If someone offers you an MDA, turn your back on them!
Written: Jan 30 '09
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Clarity: |
 |
|
| Portability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Nice graphics, Fun games
Cons: Freezes too much, Slow interface, Junk, Junk, Junk
The Bottom Line: While it has programs that professionals may find useful, the rest of this phone is garbage.
|
|
|
| jurgrace's Full Review: T-Mobile MDA Smartphone |
April 15, 2008 was a glorious day for me. Yes, I filed my taxes that day. More importantly, I also got a new phone, to replace the worst smartphone ever--the T-Mobile MDA.
Rather than focus on how wonderful my life is now that I don't use the phone, let me start with...
Why I got the MDA
When I switched over to T-Mobile from Verizon Wireless, I was disappointed to see that my Treo 650 was "not compatible" with T-Mobile. As a Realtor, I needed a phone with infrared capabilities that was compatible with GE's Supra eKey. That was my only criterion.
My first sign that I was doomed should have been the fact that the salesman did not know if T-Mobile had any phone that was compatible with Supra. After calling his own customer service people, the salesman told me that the MDA was the only phone they had which was compatible with the eKey. Then he told me how lucky I was that I came to his location, because the phone is so cool that most of the T-Mobile branches were unable to keep it in stock. That should have been my second sign. However, I paid $299.00 for the phone and went off on my merry way.
What's in the box
* the MDA
* a back-up stylus pen
* AC adaptor (but not a vehicle one)
* wired headset
* "Quick Start" manual
* detailed manual
* "Tip Sheet" (for the phone, not waiters)
* Starter CD-ROM with tutorial and ActiveSync instructions
* vinyl carrying case that hooks onto your belt
Size and Style
At about five ounces, the T-Mobile MDA is actually a pretty lightweight phone. The phone is about four inches long, two inches wide and almost an inch thick. The screen measures close to an inch and a half wide and two inches long. In its "regular" mode, there are five flat buttons below the screen: Talk, End, Right, Left and Enter. Above the screen there is a shortcut to the email/messaging center and to Internet Explorer.
There is a flat volume slider switch on the upper lefthand side, along with a button that automatically pulls up the Communication Manager. This is essentially a shortcut menu to the phone, bluetooth, WLAN, SIM card, ActiveSync (with your PC), Email, ringer and infrared settings.
Other exterior buttons include the power switch along the top of the phone, the camera button on the bottom right, and a button to record notes or messages to yourself.
The part of the phone that convinced me originally of its potential "cool" factor is that you can slide the front open on the right side, which reveals a keyboard on the base of the phone. When you do this, the screen revolves from portrait to landscape, as well. One thing I really liked about the keyboard on the MDA is that buttons are only very slightly raised, so they felt more natural to use than the keyboards on a Treo or Blackberry, which are more 3-D looking.
Finally, the MDA comes with a stylus pen that stores itself inside the bottom right corner of the phone. The stylus also compacts/extends to the length you are comfortable with.
What's on the phone
Using a Windows Mobile interface and featuring a 240 x 320 screen resolution with 64K colors, the T-Mobile MDA comes with several Microsoft programs pre-loaded: Outlook, MSN Messenger, Internet Explorer, Mobile Word, Mobile PowerPoint and Mobile Excel. Of these, I only used Outlook and Explorer, as I had no need to open any Word, Excel or PowerPoint files on my phone.
Other than Outlook and Explorer, the programs I most used were the Supra programs I had to install for work and the two games: Bubble Breaker and Classic Solitaire. I liked having Solitaire on my phone for once, but Bubble Breaker was the one that really entertained me. It features a lot of brightly colored "bubbles" that you pop for points. Getting extra points for popping multiples of one color at time gave this game a Tetris feel for me.
Reception/Sound Quality
For the most part, reception was okay with the MDA. It was a lot spottier in certain areas of my house than I am getting on my Samsung, but in general I got the same "poor connection" issues in the same places with both phones, so I chalk the fault to T-Mobile's coverage on that one.
One thing I did not like about the MDA is that the volume was difficult to arrange in a happy medium both for the ringer and in phone conversations. For the ringer volume, I always had to either choose a really obnoxious ringer in order to be able to hear the phone ring when it was not nearby, or choose maximum volume on a pleasant (musical) ring, and still not hear my phone well when it was in my purse or clipped on my belt. As a result, I had a lot of missed calls that I had to instantly call back. This was incredibly frustrating, especially when I had incoming calls from blocked numbers. Sadly, I ended up returning calls to several telemarketers because of this.
In phone conversations, I had a similar problem. The difference between level three and level four on the volume was from "I can't hear you" to "I have to hold the phone away from my ear so I don't blast open my ear drum." My husband thought I looked strange on the phone, because I constantly had to adjust the volume during a conversation.
Things I liked about the T-Mobile MDA
Honestly, there was not much to like about this phone other than Bubble Breaker and Internet Explorer: two features I got to know intimately while sitting at empty open houses. Having Explorer was convenient when I was on the road and needed directions, as I could just pop over to Mapquest. However, the browser was very slow and would often time out before most of the page loaded up. Still, it was nice for sites that didn't have a ton of heavy images (which were nice and clear when they eventually showed up).
Issues that irked me with the T-Mobile MDA
As I just mentioned, the Internet on the MDA is incredibly slow. Aside from my issues with the volume and Internet, I found it slightly irritating that I was unable to read an entire "long" email, as the message cut off after a certain size. Nor could I open PDF's emailed to me, despite the PDF viewer that came pre-installed on the phone. Another issue I had was that often times the phone would freeze up on me during a phone conversation. This did not cut off the conversation, but when I actually wanted to hang up the phone, I couldn't. So, I had to power down the phone and power it back on, which is the most ridiculous way to have to hang up a phone call, if you ask me. This was not a rare occurrence, either. It probably happened two or three times a week.
Once I got a bluetooth headset that was compatible with the MDA, I was excited to not have to hold the phone up to my ear when I talked, because my cheekbone occasionally bumped the mute or hang up buttons on the touch screen when I talked with the phone on my neck. Unfortunately, once the bluetooth is turned on, you have to manually go through a couple of menus to turn of the feature, even if your bluetooth device is turned off. Otherwise, the MDA assumes you are still using the bluetooth headset and when people call you can't hear what they say by holding the phone to your ear. Since I did not have such a ridiculous problem with the Treo, I knew this was an unnecessary step caused by the MDA.
The final major nuisance for me with the MDA was that when the phone was in its holster, it was never a quick process to take it out when the phone rang. The phone sits sideways in the holster, with a strap around the middle that closes over it, so the buttons on the side got easily pushed in. What this meant for me, on at least a daily basis, was that when I reached for the phone, I ended up bumping the camera on. The camera took at least twenty seconds to open, and even then, closing out of it was a delayed process. This was very irritating, and actually disgusted me with the camera to the point that I never used it.
Final Recommendation
As the title of this review might apply, I am not a fan of the T-Mobile MDA. Granted, I was a little impatient for some of the features, and I actually think the Supra program may have slowed it down, but I still think that a smart-phone should make your phone and Internet needs easier, not slower with lots of freezes. I only recommend this phone if you are "in" to punishing yourself.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 299.00
Recommended for: Professionals On-the-Go - Internet and Email is a Must!
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.