The Wing is the first phone from T-Mobile to ship with Windows Mobile 6. It is made by HTC, and is the successor to the MDA, with the same processor and memory under the hood, but with upgraded software, more buttons, and a better camera. The first thing you notice when you pull it out of the box, though, is the casing. The color is a deep blue hue that I liked very much. The other thing you notice as soon as it's in your hands is the rubberized texture. It makes the phone very easy to hold on to. They basically took the texture from the back of the Dash and applied it to the entire case on this phone.
Further inspection of the casing reveals a multitude of buttons. On the front, there are the Talk and End buttons, two softkeys corresponding to the two selection items displayed at the bottom of the screen, a Start menu button, and an OK button that you can use to close most application windows, along with a four-way navigation wheel with an enter button in the center. On the sides you will find a volume slider bar, a reset button, a camera button, a power button, a voice command button, and a messaging button, for quick access to your text messages and emails.
Like the MDA, this phone is also is of the slider variety, with a full keyboard located under the screen. The keys are slightly rubberized and I found them easy to type with. After using the phone for about a week, my thumbs had grown accustomed to the layout and I was able to type fairly quickly without many mistakes. The one thing about the keyboard I did not like was the location and size of the softkeys. They are about a third the size of all the other keys, which makes them a little tricky to hit reliably. I found that it was usually easier just to use the touchscreen in situations involving the need for a softkey.
As this phone comes with Windows Mobile 6, Microsoft's newest mobile OS, I decided that I would sync it with Microsoft's newest desktop OS, Windows Vista. I already had Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 installed on Vista, so upon plugging in the Wing, it was immediately recognized. And, unlike several other phones I've used with Mobile Device Center, the picture that came up when I plugged in the Wing actually looked like a Wing.
The Wing synchronized flawlessly with Vista, I was able to sync Mobile Favorites and copy over custom ringtones I created. Under Programs and Services, there were specific T-Mobile links for items such as managing your account and getting help with the Wing itself. This is very nice integration between WM6 and MDC6, much better than with WM5 and ActiveSync.
Next, I decided to test out the camera. The 2MP camera has a self-portrait window right next to the lens, which, although isn't a huge addition to the phone, is nice to have. Especially when phones in direct competition, such as the Sprint Mogul, don't. The camera has several capture modes:
- Photo: Captures standard still images.
- Video: Captures video clips, with or without accompanying audio.
- MMS Video: Captures video clips suitable for sending with picture messages.
- Contacts Picture: Captures a still image and gives you the option to immediately assign it as a Photo ID for a contact.
- Picture Theme: Captures still images and places them within frames.
- Sports: Captures a sequence of still images (3, 5, 7, or 10) automatically.
- Burst: Captures a sequence of still images (maximum 30) as long as the CAMERA button on the device or the ENTER button on the NAVIGATION Control is kept pressed.
I took several photos with the phone both indoors and out. Is it a Leica? No. But in a well-lit area where your subject isn't moving much, it takes a decent photo. The videos were about the same.
One of the greatest improvements over the MDA is the addition of Windows Mobile 6, and all the upgraded features it brings with it. HTLM emails were viewable as designed, the calendar layouts were much better, I was able set up Internet sharing with a laptop, and email management was much easier. The new Windows Live set of features was also there. Windows Live Messenger worked great, but I did have issues with Windows Live Hotmail accounts. The initial sync would bring everything across, but after that, clicking Send/Receive never brought across any more emails, although I can't say for sure if the blame lies with WM6 or with the WL Hotmail servers.
Speaking of using the Wing for laptop Internet access, if you have the T-Mobile Internet plan (and with a phone like this, I can't see why you wouldn't) you automatically have unlimited access to any T-Mobile HotSpot, both with your laptop and the Wing, so if you're in need of a connection and there's a Starbucks somewhere nearby, you're probably in luck.
One other thing I really liked was the addition of a task manager docked at the top right-hand corner of the screen. This applet allows you to close running programs without having to go into the memory settings app. That saved me an immense amount of time. There are apps out there already that do this, but most of them aren't free, and this seems like something that should have been included with Windows Mobile years ago.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that it's also a phone. The calls were very clear and people on the other end of my conversations reported that they had no problems hearing me. The speakerphone was decent, but tended to get a little distorted at higher volumes. T-Mobile lists a four hour talk time for the included battery, and since I don't really have that kind of spare time, I'll take them at their word. I can say that using the email and web browsing functions all day long (including some WiFi access) still left me with battery power to spare at the end of the day, so I was very pleased with that, since I typically do web, texting, and email more than actual phone calls anyway. The Wing also supports myFaves, so you can place unlimited calls to the five people you call the most.
As for the cons, there weren't that many, really. The 201 Mhz processor is a little sluggish when several apps are open, and very sluggish changing the screen to landscape mode when the keyboard slides out if there are apps running. The screen was very bright and easy to read, but in direct sunlight, it was nearly impossible to see anything. The Wing could also use a memory upgrade. Out of the box, there was only about 13MB of available RAM, which won't exactly allow you to use it as an MP3 player. Given the limited amount of ram available, a 512 MicroSD card in the box wouldn't be a bad idea. Also, my new mail notification audible alerts quit firing periodically. I would either have to reboot the phone, or go to the Notifications and remove then re-add the alert sound. Something a little faster than Edge connectivity would be nice as well, but the downloads weren't that bad overall.
I really liked this phone, and I'm sad that I have to return it tomorrow. For anyone with an aging MDA that they love, I would highly recommend this phone as an upgrade. And for anyone else in the market for a new Windows Mobile-powered device as well. I give it eight stars out of ten.
Finally, here are some specifications:
- Windows Mobile 6 Professional
- 201Mhz TI OMAP 850 processor
- 128MB ROM
- 64MB RAM
- 2.8-inch QVGA display
- Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900), GPRS, EDGE
- USB 1.1
- 802.11b/g Wireless
- Bluetooth 2.0
- 2 MP Camera
- MicroSD slot