I never thought I was going to upgrade from my Motorola V600. But when a phone like this is being priced at $200, it's hard to resist. This phone has an unholy gamut of features, including several that are exclusive to it, and the only reason it is not known among the top dogs of the industry is because it does not have the Treo or Blackberry name and is fairly new to the market.
Specs:
Quad-band GSM
OMAP 195mhz processor - yep, it's not just a phone
64mb RAM/64mb ROM
GPRS
EDGE connection
Bluetooth
Infrared
1.3mpxl videocamera
MP3/media player
MP3 ringtones/Picture Caller ID
MiniSD memory card slot
320x240 TFT screen
Wifi internet access (yes, real internet/email from any router)
Windows Mobile 2005
Free stuff includes: USB cable, ActiveSync software, Headset, Charger, Belt holster
Looking at the phone, one can tell that it is more about features and function than style. It's a pretty handsome phone, dominated by a huge screen and wrapped up in a small package, but T-mobile worried more about packing every known feature into it than adding a fancy metal keypad or other items to impress sorority girls. The price is also scary low.
The front has many small buttons, making the phone not quite the most ergonomic, but I am not one to take offense at small design flaws on cell phones, focusing mainly on features and worrying only about deal-breakers. There are dedicated buttons to work the media player, and the buttons for home/back/softkeys are ridiculously small. Again, it takes a lot to phase me when it comes to phones, and it doesn't impair my enjoyment of this device. In all the phone is very portable and palm-size, unlike its bulkier MDA cousin which packs a slide-out keyboard.
The reception on the phone is crystal clear, and I have yet to find any dead spots in my city with the phone. Messages and data go in and out of the phone at lightning speed, webpages download quite quickly, and the phone goes between functions very quickly. However, when you are running low on space and try to launch a big application like a game, the machine may bog down and warn you that you are nearing capacity. For this reason, invest in a memory card; you cannot sync with Windows Media Player without it.
Let's summarize the phone's functionality based on the functions of each of the aforementioned features.
Quad-band GSM - yep, it works in most countries. I wouldn't take this phone to Montana or Nebraska, they don't offer T-mobile, but it still works in the major cities and on the highways.
GPRS/EDGE connection - for a monthly fee, you can access the T-mobile internet anywhere, allowing you to use a pared-back version of the internet to get your email and basic information like weather, or surf WAP sites optimized for GPRS data transfer. If you gotta have the internet, you gotta have it, and the EDGE data service is 3x faster than GPRS, making it a worthwhile feature.
Bluetooth - Good for headset connections and the like, and for "beaming" files to computers. However, standard OBEX transfers don't seem to work, as my Mac cannot get access to a list of all of the device's files wirelessly as it could with the Sony T610 and Moto V600. However, this is a fairly moot point given that with the ActiveSync software you can use the cable to trade files, or even sync over Bluetooth to a windows machine. Mac users beware, there is no software to sync this machine that I know of, since it's Windows Mobile 5.0.
Infrared - this wondrous, old-school technology also lets you trade files via line of site, and theoretically control your TV, with the right software.
1.3mpxl videocamera - videos can be taken at 176x144 with few hiccups, and pictures come in large and clear, assuming the proper lighting conditions. The lack of a flash of any sort is disappointing. Pictures and videos are easily mailed or synced to a PC.
MP3/media player - Yep, mobile Windows Media Player 10 is on this thing. It supports lots of new mobile formats such as MP4 and 3G content, as well as microsoft formats and AVI files. You'll need a 3rd-party program to playback DIVX. Music supported includes MP3, AAC, WAV, and WMA, but you must use the included headset, which is by no means a high end piece of work; the bottom connector is proprietary. Suck.
MP3 ringtones/Picture Caller ID - You'd expect this, and it has it, sort of. There's no provision to download T-mobile's ringtones. If you want to put on your own MP3 tones, you must manually put them in Application Data/Sounds, and it took me a while to figure this out. They keep this a secret, as they want you to forever have the T-Jingle.
MiniSD memory card slot - MiniSD ain't cheap, but is cheaper than Transflash. At least it's there, and you'll need it to hold much of anything, as the 1.3mp photos take up loads of space, as do the videos, and it doesn't ship with much more than 20mb of free space. Which is plenty for a non-smart phone but nothing for a PDA.
320x240 TFT screen - the pixels are really packed into the 2.2" screen, which is gruesomely sharp, showing the most minutely small text on webpages if need be. Its quality is a major selling point.
Wifi internet access (yes, real internet/email from any router) - Here is where this phone is quite unique. Few phones have the ability to get internet from standard access points. This machine merrily surfs through pages on Internet Explorer and pulls in your POP email, all free of charge. Start using the in-built AIM/MSN/ICQ client, and you begin to rack up the fees, unless you have unlimited messaging on your plan.
Windows Mobile 2005 - This newfangled operating system is powerful but the software for it is still quite sparse. I found a handful of apps though, and many more abound. Its big ticket item is Mobile Outlook, which gets all your contacts and dates and emails onto your phone effortlessly.
PIM functions - You can enter data onto the phone as well, albeit slowly via the keypad. Still, the lack of a touchscreen doesn't stop one from enjoying full Pocket PC-type features. There is a complete file browser/file hierarchy just like a Windows PC, and you can load and execute all manner of 3rd-party content. Right now I have a lovely installation of Doom, which runs at full freight with delightful sound effects.
Get one. It isn't missing much that I can think of, and I'd pay more than I did for it.
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