11.24.2007

T-Mobile Wing Mobile Phone Review

I was picking up pizzas at Papa Murphy's in North Bend yesterday, when the teenagers working there gave me a "Cool! What's THAT?!?!" as I was banging away emails for work. I showed them the phone and realized a blog review was in order. I was kinda impressed that they didn't say "oh that's a phone for old people."

In August I was done with my two-year Blackberry experiment and found myself unimpressed. The email synchronization with my personal and work email worked flawlessly. However, I felt that was all it did - calendar syncing never worked right (just try to reschedule a meeting or accept a meeting update), and web browsing was horrible. Non-existent.

So I researched and looked for a new phone. And came up with the T-Mobile. Setting aside my numerous problems in trying to get the rebate on the phone (which I still haven't worked out), this has been a great purchase.

I did consider the iPhone. And I must be getting old. I don't get it. Wow, I can, like, call numbers with my fingers. Big deal. Been there done that for a number of devices over the past 10 years. A stylus really isn't that big of a deal (personally I prefer it), and when I type I prefer speed over coolness-ness.

So far I'm very happy with the Wing. Probably the first phone since my first StarTac I've actually enjoyed having. First off, it fixes the primary problem I had with my Blackberry - syncing the calendar correctly. I haven't had a single problem with the Outlook calendar keeping in sync with my work calendar. And I can schedule meetings, move meetings, and decline them without having to make a mental note to go back and check to make sure my work calendar is updated properly. Score one for Microsoft Windows Mobile 6, the phone OS that powers the Wing.

Second, I really like the the slide out keyboard. Very intuitive - I was able to use it out of the box without having to refer to the owner's manual (something I had to do with my old Blackberry). And the keys are the right size for fast typing. Again, score one for the Wing.

Finally, I can browse the web. This is partially due to many web sites, especially Google's properties, being set up to render Windows Mobile pages. Regardless of the primary reason, the fact is I can be productive with the Wing where I was not with the Blackberry.

The Wing has Wifi, so I turn it on when I am home and use my broadband connection when I am on conference calls (which is literally every night). I've never had a problem hearing through the connection; in fact T-Mobile's coverage in my area is a little weak so the Wifi serves to increase my call quality.

I also get Google Maps (with traffic) and Microsoft Live (again with traffic) on the phone. Way cool. Bluetooth is relatively responsive on it.

You can do music on the Wing, but I'm not big into music from my phone. That's what my iPod is for.

The down side is that I need to reboot the device every couple of days. Something is always stopping working on it, and a quick reboot is in order. This hasn't bothered me yet - it's about 30 seconds from the time I start holding the button down until I can start using it again, so I haven't, say, missed the start of a conference call because I was rebooting my phone. But it's still important to note.

A neighbor got the equivalent device from Sprint, and he loves his as well. And he works at Microsoft so he gives me productivity tips on it :)

So pick up a Wing, you won't be sorry. Assuming you can get your money from the rebate.

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