T-Mobile MDA Smartphone
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- Installed Memory: 64 MB
- Operating System: Windows Mobile
- Design: Mobile
- Style: Smartphone, Touch Screen
- Network Type: GSM 850 GSM 900 GSM 1800 GSM 1900 GPRS EDGE
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Nice features, poor quality
Pros
can go on the internet
Cons
cheap body finish, very slow everything
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
Buy something else unless you get this toy out of the Crackerjack box for 25 cents!
I've had this phone for about 2 years. I bought it because I had been searching for a PDA that had a touch screen, could play music, and had a camera.
I bought this one because it was the one T-mobile at at the time. I didn't want a Blackberry because the ones at that time didn't have cameras, couldn't play music, and none of them have touch screens. I also wanted to be able to use my phone/PDA as a computer modem. I am able to with this phone.
I don't know all the technical specs (like how much memory, processor speed, all that stuff). I know it uses Windows Mobile 5.0 for the operating system. If you have a PC, you will recognize the start menu. It is pretty easy to navigate around different programs.
The phone itself is NOT durable. I'm on my 9th MDA handset. I kept doing handset exchanges for the first year while the phone was under warranty. I had the insurance on this phone which was 6 dollars a month for after the warranty, more about that later. The stylus holder wears out after about 4 months of use. That means that something inside just gives out and one day the stylus will NOT stay in the phone. That is the main reason I've had so many handsets. A client came in to my job with the same phone and asked if I had stylus problems with mine. I told her I did and she said she solved it by wrapping a piece of scotch tape around the stylus so it stayed in the hole. When you spend 400 dollars on a cell phone, do you want to go around with tape on the stylus just to make it work as it should? I think not. Did I mention that the stylus is maybe two inches tall fully extended AND located in the bottom of the phone instead of the top. Very annoying and hard to use. On my latest model, the paint is wearing off the finish were the mailbox envelop and internet explorer buttons are on the top of the device. The finish underneath the talk buttons has BUBBLED up. The rubber piece on the battery cover that is supposed to keep the phone from sliding around has fallen off so many times that I can't even remember. I tried to glue it back on a few times and then just ended up throwing it in the garbage.
What's GOOD about this phone? Not much...
What I like about this phone is that I can go on the internet any time I want, any place I get a signal. It's slow, but it works. Adjusting the volume of the ringer is very easy via a slide switch on the side of the device.
Not so good...
I bought a 512 MB memory card for the phone to store songs on. Sometimes, it doesn't recognize the card. Every time, I have to manually place songs/pictures on the card, it doesn't add the card space to the phones pre-existing memory. That is terribly annoying.
Even worse...
The phone freezes often. Programs stay active, EVEN when you close them off of the screen. You have to go into the task manager and manually stop each task if you want to end it. If I open text messages, Internet Explorer, and SIM card manager, they stay active in the background until I manually stop them. Very annoying.
The voicemail and new text message yellow indicator light in the top of the device stay on when I do not have any new messages. When I send a text message, the "sent message" confirmation freezes on the screen and I have to manually exit the text message program.
When the device loses the GPRS signal, it takes a VERY long time (several minutes) to find it again. Even if there is a signal in the area, the device takes a while to get the message.
The end and start call tactile buttons do not work most of the time and I have to use the touch screen to end or start a call. Sometimes, if I press them 25 times they will work. Also, the slider for the volume gets stuck in the down position often.
The QWERTY keyboard is handy for texting. However, it isn't designed well. There is no "num/symbols lock" or caps lock indicator on the phone so the user never knows which mode the device is in. There are no greater than or less than keys or the tactile keyboard and you have to use the virtual one to enter those characters. That is a problem for HTML coding and adds an unnecessary amount of time to what should be a quick operation. Also, instead of having the numbers arranged like a number pad as they should be, this device has them on the top row in linear format. And, they are a secondary function so the "alt" key has to be pressed before each number. It can be locked on, but then has to be double tapped again to turn it off. The user actually has to type some characters to see which mode the keyboard is in.
The stereo headset that comes with the device is wonderful, until it breaks. It is good and loud and can be used for making calls or listening to music. Stereo means that it has two speakers, so it is very easy to hear calls. One day, the speaker just fell open and into about 5 pieces. I threw it away. I've used the Bluetooth headset as well, but they aren't loud and I always lose my Bluetooth headsets.
The external speakers built into the phone are very tinny (as in tin can, I'm not misspelling a euphemism for small) and not loud or clear at all. Speakerphone is a joke unless using it with automated systems.
The number keypad for dialing phone numbers is not good to use if you are used to feeling your way around the keyboard. It is on the touchscreen, and there is no tactile feedback. Not only does the user have to look to see which number they are pressing they have to make sure that the press was detected and interpreted properly by the phone.
The camera is worse than terrible. I know you can't expect miracles from a cell phone camera, but this is unreal. The 1.3 megapixel camera takes grainy, blurry pictures. The "flash" is a joke and shouldn't even exist. It's a little flashlight that does not help dark pictures at all. Activating the camera often causes the phone to freeze.
I don't ActiveSync at all so I cannot speak to that. I do not ever use Outlook e-mail.
ABOUT THE INSURANCE...
After the warranty expired, I needed a new handset and filed a claim. I had to pay a 100 deductible to get a new handset from a terrible company called Asurion. The replacement took 2 weeks to arrive. And, it has more problems than the phone that I RETURNED TO THEM. They demanded that I send them my old phone or they would charge my credit card for the full amount of a brand new phone. I asked what would have happened if I told them I'd lost the phone. They said since they wouldn't have a way to prove it so they wouldn't be able to charge me. Since I had already told them that it was must malfunctioning, but I still had it they must have the old phone returned. What a joke!
I bought this one because it was the one T-mobile at at the time. I didn't want a Blackberry because the ones at that time didn't have cameras, couldn't play music, and none of them have touch screens. I also wanted to be able to use my phone/PDA as a computer modem. I am able to with this phone.
I don't know all the technical specs (like how much memory, processor speed, all that stuff). I know it uses Windows Mobile 5.0 for the operating system. If you have a PC, you will recognize the start menu. It is pretty easy to navigate around different programs.
The phone itself is NOT durable. I'm on my 9th MDA handset. I kept doing handset exchanges for the first year while the phone was under warranty. I had the insurance on this phone which was 6 dollars a month for after the warranty, more about that later. The stylus holder wears out after about 4 months of use. That means that something inside just gives out and one day the stylus will NOT stay in the phone. That is the main reason I've had so many handsets. A client came in to my job with the same phone and asked if I had stylus problems with mine. I told her I did and she said she solved it by wrapping a piece of scotch tape around the stylus so it stayed in the hole. When you spend 400 dollars on a cell phone, do you want to go around with tape on the stylus just to make it work as it should? I think not. Did I mention that the stylus is maybe two inches tall fully extended AND located in the bottom of the phone instead of the top. Very annoying and hard to use. On my latest model, the paint is wearing off the finish were the mailbox envelop and internet explorer buttons are on the top of the device. The finish underneath the talk buttons has BUBBLED up. The rubber piece on the battery cover that is supposed to keep the phone from sliding around has fallen off so many times that I can't even remember. I tried to glue it back on a few times and then just ended up throwing it in the garbage.
What's GOOD about this phone? Not much...
What I like about this phone is that I can go on the internet any time I want, any place I get a signal. It's slow, but it works. Adjusting the volume of the ringer is very easy via a slide switch on the side of the device.
Not so good...
I bought a 512 MB memory card for the phone to store songs on. Sometimes, it doesn't recognize the card. Every time, I have to manually place songs/pictures on the card, it doesn't add the card space to the phones pre-existing memory. That is terribly annoying.
Even worse...
The phone freezes often. Programs stay active, EVEN when you close them off of the screen. You have to go into the task manager and manually stop each task if you want to end it. If I open text messages, Internet Explorer, and SIM card manager, they stay active in the background until I manually stop them. Very annoying.
The voicemail and new text message yellow indicator light in the top of the device stay on when I do not have any new messages. When I send a text message, the "sent message" confirmation freezes on the screen and I have to manually exit the text message program.
When the device loses the GPRS signal, it takes a VERY long time (several minutes) to find it again. Even if there is a signal in the area, the device takes a while to get the message.
The end and start call tactile buttons do not work most of the time and I have to use the touch screen to end or start a call. Sometimes, if I press them 25 times they will work. Also, the slider for the volume gets stuck in the down position often.
The QWERTY keyboard is handy for texting. However, it isn't designed well. There is no "num/symbols lock" or caps lock indicator on the phone so the user never knows which mode the device is in. There are no greater than or less than keys or the tactile keyboard and you have to use the virtual one to enter those characters. That is a problem for HTML coding and adds an unnecessary amount of time to what should be a quick operation. Also, instead of having the numbers arranged like a number pad as they should be, this device has them on the top row in linear format. And, they are a secondary function so the "alt" key has to be pressed before each number. It can be locked on, but then has to be double tapped again to turn it off. The user actually has to type some characters to see which mode the keyboard is in.
The stereo headset that comes with the device is wonderful, until it breaks. It is good and loud and can be used for making calls or listening to music. Stereo means that it has two speakers, so it is very easy to hear calls. One day, the speaker just fell open and into about 5 pieces. I threw it away. I've used the Bluetooth headset as well, but they aren't loud and I always lose my Bluetooth headsets.
The external speakers built into the phone are very tinny (as in tin can, I'm not misspelling a euphemism for small) and not loud or clear at all. Speakerphone is a joke unless using it with automated systems.
The number keypad for dialing phone numbers is not good to use if you are used to feeling your way around the keyboard. It is on the touchscreen, and there is no tactile feedback. Not only does the user have to look to see which number they are pressing they have to make sure that the press was detected and interpreted properly by the phone.
The camera is worse than terrible. I know you can't expect miracles from a cell phone camera, but this is unreal. The 1.3 megapixel camera takes grainy, blurry pictures. The "flash" is a joke and shouldn't even exist. It's a little flashlight that does not help dark pictures at all. Activating the camera often causes the phone to freeze.
I don't ActiveSync at all so I cannot speak to that. I do not ever use Outlook e-mail.
ABOUT THE INSURANCE...
After the warranty expired, I needed a new handset and filed a claim. I had to pay a 100 deductible to get a new handset from a terrible company called Asurion. The replacement took 2 weeks to arrive. And, it has more problems than the phone that I RETURNED TO THEM. They demanded that I send them my old phone or they would charge my credit card for the full amount of a brand new phone. I asked what would have happened if I told them I'd lost the phone. They said since they wouldn't have a way to prove it so they wouldn't be able to charge me. Since I had already told them that it was must malfunctioning, but I still had it they must have the old phone returned. What a joke!
