Tech.Wapline

Focused more on fun than on work, the sleek HTC S620 is a device designed to appeal to the Sidekick set. Though it resembles the Motorola Q, the candy bar-style phone is rubberised, rounded, and otherwise made friendlier for riding along in a pocket.
The handset includes Wi-Fi and its e-mail works well. When reviewed (as the T-Mobile Dash) it included little in the way of office applications, bundling only the ClearVue suite for viewing-but not editing-documents. This is likely to be remedied when it is available with Windows Mobile 6, which includes a mobile version of Office.

Typing on the cramped keyboard is tricky, as little horizontal space separates the keys, and the tiny buttons feel all mashed together. Because I had trouble getting the Wi-Fi connection to work, I often had to resort to T-Mobile’s slower EDGE network.

As an entertainment-oriented gadget, the Dash is a hit, offering a standout media player and a microSD expansion slot so you can add music to the device.

But regrettably, someone at T-Mobile forgot that this device needs to work well as a phone, too. Though the Dash lasted a stellar 10 hours in our battery tests, it didn’t fare well on other measures. Calls are loud and clear, but dialing them is difficult: Unlike every other smart phone, the Dash fails to supply an on-screen dialpad mode to let you dial digits by their letter alternatives. Whoops!

Still, overall, this capable and extremely svelte handset is a strong contender in the PDA phone sweepstakes.

On Thursday, Microsoft offered me the chance to play with Windows Mobile 6 ahead of the 3GSM show in Barcelona, Spain, next week. The short demonstration, which took place at Microsoft’s office in Singapore, was done using a currently available handset: the HTC S620 smart phone, also known as Excalibur, sold in the US as the T-Mobile Dash.

The S620 sports a small QWERTY keypad, a 2.4-inch QVGA (320 pixels by 240 pixels) screen, and support for GSM, GPRS and EDGE networks. Powered by Texas Instruments’ 200MHz OMAP 850 processor, the smart phone has 128 Mbyte of ROM and 64 Mbyte of DDR (double data rate) DRAM.

But what about the software?

At first glance, Microsoft’s attempt to make Windows Mobile 6 look more like Vista has resulted in a better-looking piece of software, with a new font and a cleaner overall appearance. But the most important improvements to Windows Mobile 6 aren’t cosmetic.

For starters, Microsoft has added the ability for users to use a smart phone to remotely search e-mails and other information stored on Exchange Server 2007. Windows Mobile 6 also allows users to configure their push mail settings and out-of-office notifications directly from their smart phone, instead of having to use their PCs.

Previous versions of Windows Mobile for PDAs allowed users to view Office documents, and that capability has now been added to the smartphone version of the software. In addition, users can now edit their documents. That feature may be useful for some Word and Excel documents, but I have a hard time believing anyone will be using Windows Mobile 6 to edit, or even view, PowerPoint presentations. The screens on these types of devices are just too small for this to be practical.

Other improvements to Windows Mobile 6 include offering more information about the people on your contact list. Start typing the name of a contact, say “John” for example, and Windows Mobile 6 brings up a list of contacts named John. Clicking on any one of these names brings detailed information about the contact, including different phone numbers and e-mail addresses, as well as information about your last call - or missed call - with the contact.

Microsoft also improved the browser and instant-messaging functions in Windows Mobile. For example, you can send text or voice messages to your MSN contacts, while chatting with several contacts simultaneously. If a contact doesn’t respond, you can also send a “nudge,” which causes the user’s phone to vibrate, letting them know that they’ve received a message.

Apart from these features, what struck me most about Windows Mobile 6 was its speed. The software seems much faster than previous versions. Applications opened instantly, without making the user wait.

Overall, I was impressed by the newest version of Windows Mobile. Previous versions did not appeal to me, but the improved speed and added features mean Windows Mobile 6 is worth a closer look.

Straighten your ties and button your suit jackets, RIM’s promiscuous debutante — the Blackberry 8800 — is up and dancin’ on on Cingular’s website. $500 list, or $300 after $50 mail-in rebate and 2-year contract, the 8800 brings everything we expected: quad-band EDGE, GPS, microSD expansion, Bluetooth 2.0, push-to-talk suport, and 5-hours talk / 24-days standby in a 0.55-inch device weighing just 4.73-ounces. 3G data? No. WiFi? Not this time. For that we’ll have to hold tight for the anticipated mid-year launch of the 8820.

 

 

Not that we love abbreviations in titles, but we just couldn’t resist with that one. The HTC sub-brand we all love to name — Dopod — has officially released a GPS upgrade for the D810 WM5 handset (aka HTC P3600/Trinity). The new legit and official ROM for your Dopod D810 includes GPS capability onboard to complement its speedy HSDPA data connection without the use of an added GPS antenna. Want to take photos from the onboard cam with embedded GPS coordinates? You are now covered, you geocacher you. In addition to being fully staffed with BlackBerry Connect and Microsoft’s Direct Push email solution, you can now tell where you are under the stars when checking your email if you so choose. The new GPS ROM, according to Dopod, should become available in March on new factory D810s, and existing D810 users can upgrade their units free of charge via download at www.dopodasia.com.

Samsung’s latest dual-hinged handset, the SCH-u740, hit Verizon this week and we’ve got a gallery full of hands-on pics for your perusal. The specs on this thing won’t blow you away, but for $200 (with two year contract) you get a messaging-centric EV-DO phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera, a microSD memory card slot (the u740 supports playback of MP3 and WMA audio files), and Bluetooth (including DUN support). First impressions: the u740 is decently thing, but we’re not really digging the champagne finish on this thing, it actually makes the u740 look cheaper than it should. Screen resolution is a disappointing 176 x 220 pixels, but we’re pretty pleased with how solid the dual-hinge is, at least so far, and switching between modes is totally seamless. The QWERTY keyboard is nothing special, the keys are a little slippery and aren’t very easy to type on. They have made a few (mostly cosmetic) improvements to the UI, but the u740 is most definitely NOT a smartphone, and so even though Verizon does offer wireless sync email this probably shouldn’t be the first choice for anyone who is really serious about doing email on their phone.