T-Mobile MDA

Earlier this year I purchased a new T-Mobile MDA. This phone is actually manufactured by HTC and is also known as the HTC Wizard. It runs the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.

The key features which compelled me to purcahse this phone were:

• Slide out keyboard


• Large color screen


• MiniSD Card Slot (though I would have preferred an SD Card slot)


• USB Connectivity (my Nokia 6600 didn't offer that)


• Comprehensive networking capability:


» Quad-band GSM
» GPRS
» EDGE
» Bluetooth
» WiFi (802.11b and 802.11g)
» IrDA (Infrared)


• Stereo Audio


• Megapixel Camera


• Complete Outlook syncrhonization to Outlook Mobile


• Included software:


» Outlook Mobile contacts
» Outlook Mobile calendar
» Outlook Mobile email
» Outlook Mobile tasks
» Outlook Mobile notes
» Internet Explorer Mobile
» T-Mobile HotSpot Connect
» Windows Media Player Mobile
» Excel Mobile
» PowerPoint Mobile
» Word Mobile
» ClearVue PDF Reader


• And the fact that it would run other applications I wanted such as Skype and Pocket Quicken

Overall I have been very impressed with the synchornization capabilities via ActiveSync. Synchronization is something that didn't work very well on my Nokia 6600 (it did work, just not smoothly), and I missed it since I gave up my Palm Tungsten T. However, one notable drawback is that unlike Palm, ActiveSync doesn't back everything up for you. Basically it backs up what goes into Outlook and any other other ActiveSync applications (Pocket Quicken and SpashID for me), and that's it. You're on your own to back up any other files or data (unless you keep them all in My Documents on the device, which does synchronize to your desktop by default, but I keep most of my stuff on the MiniSD card).

I then bought a 1GB MiniSD card, which has been plenty of space.

I found the user interface to be more awkward and klunky than my Nokia 6600. On the Nokia I could pretty much do everything with one hand. On the T-Mobile MDA, just about everthing requires the use of the stylus, thus requiring two handed operation. This is a real pain. I also found that the device was somewhat slow. The OMAP processor is clocked at just under 200 MHz, qiute a bit slower than many other PocketPC or Windows Mobile 5.0 devices. The sluggishness was noticable. Boot time in particular was terrible, taking nearly two minutes to boot!

However, recently T-Mobile made available a System Upgrade for the ROM which drastically improved performance. In particular, boot time went down to about 30 seconds! Among several new features, the ones that I really appreciate and enjoy is the addition of the A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth profiles. I purchased the Jabra BT620s Stereo Bluetooth headphones which work quite well with the new ROM. I can now listen to stereo MP3s and WMA files (which I store on the SD card), switch tracks and pause/resume from the headset. Music also pauses when a call is received or placed. An excellent combination!

In an upcomming post, I will review some of my favorite software for Windows Mobile 5.0.
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