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"Nothing special"
on by crazycarl1999Pros Wifi, Windows Mobile
Cons Weak processor, No office software
Summary I purchased this phone first thing this morning, upgrading from a Blackberry Pearl. The first thing I noticed was that the interface is somewhat slow and tends to lock up for short periods of time (while logging keystrokes), when the OS comes back to life all of the buttons you pushed are instantly applied, sometimes leaving you in some random menu.
I was surprised to find out that this phone uses the same processor as the older T-mobile SDA and MDA.
The user interface is cumbersome.
Any phone running Windows Mobile with a QWERTY keyboard needs to have mobile office, only including document viewer software like what is on Dash does not cut it.
This phone really lacks any special touches that would make it stand out, I guess I was spoiled by the Blackberry. The Pearl is a smarter phone with the ability to turn itself on and off, turn itself on when you set the alarm clock so you don't have to leave it on all night, it adjusts the backlight automaticaly according to ambient light conditions.
The "volume control" on the side is useless.
Fundamentaly it seems to me that the OS is a little to much for the processer to handle.
These are just my first impressions, I'll give it a few more days of use before I consider returning it and getting that little blackberry back.
I will put the disclaimer on that I have never used a Motorola Q so the Dash might be way better then the Q, but if that is the case the Q is ultimately overrated.Updated
This phone is an absolutely terrible "smart" phone. The only thing it has going for it if WIFI, which actually works pretty well for light web browsing. I turned on error monitoring, every morning when I wake up it has at least one system error to report. Here's a list of things that suck with this phone:
1) No copy and paste. Smart phones need the ability to copy and paste text. I guess this is a moot point with this phone, as it has no text editing capabilities.
2) There is a serious flaw in the alarm clock. The phone does not turn alarms off, if you use the alarm clock, you will find that it goes off at all the times you have ever set it for.
3) The volume control is worthless. Even if the touch strip worked, it is positioned in a place of the phone which makes it useless during calls (which is when most people adjust the volume)
4) The ActiveSync utility does not allow you to manually select the correct entry when and entry has been changed on the phone and on your computer.
5) You can't close programs without going into the task manager. Running more then one program at the same time burns what little memory this phone has and makes it incredibly slow and prone to freezing.
6) Come on, 64MB of memory? this thing needs at least 128!
7) When you have call waiting, you are not given the option of dropping the current call in favor of the incoming call.
8) The camera on this thing is terrible.
9) You cannot edit the learned word list in XT9, XT9 tries to force you to use misspelled words that you have used in the past.
10) you can't do a full backup of the phone, if you do a hard reset you loose everything but what you've synced to your computer.
11) No pocket office.
That's probably enough for now, but I could go on for a lot longer. Some of these things are a little nit picky, but smart phones should have smart features.
The hardware is actually pretty decent, the only fatal flaw is the volume strip.
The software is garbage. This phone can do a lot of things and most of it's problems can be worked around, but why pay $200 for a "smart" phone when it requires you to spend hours in internet forums searching for workarounds to its many problems and extra money to purchase software that should have been included in the first place?
I'm going to hold on to this phone for another month, hoping that t-mobile, microsoft, or HTC will take responsibility for the shortcomings of this phone and issue a software update. If no update is issued, I'm going to sell it and get a real smartphone from Blackberry.
I hope this helps, it's a little negative, but the software on this thing is poorly designed. All of the people who gave this phone a 10 must have a higher tolerance for flaws then I do.Updated
This phone is an absolutely terrible "smart" phone. The only thing it has going for it if WIFI, which actually works pretty well for light web browsing. I turned on error monitoring, every morning when I wake up it has at least one system error to report. Here's a list of things that suck with this phone:
1) No copy and paste. Smart phones need the ability to copy and paste text. I guess this is a moot point with this phone, as it has no text editing capabilities.
2) There is a serious flaw in the alarm clock. The phone does not turn alarms off, if you use the alarm clock, you will find that it goes off at all the times you have ever set it for.
3) The volume control is worthless. Even if the touch strip worked, it is positioned in a place of the phone which makes it useless during calls (which is when most people adjust the volume)
4) The ActiveSync utility does not allow you to manually select the correct entry when and entry has been changed on the phone and on your computer.
5) You can't close programs without going into the task manager. Running more then one program at the same time burns what little memory this phone has and makes it incredibly slow and prone to freezing.
6) Come on, 64MB of memory? this thing needs at least 128!
7) When you have call waiting, you are not given the option of dropping the current call in favor of the incoming call.
8) The camera on this thing is terrible.
9) You cannot edit the learned word list in XT9, XT9 tries to force you to use misspelled words that you have used in the past.
10) you can't do a full backup of the phone, if you do a hard reset you loose everything but what you've synced to your computer.
11) No pocket office.
That's probably enough for now, but I could go on for a lot longer. Some of these things are a little nit picky, but smart phones should have smart features.
The hardware is actually pretty decent, the only fatal flaw is the volume strip.
The software is garbage. This phone can do a lot of things and most of it's problems can be worked around, but why pay $200 for a "smart" phone when it requires you to spend hours in internet forums searching for workarounds to its many problems and extra money to purchase software that should have been included in the first place?
I'm going to hold on to this phone for another month, hoping that t-mobile, microsoft, or HTC will take responsibility for the shortcomings of this phone and issue a software update. If no update is issued, I'm going to sell it and get a real smartphone from Blackberry.
I hope this helps, it's a little negative, but the software on this thing is poorly designed. All of the people who gave this phone a 10 must have a higher tolerance for flaws then I do. -
"Best phone I've had!"
on by artman222Pros light, slim, comfortable, stylish, great screen,
Cons no document editing, volume control useless
Summary I went out and bought the Dash yesterday as a replacement for my RZR. I wanted a smartphone and definitely got one.
PROs
Great all in one. Ability to view muliple types of files (pdf, jpeg, xls, word) really helps me out in my field.
Listening to music is great too and the external speaker in the back is not bad.
The screen quality is unbelievable so I can't wait to use it to watch shows on it with Windows Media Player.
It's also very slim and very comfortable to hold. It's not cumbersome or too large and the handy case is great if you don't want to put it in your pocket.
WiFi is a great option for me because I have wifi in my house, at my school, and around where I go. No need for me to get the data plan. Just tap in!
CONs
Buttons are a bit too close together but I'll get used to it.
Isn't compatible with T-zones (who cares) so why include the button?
Volume control on the side is unreliable so don't bother.
I used to carry a Palm Pilot and phone but this combination is really better for me. I still have 3 weeks to try it out before I can't return it but I think I will keep it! -
"Great phone, mobile media star"
on by GeordieBPros Wifi, Stereo Bluetooth, snyc w/Outlook, voice dialing, screen, call quality, look & feel.
Cons Can be a bit slow, touch strip volume control (what were they thinking?!?)
Summary I replaced my T-Mobile SDA with this one, gave the SDA to my wife (she loves it, it's a great phone). I wanted a keyboard, but also wanted the Windows Mobile 5 OS, since it makes sync'ing w/ Outlook a breeze. I have it syncing with Exchange Server in my home office on WiFi, really convenient and easy.
Call quality is terrific, earpiece volume is a bit lower than the SDA, and that volume "touch strip"...really a bizarre piece of engineering. Luckily, you can turn it off, or change sensitivity, but it takes a lot of trial-and-error to get it right. I was consistently changing the volume during a call, just because my cheek was in contact with it. I thought this phone's volume was show-stoppingly low until I discovered I was turning the volume all the way down during a call. All that being said, after having this phone for a few days, I seem to have hit the "sweet spot" with this volume strip, and it is much less annoying. However, a simple rocker switch would have made much more sense.
Bluetooth 2.0 with Stereo capability, and the landscape screen make this a terrific multimedia device. I've been able to listen to streaming ESPN Radio on wireless headset while on Wifi. Also, get the TCPMP player to play video files...great software, fullscreen mode, I have a whole season of Futurama on the storage card, and it looks and sounds great. I'll be using this to watch some video or a movie at the airport instead of breaking out my laptop while waiting to board. Too cool!
Response can seem a bit sluggish, but I don't find it annoyingly slow. The processor is not the fastest, but this helps conserve battery power, and it still runs movies and videos stutter-free, smooth frame rates, so I think it's a good compromise of speed vs. power consumption.
I'm not a heavy emailer, so I can't compare this device to, say, a Blackberry. But the keyboard is easy to use, and has a terrific feature I haven't seen on others: to type the "alt" character (like a "/", $, etc.), you need only hold down the corresponding key for about a second, and it enters that character. You can also use the "Alt"+keystroke of course, but this little time saver technique will spoil you quickly.
Lastly, the voice dialing works great! The SDA also had the same feature, and my wife was actually able to use it when I gave her the phone, even though it was *my* voice that it was trained to. Unbelievable! One big advantage of Bluetooth 2.0 over earlier version is you can initiate voice dialing over your bluetooth headset. The SDA could not do that, I still had to hold the phone to use voice dialing. With the Dash, I am totally hands free in the car with my Bluetooth headset, I have voice dialing for all my regular contacts. The Dash stays in the console, untouched, the entire time I'm in the car.
Bottom line, I really like this phone, there's very few gripes, and those are outweighed by all the pluses. -
"Amazing Smartphone"
on by bctitan04Pros phone size, application speed, organization (both physical buttons and phone files), internet access, fantastic phone, great battery life
Cons music organization (obviously not a big deal)
Summary I needed a phone/PDA to use in the hospital and even though i knew that Treos and other things were more compatible with a lot of the medical software out there, i wetn ahead and got the Dash and i couldnt be happier. Brief part for medical students - Epocrates works great on the phone and any medical notes you have on your computer can be sent to your phone with a PC or Mac with bluetooth and almost all the other medical programs (harrisons, washinton manual, medcalc, etc. on working on Mac/Windows 5.0 program versions).
Now, about the phone: its so easy to use its frightening. In about an hour i had transferred all my contacts, set up my email, and put on about 50 songs using Bluetooth. My Mac recognizes the Dash without any problem (just make sure that both bluetooth devices aren't only "On", but both are "Visible" or "Discoverable"...then its no problem and its fast with transfers).
the email function on the phone is amazing, besides the keypad being an perfect combination of compactness and typing ease, the actual email on the phone is so fast its just like a text message program, everything is instantaneous. I sent emails at exactly the same speed as on my Mac.
The calling of the phone is very good, its a good shape for talking on and its got a good grip. The side volume bar that everyone complains about is NO inconvience because you can easily turn it off by browsing through your phone capabilities and even if its on, you can set it to "Slow" so touching the bar only changes volume slightly.
Music plays great, pictures are much better than advertised, there is no way you can expect more from a camera phone. If you want higher resolution pictures then try buying a camera instead.
Browsing through programs is so easy, its easier than on a Mac or on a PC, its just a very basic windows program that functions great for a PDA/phone. Programs are accessed quickly, Task Manager shows everything that is open at once so you can close things from there or go to anything from there, plus your last 6 applications accessed are small icons on the top of your phone, so if you are like most people and you only use a few functions constatnly (like me: Epocrates, Windows Player (music), Task Manager, MyFaves, Internet Explorer) you never have to even open a window, just click on things from your home screen. Also, changing the phone from silent to audible is very easy, its the bottom line of your home screen.
Finally, people have told me that they couldnt transfer files from a Mac because Bluetooth says "Dash cannot access file, transfer anyway?" Well if you just hit "Transfer anyway" and accept it on your dash, it transfers just fine, no problem at all.
Also, i talk on my phone maybe 2 hours a day, but use programs on it all day long and i always come home at night with at least 1/2 battery so it demolishs the blackjack and Q in that respect.
Thats all i can think of right now, my one wish is that it had more of an iTunes program instead of the mediocre Windows Media Player, but its a Windows phone so what can you do.
Overall, absolutely amazing phone. Better than my old phone, better than my old pda, better than any combination any of my friends or family have. 10/10, no question. -
"Good Device, with some flaws"
on by dfoster1074Pros Finally Tmobile has a true Smartphone with a FULL Qwerty Keyboard and Integrated WiFi, Nice Bright Screen, Multimedia Options, Multiple Email and message clients
Cons Lack of touch screen, cannot edit documents, experienced minimal sluggish performance, dumb volume strip
Summary As far as TMOBILE is concerned, this is their best smartphone. SDA and Pearl do not have full Qwerty Keyboard, and Blackberry's lacked Multimedia options and integrated WiFi. This device is great looking, great feeling, and performs well with all of its options, I just wish I could edit documents, but still this device is great for TMOBILE!!!
T-Mobile Dash user reviews (aka HTC Excalibur)
Results 1-5 of 316
Results 1-5 of 316
Quick Specifications
- Release date10/16/06
- Service provider Not specified
- Cellular technology GSM
- Talk time 300 min
- Weight 4.2 oz
- Sensor resolution 1.3 megapixels
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