Orange SPV C500 FAQ

Here are the frequently asked questions based on the Orange SPV C500 phone. Note, some of the questions may be specific only to UK.

Q1) How do I do a hard reset on my C500?
A1) Ensure the phone is powered off and contains more than 60% of battery left. Hold down the soft key #1 and #2. Keep holding it and press the power button. Keep holding down the soft keys until you see "Press 0 to restore factory default. Other keys to quit" Let go of the soft keys and press 0 to do a hard reset. WARNING Doing this will WIPE OUT EVERYTHING on the phone, so make sure your data are backed up before doing this! Any data saved on your SD memory card are not touched. (but I removed mine just in case). Or watch the Flash movie, made by pzee - big thanks!

Q2) How do I SIM unlock my C500 phone for free so I can use any other network?
A2) A great guy called Zone-MR managed to find a way to SIM unlock for FREE, so you can use any other network (i.e. O2, Virgin, etc) on an Orange phone. See the discussion at MoDaCo. I haven't tried it yet, but from what others has been saying, it works great!

Q3) How do I upgrade the firmware on my C500 to the latest version?
A3) The latest version can be found at http://www.orange.co.uk/c500patch which will give you v4.2.1.4 - note the URL may change when Orange release a new version.

Q4) How do I remotely control my C500 phone?
A4) Use a software called ActiveSync Remote Display which you can download from the Microsoft website. (mirror)

Q5) How do I check my GMail via my C500 phone?
A5) Use username@gmail.com as the user name (where username is your account), pop.gmail.com:995 as the POP3 server (incoming server), smtp.gmail.com:587 as the SMTP server (outgoing server) and ensure that both of them has "Require SSL connection" and "Outgoing server requires authentication" are checked. That's all you need! The first time you connect to Gmail from your phone, you may get an "Invalid security" or some sort - just accept it and it will go through fine. Also, make sure you enable POP3 access in your GMail account setup.

Q6) How do I find out what firmware version I have and how do I upgrade the firmware on my C500 phone?
A6) To find out the firmware version, go to Start -> Settings -> About and scroll down until you see "ROM Update versions - Operator". You can download the latest firmware from the Orange website - get help using your phone -> pick Orange SPV C500 from the list -> Download the latest c500 software update -> How do I download the latest software update?. The latest firmware version is 4.2.1.2.

Q7) How do I get the previous firmware for my C500 phone?
A7) Obviously using the latest version would be better, but if for some reasons you need to have the old version, I have saved them to my webspace, so here it is - RUU_v0.995_OrangeUK_v4.1.1.4.exe (22.7MB), RUU_1.02_OrangeUK_v4.2.1.1_Ship.exe (23.1MB) and also TY_ORUK_255115_4212_0328_ship.exe (23.2MB). The latest version is TY_ORUK_21130_4214_0328_Ship.exe (23.6MB) WARNING - This is for UK version of ORANGE C500! I do NOT recommend using this on different network outside UK! Do this at your OWN RISK!