

I just added a 1G SD to my daughters, and now the phone locks up periodically. OH well... nice site.