T-Mobile Dash: Windows Mobile 6 Upgrade

The Dash was originally released as a Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone, but T-Mobile has announced the availability of an upgrade for the device to the Windows Mobile 6 Standard software. The enhancements to the Windows Mobile software (from the perspective of a person using a non-touchscreen device) are as follows:

• Minor enhancements to the UI, including larger, more three dimensional application icons, the addition of a search bar allowing you to access Windows Live services, and a larger window at the bottom of the Home screen displaying the next Calendar appointment.
• The ability to receive and view HTML-formatted e-mail.
• The ability to flag messages with a follow-up icon.
• Simplified e-mail account setup procedures.
• Support for the creation of up to 8 e-mail accounts.
• Messaging Smartfilter to help find messages.
• Shortcuts help make it easer to use Messaging.
• Mobile Office for Smartphones. None-touchscreen devices now have "Mobile" versions of Excel, Word, and PowerPoint to view and edit documents.

Hardware

The Dash is a quad-band, EDGE capable GSM/GPRS phone powered by a 200 MHz TI processor. It comes with 64 MB RAM, 128 MB flash ROM, a 320x240 pixel color display, Bluetooth 2.0, and Wi-Fi connectivity. It has a microSD expansion slot and a QWERTY keypad below the display.

Dash vs. Wing: Which should you get?

Having a chance to look at both devices for the past few weeks, I have to say I prefer the Dash. The Wing certainly does have its strengths, which include a touchscreen, more spacious keyboard, and larger display. But the rest of the hardware specs (processor speed, memory, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.) are essentially the same as the Dash. I prefer the BlackBerry-style keyboard dial-pad keys on the face of the device to the slide-out keyboard of the Wing.

Migrating from a Pocket PC to a non-touchscreen device?

If you are considering a Windows Mobile 6 Standard device and are currently using the T-Mobile MDA or another Pocket PC Phone Edition device, proceed with caution. In addition to the fact that "Standard" devices do not have a touchscreen, the WM 6 Standard software is different than WM 6 Professional. Devices running the latter generally have more functionality built into them. If you rely on that functionality, you may be disappointed when you don't find it on the Dash. However, even after taking this into consideration, I still prefer the Dash.