When T-Mobile began shipping the Wing (made by the good folks at HTC) just the other day, they earned bragging rights for being the first provider to give us a Windows Mobile-6.0-loaded phone.
So how does the gadget hold up? I’ve spent a good deal of time playing with the brand-new T-Mobile Wing, and am now ready to pass judgment on it. Click the jump for a full review and lots of up-close photos.
-The rubberized finish is incredible, and definitely gives what could be a business-only device a more “lifestyle” feel. The advantage to this is that if you want to use this as a media player (using the included Windows Media Player app) it actually feels decent in your palm.
-It is surprisingly thin. Much thinner than the MDA and only a few millimeters thicker than the RAZR. Lets say this is about as thin as an LG Chocolate. As a result, this phone actually holds up well in the back pocket of pants (my phone holster of choice), and is accessible to people who absolutely shun their belt clip (which comes included.)
-The 2-megapixel camera takes decent photos, as long as the lighting is good (sorry–no flash!) And I know other phones do this as well, but it makes great use of the touchscreen for quick adjustments while an image is being previewed. This is definitely the sort of thing that stand-alone consumer cameras should use, instead of forcing you to dig through endless menus.
-The Quick Menu, as they call it, is a nice little WM6 feature that lets you keep tabs on what programs are running. This is especially important since Windows Mobile has a tendency to trick you into thinking you’ve shut down a program, when you’ve merely closed the window. Thankfully, that problem is greatly diminished in this iteration, as the Quick Menu also features easy access to a check box that lets you set the upper-right corner “X” to kill the whole program.
-When you slide out the keyboard, it takes a second or two for the display to automatically switch orientation (vertical when the keyboard is docked, landscape when you’re ready to type.) While not a huge hassle, it definitely is not a seamless transition, with the screen hiccuping annoyingly.
-The keyboard looks and feels great, and the illuminated keys look neat in the dark. Kudos!
-As John pointed out in his review, the IM client does not automatically send messages when you hit Enter. This can be annoying for the fast-paced converser.
-If even one program is running in the background, the camera may not be able to conjure up enough system resources to load. I tried to load it while Internet Explorer was running, to no avail. This can be tragic if that once-in-a-lifetime photo op passes you by while you are frantically trying to close whatever programs you left open.
-The Windows Mobile e-mail client still earns an Incomplete. While BlackBerry users are used to their device instantly pulling their email from the ether, Windows Mobile STILL needs to “send/receive” in order to get your latest messages. Unless you manually click “send/receive” every minute, the smallest amount of time you can set the device to automatically fetch messages is every five minutes. Lame. What if I needed that message four minutes ago? And, to make matters worse, the whole sending and receiving process is slooowwwwwww, taking a few seconds. Argh. Come on Microsoft!
-When you set up email, the Wing automatically merges the address books from any and all email accounts you set up. This is incredibly useful for people with many accounts, as it makes finding their contacts a snap.
-The speakerphone works well, but sounds slightly muffled at a high volume.
-The Wi-Fi scavenger worked like a charm, pulling up our local network and letting us type in the encryption code.
-The battery life on the Wing, like all Windows Mobile devices, sucks.
-The media player works well, and is a major reason this device is more of a “lifestyle” product than the MDA. Unfortunately, the only headphone jack is through freakin’ USB! It doesn’t even have the tiny jack that most cell phones have (and which piss us all off), much less a full-sized one. The new BlackBerry Curve got it right in this department — if somebody invests a decent chunk of change into a pair of headphones, they want to be able to use them on all of their devices.
-The default “Today” screen is easily customizable, prominently displays your T-Mobile myFaves (neat!), and looks great. You can easily chose your favorite programs or features and have them instantly accessible, which is enormously useful. However, going deeper into the menu system can be cumbersome, with the menu organization resembling a Windows 95 computer in terms of intuitiveness. Basically, it can be pretty difficult to find your files sometimes.
-You still can’t enterprise sync with Macs.
-You can set up Gmail, but it takes a few minutes, and even then may not work the first time (it didn’t for me). Hotmail and Yahoo are built into the menu, and are thus seamless and instant.
-I’ve used Windows Mobile 5.0. I’ve had Windows Mobile 5.0 phones freeze, stall, and even brick under Windows 5.0. I’ve wanted to kill Windows Mobile 5.0. While still a bit slow at times, Windows Mobile 6.0 is FAR more stable, and actually lets you get your work done without fear of losing it all to the whims of a funky OS. It still can use some improvement (particularly in the battery department), but it is a VAST improvement over its predecessor, which felt like a beta pushed to market long before it was ready.
OVERALL:
The Wing is a pretty great phone, especially if you are a T-Mobile loyalist (or merely under contract) and the limited software support for the Sidekick fails to satisfy your program hunger. It is also an enormously complex device, and takes a lot of playing around with to get used to if you aren’t migrating from another Windows Mobile device. However, the payoff is big: This really is a phone I can see myself using to get work done on the road. It is also enormously customizable in every sense of the word. The most amazing thing, of course, is how they’ve managed to disguise just how business-savvy the phone is. The rubberized finish (which simply begs to be touched), media player, and thin profile really do add much-needed life to the gadget.
FINAL TAKE:
If you are a T-Mobile user and not bound to a BlackBerry, this is quite simply the best business PDA phone out there, reaching a nice middle ground between the childish connotations of the Sidekick (you can’t see yourself bringing that thing into a boardroom, can you?), and the fun-less feel of the MDA.
Related: The Biggs T-Mobile Wing Review
wow! This is hella accurate! This was everything I felt about the wing. I had a sk3 before and the transition is a headache (I’m still taking asprin being I just bought mine last fri). My sk3 was stolen so I wanted to get something better if I was to get something new… I just really hate how quick the battery goes dead, and the stylus, I have to get use to it as well. I dont like how you have to hold the “alt” button first to use the numbers on the keyboard, but I’ll get use to it. It is very cumbersome, but I think it will be very cool to have a “mini computer” in your pocket! I tell people it’s the sidekick “grown an sexy”! LOL! a more mature phone than the sidekick, so it ’s gonna be a bit more serious, and more expensive..
On the sk3, I had free unlimited text and internet for only 19.99 a month. on the wing, it’s 14.99 for unlimited text and 29.99 for internet a month…
I’m slowly making the transition, I’m just gonna miss my sk, it’s all grown up now, and I got to get use to it( tear)
UM THIS IS FUCKING UGLY FUCK NO
I used this phone for a weekend, but had to take it back. On the plus side it has many features and seems very well built. Unfortunately the negative is that it has TOO many features. Perhaps people are used to the windows mobile interface, but good god what a mess. I’ve got to agree with the poster, “H” above, a terribly ugly mobile with a car wreck of an interface.
I currently have the sidekick id.but, it got all effed up, so im thinking about getting this one.
But before I do, does it have that unlimited im/text/we browsing plan like the sidekick does?
if not then it SUCKS.
I love this friggin phone!!! Im actually typing on it right now, and its great. I’ve had it for about 5 months and he’s my baby!!! I definitely agree with Networking…it 4 the grown & sexy….and hip!
I have had this phone now for over a year and all I can say is “IT SUCKS”. I have been a T-Mobile customer for over 5 years and I’m one of their platinum customers due to my account being large and longstanding.
Its a SLOW running version of Windows Mobile v6. The screen response to touch commands is very slow. It takes seconds for it to respond. I have done complete reboots to factory software to see if it was any added software from me causing this, but was not the case. It just has a slow running CPU. I have friends with the same Windows Mobile v6 OS on other model cell phones that run much faster.
The back of the phone has a sliding plastic case that does not stay clicked in. And I have not yet been able to locate a replacement part from T-Mobile on this back plastic case. I have gone into their stores and called them.
The phone always wants to slide out its keyboard slightly if you hold it too tight.
It constantly dials the last phone call that you completed since the Green call button presses down easily in the belt pouch. You always have to put the phone in Lock Mode to stop these accidental button presses. It also Hangs Up on calls since its so easy to press the Red hangup button. The hang ups happens more often when its in the belt pouch when using a bluetooth headset. You constantly have to put the phone in Lock Mode to avoid this issue which is a pain doing so.
All in all, this cell phone just sucks. I can’t wait to get a new one that is better at running Windows Mobile v6 (Non exist from T-Mobile). So I’m just waiting for my contract to expire so I can move over to a provider with FAST Internet connectivity and a faster cell phone OS. I’m looking at the iPhone 3G as the next one.
This phone is so incredibly terrible. The battery life is a joke. After 8 months of use it was down to 4-5 hours a day from 100% charge to dead. The touch screen is nice, if you don’t lose the stylus, then its a bitchallenging to work with, as some things, such as closing programs pretty much require you to touch the screen. also the music player is a pain in the azz. so many times i would have it go off in my pocket playing metallica in a customers home. It got to the point where even with all programs closed, when the phone would ring, the ringtone would go off, and it would half load the identification screen and the answer button would not work at all. it just kept ringing. i also noticed for some reason it would switch ringtones on me. using the camera was a joke. if you had just restarted it and closed all programs then, maybe it would work. overall the best thing about this phone is the keyboard, it was really easy to type fast. but alas it did the old, “i’ll ring but you can’t answer the call” for the last time today. i smashed the screen to little bits on my steering wheel. i got a blackberry pearl now. way better.
It’s a good idea if it worked. it’s beautiful, like the keyboard but like the guy above it rings and rings and won’t answer—-resulting in lost customers. OR – it won’t ring on my end–the caller hears it ring and ring and ring. OR it doesn’t ring, rings once or twice and goes to voicemail or disconnects. It drops calls. I’m on my third one because all T-moblie can do is exchange it –they all have the same probelmes. It must be locked at all times or just the slight pressure of being in the pocket activates who knows what. It also randomly changes from program to program. The one I have now sometimes automatically locks the display–which would be nice but i don’t know if it actually suppose to do that or not.
the other day I recieved a call from someone– it only rang once before hanging up. when I called last call – it was actually from a business I had contacts with but they insisted they didn’t call me and the number that showed up was not theirs!!!!!
I’ve talked with dozens of techs spent hours on the phone talking with dozens of techs. They each have a different solution–maybe it is software probelm ( on them all?) or needs a different SIM card to solve network problems – however if I get a new SIM card I’d have to pay for it as well as chosing a different phone.
all I want is a reliabel phone that can actaully make and recieve calls, has a easily readable keyboard and can be used as an organizer.
This phone is a pain in the butt and is losing me credibility with my clients. I’m stuck in a contract — T-mobile suggested that
It’s a good idea if it worked. it’s beautiful, like the keyboard but like the guy above it rings and rings and won’t answer—-resulting in lost customers. OR – it won’t ring on my end–the caller hears it ring and ring and ring. OR it doesn’t ring, rings once or twice and goes to voicemail or disconnects. It drops calls. I’m on my third one because all T-moblie can do is exchange it –they all have the same probelmes. It must be locked at all times or just the slight pressure of being in the pocket activates who knows what. It also randomly changes from program to program. The one I have now sometimes automatically locks the display–which would be nice but i don’t know if it actually suppose to do that or not.
the other day I recieved a call from someone– it only rang once before hanging up. when I called last call – it was actually from a business I had contacts with but they insisted they didn’t call me and the number that showed up was not theirs!!!!!
I’ve talked with dozens of techs spent hours on the phone talking with dozens of techs. They each have a different solution–maybe it is software probelm ( on them all?) or needs a different SIM card to solve network problems – however if I get a new SIM card I’d have to pay for it as well as chosing a different phone.
all I want is a reliabel phone that can actaully make and recieve calls, has a easily readable keyboard and can be used as an organizer.
This phone is a pain in the butt and is losing me credibility with my clients. I’m stuck in a contract — with a phone that is driving me crazy. the only reason i went with T-mobile in the first place is that i wanted the wing. If I get a complete different kind of phone-they will require that i pay for it. I should be charging them for all the lost calls and HUGE amount of hassle!!!