Sign in
in
   
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."  -Aristotle

About Me

I am a co-founder of Notches, an early stage startup currently based in NYC. We are building a free, open reviews network that anyone can participate in and anyone can build on top of. You can find out more on our official blog.

Read more about my background.

Connect with me on...

Recent Readers

Flickr Photos

Tags

Monthly Archives
 

Warning:

This article is more than 45 days old. Given the speed at which the technology world moves, this post is probably somewhat out of date. Please keep this in mind when reading the post. If this is a tutorial, please check whether you are using the same versions mentioned in the article.

Jumping on the Bandwagon: I bought an Audiovox SMT 5600 too

I was originally holding out for the T-Mobile SDA, but there's still no word on when it might be available to US customers. In a stroke of bad luck (or good luck, depending on how you look at it), my year-and-a-half-old T610 decided to call it quits last week - so now I have an excuse to upgrade.

I still have 6 months left on my T-Mobile contract and they don't offer any Smartphones in the US right now. The 5600 is only available from AT&T (aka Cingular) and, as I discovered today, they even temporarily pulled it from most stores while they rebrand. It seems they're definitely pushing the Motorola MPx220, which I was not impressed with.

So I broke down and ordered the Audiovox SMT 5600 (without service) from Amazon. It ended up being a bit more than I originally wanted to pay, but it was better than the alternatives. A review will be sure to follow.

T-Mobile told me the would unlock any phone for free, but as it turns out - as Josh suggests in coments - they didn't quite know what they were talking about. What they meant was that they would try to get it. In other words, they will call AT&T and ask for it. When AT&T refuses to give them the code (which, of course, they will), T-Mobile will then call the phone manufacturer, who doesn't have the code since the SIM subsidy unlock code is added by the carrier not the manufacturer. I ended up just using the unlock service mentioned below.

And by the way, I refuse to call it a ScoblePhone. I would call it an AlexPhone, but he's since moved on to the Treo 650. Oh, and Jeff loves his phone too.

Some pictures to get an idea of the size....

Top view of the Audiovox SMT5600, Sony Ericsson T610, and Blackberry 7230

Top view, Audiovox SMT5600 and Sony Ericsson T610

Side view, Audiovox SMT5600 and Sony Ericsson T610

Only published comments... Feb 01 2005, 01:06 PM by Tim
Filed under: ,

View related posts

   

TrackBack said:

February 1, 2005 1:06 PM
 

Robert Scoble said:

Welcome to the Audiovox tribe!
February 1, 2005 2:07 PM
 

Tim Marman said:

Thanks :)
February 1, 2005 2:59 PM
 

Josh Bancroft said:

T-Mobile will unlock any of their phones, once you've been a customer for a certain period of time, and are a customer in good standing. That is, if you buy a T-Mobile phone, and a few months later, want to take it to another network (or roam internationally, etc.), they'll unlock it.

They won't (and can't) unlock phones from other carriers, like the SMT5600 from AT&T. You're only real choice is the service at www.c500-unlock.com - they'll do it for $38. It's the only way I know of to unlock an SMT5600 for use on T-Mobile.

Oh, and welcome to the tribe! :-)

Josh Bancroft
www.tinyscreenfuls.com
February 1, 2005 9:14 PM
 

Tim Marman said:

Really? Interesting.

They suggested that, if I wanted a smartphone, that I purchase the handheld on either ebay or amazon and then bring it to them to unlock.

They said something about me giving them a serial number and them giving me a new IMIE number. Not sure exactly if that's unlocking, but.... I guess we'll see next week whether this is indeed true :)
February 1, 2005 9:52 PM
 

sheila said:

what is the freakin code to unlock the audiovox
February 15, 2005 12:40 PM
 

Tim Marman said:

Unfortunately, you'll have to buy one from the site that Josh mentions above.
February 15, 2005 1:18 PM
 

Jim said:

Hey would you be able to compare the size of the smt5600 to the t610 for me. I see the specs, (108x46x16 vs 102x44x19 respecitively) they are pretty damn close--but how does it feel?

I've been using my t610 for a little over a year now and have been looking for a replacement for awhile now..this is one of my top choices.

thanks
.jim
February 20, 2005 8:05 PM
 

Tim Marman said:

I posted a few pictures - hope that helps. Let me know if there are other views you would like :)
February 22, 2005 12:47 PM
 

Chris Goodnow said:

hey i was wondering, since cingular has that data plan stuff, and if i wanted to unlock it to work for t-mobile, how would the data billing work, meaning if i used the itnernet adn all that stuff how would i be billed or even be allowed to use that feature, thanks a million
March 5, 2005 9:59 AM
 

William Bruce said:

Hey:
If you unlock the AT&T version to use with a Cingular SIM, can you use the data service? The people at the store don't know and don't like to talk about unlocking anything.
March 5, 2005 12:10 PM
 

Tim Marman said:

Chris:

The data service is not separate from the voice plan - there's only a single SIM card. If you unlock it and use the phone on T-mobile, you would have to get a data plan through T-Mobile.

William:

You shouldn't have to unlock it for Cingular (since they are now the same company). If it's even locked, they should be able to give you the code.
March 5, 2005 7:14 PM
 

Chuck said:

Can you get the calandar alarms to ring or alarm on the phone? I did not see this feature in Windows Mobile, but it should be there?
March 5, 2005 9:07 PM
 

William Bruce said:

Cool. If I get it from ATT they're telling me I have to get it signing up for ATT service/rate plans, and they can't put a Cingular SIM in the phone (They also won't talk to me about unlocking it, and say if I do, and try to put a Cingular SIM in, only the voice service will work)...
Of course, if I call a different store, I get a different story.
March 6, 2005 3:31 PM
 

Tim Marman said:

Weird.... I would definitely call up their main customer service line to confirm (whether you will need to unlock), but I can't imagine it would be a problem.
March 6, 2005 3:45 PM
 

William Bruce said:

Yeah, it seems that the blue hand isn't quite certain what the orange hand can/will do... and you can find a lot of old ATT people who don't yet have a grip on the new rules/requirements.
March 6, 2005 4:00 PM
 

Little Boy Blue said:

The SMT5600 that ATT sold is locked to ATTs service. It will not work with a Cingualr SIM chip unless the device is first unlocked. Cingular's customer care can not unlock it because those devices are not in their systems. Yes the 2 companies merged but that does not mean that all of the systems are the same. ATT inventory was flushed out and sold. Cingular had no reason to load the devices into their systems so they remained logged with ATT. If you call care and are able to get an ATT call center (which is luck of the straw at this point) they can unlock the device provided that you are a customer in good standing (bill is paid on time) and have had the service for a minimum 6 months. ATT retail stores can not unlock them because they are not given the know how or necessary tools to do so. It's not a case of they "won't talk to you about it", there is simply nothing for us to talk about. We don't unlock phones in the store. By the way, us Blue folks do know what the Orange folks are doing. Our grip is just fine.
March 10, 2005 2:00 PM
 

Steve P said:

I just picked up the 5600 and love it (still using my ATT SIM card). I'm traveling to Asia in a few weeks and would like to unlock the phone to use with a pre-paid SIM card while in Asia. I've read conflicting information that if the phone is unlocked i will not be able to use the web/internet services with my plan. Can anyone set the record straight??
March 12, 2005 11:42 AM
 

Loosely Coupled // Tim Marman's Weblog said:

March 28, 2005 9:51 PM
 

Frederik J said:

After my HP6315 chewed by dog Iam joining the the club
Ghee can not wait for this
March 30, 2005 7:35 PM
 

Rao said:

I am planning to buy Audiovox smt 5600 and carry to India and use with prepaid service there. Can you please sugguest whether is a good choice or I am going to face problems if buy here to use in India
June 25, 2005 7:50 AM

Recent Posts

Most Popular Posts

Legal disclaimer

Coming soon.

Articles

My stuff

Friends

Powered by Community Server (Non-Commercial Edition), by Telligent Systems