Sixty phones
news and opinions about Nokia Series 60 Symbian phones and other high-priced Finnish trinkets
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
T-Mobile SDA - Thoughts
I ambled over to the T-Mobile store during lunch hour today to see what the newest combination of US software behemoth Microsoft and Taiwanese company HTC cooked up. I found the device intriguing and wanted to check it out for three main reasons: it is a)a "smartphone; b) quad band; and c) wifi enabled.
Hardware: The phone is a lot thicker than I thought. The width is what I'd describe as chunky. It's still a heck of a lot smaller than the T-Mobile MDA/QTEK 9100, though. But it still is what I'd describe as pocketable, though less comfortable than my 6681.
The button layout is a real drawback. There's a set of softkeys on the top row that are tiny, a set of buttons for music playback underneath and a joystick in the middle. Below that is a conventional numerical layout. The problem is, the keypad has been shrunken to make room for the other less useful row of music buttons, making it hard to comfortably text on the phone. And I already think the 6630/6681 are verging on unusable for most people because of the small keys -- this device is much worse. I had a hard time texting quickly because of it.
The screen is beautiful -- much more clear and vibrant than the 6681, though smaller.
Software: I found the Windows mobile software to be pleasantly surprising. There was not a long a lag time between choosing functions as I find on the current (8) version of S60 phones. The home page is spare and neat; you can navigate the icons on the top row or hit the start button to go to a full screen of icons.
There wasn't a ton of built in apps. Pocket IE and Outlook, and an IM program. The IM software allows access to AOL, ICQ, Yahoo! -- and looked pretty cool (I assume MSN was there somewhere, but I didn't see it on first glance). The menu structure seemed basic and intuitive to me.
The biggest drawback other than the buttons was T9. I didn't like the implementation of text prediction -- the space bar is the pound key, and you get a drop down selection of words that you have to choose rather than being able to cycle through a selection with the * key. I don't know if this is a MS adaptation or the way it will be implemented by all T9 licensees in the future.
I couldn't get connected to either GPRS or to any of the available wifi networks to test the speed of the browser - I'm sure I was doing something wrong on a very basic level, so I can't really blame MS for it.
Conclusion: I think this would be a very successful phone with a larger keypad, but as it is, it just whets one's appetite for the MDA with a qwerty keypad. After playing with the SDA for a half hour, it is clear: I still prefer the layout of S60 and the finish on Nokia phones -- the HTC devices are fairly soulless and industrial to me. Not switching yet.
I probably was looking for a reason not to buy and found them, but Microsoft is gaining on Symbian with this device. ¶ 9:58 AM
Hardware: The phone is a lot thicker than I thought. The width is what I'd describe as chunky. It's still a heck of a lot smaller than the T-Mobile MDA/QTEK 9100, though. But it still is what I'd describe as pocketable, though less comfortable than my 6681.
The button layout is a real drawback. There's a set of softkeys on the top row that are tiny, a set of buttons for music playback underneath and a joystick in the middle. Below that is a conventional numerical layout. The problem is, the keypad has been shrunken to make room for the other less useful row of music buttons, making it hard to comfortably text on the phone. And I already think the 6630/6681 are verging on unusable for most people because of the small keys -- this device is much worse. I had a hard time texting quickly because of it.
The screen is beautiful -- much more clear and vibrant than the 6681, though smaller.
Software: I found the Windows mobile software to be pleasantly surprising. There was not a long a lag time between choosing functions as I find on the current (8) version of S60 phones. The home page is spare and neat; you can navigate the icons on the top row or hit the start button to go to a full screen of icons.
There wasn't a ton of built in apps. Pocket IE and Outlook, and an IM program. The IM software allows access to AOL, ICQ, Yahoo! -- and looked pretty cool (I assume MSN was there somewhere, but I didn't see it on first glance). The menu structure seemed basic and intuitive to me.
The biggest drawback other than the buttons was T9. I didn't like the implementation of text prediction -- the space bar is the pound key, and you get a drop down selection of words that you have to choose rather than being able to cycle through a selection with the * key. I don't know if this is a MS adaptation or the way it will be implemented by all T9 licensees in the future.
I couldn't get connected to either GPRS or to any of the available wifi networks to test the speed of the browser - I'm sure I was doing something wrong on a very basic level, so I can't really blame MS for it.
Conclusion: I think this would be a very successful phone with a larger keypad, but as it is, it just whets one's appetite for the MDA with a qwerty keypad. After playing with the SDA for a half hour, it is clear: I still prefer the layout of S60 and the finish on Nokia phones -- the HTC devices are fairly soulless and industrial to me. Not switching yet.
I probably was looking for a reason not to buy and found them, but Microsoft is gaining on Symbian with this device. ¶ 9:58 AM
