T-Mobile Wing hands-on

The T-Mobile Wing is a Windows Mobile 6 phone, alright -- and the specs aren't anything to write home about, especially not for $400. 200MHz CPU, EDGE data, QVGA display. And yet we find ourselves mysteriously attracted to the T-Mobile Wing. It's nigh-sticky soft-touch finish, it's thin profile (for a WM QWERTY slider, anyway), it's divinely clicky d-pad and keys, it's rubbery keyboard that we just didn't think HTC could make any better. Check out the pictures, decide for yourself; but if you're a T-Mobile customer, if you're willing to plunk down this thing is kind of a no-brainer.

Gallery: T-Mobile Wing hands-on

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[randy @ May 22nd 2007 2:03AM]

Hope this beast comes with a belt clip.

[Chris @ May 22nd 2007 2:13AM]

All those "it's" should be "its."

Anyway, I still prefer my MDA over the Wing. I'd be super bummed if they had come out with a new phone based on the HTC TyTN, but since the Wing is just a slimmer MDA with slightly different face buttons, meh.

[Paul @ May 22nd 2007 2:30AM]

i just cant grasp the concept of whats so great about this phone?

[Robby @ May 22nd 2007 2:44AM]

Me neither, 200mhz, for $400?? They could have bumped up the speed, 416 at least, i mean my xv6600 had a 400mhz for pete's sake. The proc. makes a difference, especially on certain apps that seem to take forever to load. A souped up MDA, wow, c'mon get with the program T-Mo. Cingy's already got tons of PPC, wheres the love.

[danny rho @ May 22nd 2007 2:40AM]

Not to bash anybody or anything, but....

Belt clip ??
Have you EVER seen hip people with style wearing
belt clip?

They are either detective or construction worker....
or my 62 year olds grandpa uses belt clip....

It may be practical... but, it certainly is extreamly
nerdy/geeky.

[RandomThoughts @ May 22nd 2007 7:58AM]

Danny, how many construction workers do you know that are geeky? That being said, I wouldn't ever wear a belt clip either.

I have a xv6700 and I would want a Wing (and a prayer maybe?) I like the looks of this and it seems to have more keys available. As for the processor speed, I use mine for email, Word, Excel and more and the processor on mine seems just fine, although I don't have a lot of add on programs loaded.

I wouldn't doubt that the battery life is about the same, which is to say not good. Regular use has me charging it every day, even more with a bit of use.

[Bachus @ May 22nd 2007 4:14AM]

yeah, this thing is pretty much a total write off unless you HAVE to get a touchscreen. and if you do, you're probably on cingular. DASH4LYFE!!ONE!

[Sean Donnellan @ May 22nd 2007 4:48AM]

For a moment I thought this was the HTC Wings - 400Mhz and GPS built in, but it's the HTC Atlas with a T-Mobile silly name.

Roll on HTC Wings and HTC Nike

[Gero @ May 22nd 2007 6:23AM]

This is the real HTC Wing (S730)

[Gero @ May 22nd 2007 6:23AM]

This is the real HTC Wing (S730)
http://www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=728

[Gero @ May 22nd 2007 6:24AM]

This is the real HTC Wing (S730)
http://www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=728

[Gero @ May 22nd 2007 6:30AM]

Sorry for the tripple post maybe webmaster can remove two of them?

[Joe Geyer @ May 22nd 2007 9:47AM]

I have the MDA and its very nice as a PDA. It is severly lacking as a phone. dropped calls, unable to pick up calls cause the cpu cant handle email and the phone app at the same time. My MDA is now sitting on my desk and I had to get a real cell phone (Moto RIZR) for calls. I miss my MDA. Does anyone know if the wing can handle phone calls better than the MDA? I love the slider keyboard and the pda functionalities, however, it is a phone and needs to be a phone first.

Does it handle phone calls well? If so, I may have to venture back into the pda/phone market and upgrade to this. :)

[Chris @ May 22nd 2007 5:55PM]

I overclocked my work MDA with OMAPclock plus. Makes a noticable differance.

xda-developers.com/

[Redstripe @ May 22nd 2007 11:26AM]

I just called my local t-mobile store and asked them to set one aside for me. They mentioned they have plenty in stock and no need to hold one. I am going down at lunch to pick one up. Will share my initial thoughts later on and compare with the Dash (WM6) I have been trying out for the past 2 weeks.

[ThePete @ May 22nd 2007 12:51PM]

Huh, looks like T-Mobile.com has got this puppy at $299.99 after "instant savings" and a mail-in rebate. Retail is listed at $499, not $400 as this posts says. Ah well, I got my SK3 back in December and can't justify another $500 on a smart phone (not that the SK3 is a smart phone, but you get the point). God forbid another iPod comes out...

[sobephish @ May 22nd 2007 2:03PM]

the dash rules...

and i could never understand ANYONE who doesn't ALWAYS charge their phone when the opportunity arises...
oh it still has 2 bars i dont NEED to charge it..

yeah until your car breaks down or a real emergency happens and you need to actually go three days without a charger...

(oh, the tmobile dash is one sick phone... this doesn't offer enough of an UP to upgrade again prior to the upgrade window)

[Eriq @ May 22nd 2007 2:10PM]

So I picked up the Wing early this morning. Here's my quick overview of what's good/bad:

PROS (aside from Windows Mobile 6 standard features):

- Microsoft Voice Command 1.6 comes STANDARD!
- Keyboard feels great and is much easier to type on. The spring-loaded mechanism works really well.
- Overall performance is better than MDA
- Speakers sound more "stereo-like"

CONS:

- MAJOR: The Wing's microphone doesn't seem to work well. Using Microsoft Voice command is more difficult because the Wing has a harder time understanding me. I'm frustrated by this.

- Since I lock my device using a 4-digit pin, typing in the complete unlock pin does NOT automatically unlock the phone. Now, you have to type in the pin, THEN tap "Unlock" button. It worked easier on the MDA when I could just quickly punch in the pin and it would automatically return me to home page.

- It'd be nice if they kept the IE and mail buttons on the top-front of the Wing like the MDA. I'm aware the mail icon was moved to the side, but it was convenient having these extra hardware buttons on the front. Now there's only the Windows and OK button.

- Another minor inconvenience is the movement of the USB port from the right-side to the left. It's more difficult using the keyboad when connected to a USB cable (car charger for example) sticking out of the left. But I suppose when NOT using the keyboard with a USB cable plugged in it makes more sense to be at the bottom. I still prefer the MDA's usb port location.

- Having the added bass to the speakers makes listening to Microsoft VoiceCommand confirmations a little more difficult. I wonder if there's a way to control the treble/bass...

A few new features I've noticed:

- Phone turns on automatically when keyboard is opened
- Holding down the red phone button automatically locks the device

Overall I'm pleased with the Wing and still prefer it over the MDA, but the big problem is the poor microphone performance due to the location of the mic (I actually can't find it). I use Microsoft VoiceCommand all the time and it doesn't work as well as on the MDA. I also wish the speakers were louder, but it's about the same as on the MDA. It'd be great if T-Mobile offered a black version instead of blue (reminds me of Casio EM-500), but it still looks better than the MDA IMO.
Windows Mobile 6 was the big seller for me, since I use Exchange and the better WM6/Exchange functionality is well worth it to me.

Oh, and to answer a few questions:

- Yes, it does come with a beltclip
- It does perform a little faster and handle alternating between email and phone functionality better than on the MDA.

Eriq

[Redstripe @ May 22nd 2007 3:12PM]

Looks like you beet me to it. I picked mine up at lunch. Was going to post all of my own initial impressions, but I can't really argue with anything Enriq said.

I do not use a pin on my phone so I have no experienced the issue. The solution, keep your phone safe and don't worry about a pin.

Voice dial is okay. I had similar issues on my Dash.

The microphone is actually on the bottom of the phone next to the USB port, kinda strange.

The noise the phone makes when sliding the keyboard is annoying. I turned it off after 2 minutes.

[mel @ May 23rd 2007 8:33AM]

So what's the deal I have a treo 600, I know, I know, I NEED a new phone. I have been reading these blogs for a year! I wanted to get the treo750, but since I have tmobile I would be unable to get the much needed upgrade to WM6.
SO do you think this(wing)can compare to a treo? At this price I could easily buy an unlocked 750 or even 680(OS)for $100 more and deal with no WM6.
Opinions PLEASE!!!!!!
mel

[Drew @ May 23rd 2007 3:07PM]

Dam..... I upgraded my phone online with t-mobile yesterday.... looks like Im gonna have to wait 5-7 days tho. My biggest draw was the wifi. I was real close to picking up the dash but i happened to see the wing sitting there..(all new to the page of hand helds)..

Can some one leave a review on the WiFi? You digg it or no?

[John Voss @ May 24th 2007 10:09AM]

can someone tell me if its bluetooth 2.0 or still 1.1... iam interested in "broadcasting" the mp3s in the wing to my bluetooth car stereo. i don't think i can do that with my mda. thanks.


-jv

[kujo @ Jun 13th 2007 7:55PM]

VOICE COMMAND DOES NOT WORK AND I MIGHT TAKE THIS COOL PHONE BACK BECAUSE OF IT!!!!

I have waited so long for the replacement of the original tmobile HTC pocket PC. Although this phone was a tank it had all the features that I wanted and especially the voice command feature that I installed that worked really well in any environment even with background noise. Now that I have the wing, although i like most of the features on it, the voice command is absolute garbage. I could be in a total quiet room and say "call john smith on mobile" and a 3-5 response lag time before the computer microphone gives a beep to turn off or it says please repeat. And if I repeat it may go through that same series of responses 2-3 times before i want to throw it across the room. I noticed above a suggestion of enabling the microphone AGC feature and this still has not helped. I have not used a Bluetooth headset yet but you shouldn't have to have a headset to use this feature. Are there any known fixes for this critical flaw bug?? This is one of my favorite features and it is ruining this phone for me.

[kujo @ Jun 15th 2007 3:49PM]

VOICE COMMAND DOES NOT WORK AND I MIGHT TAKE THIS COOL PHONE BACK BECAUSE OF IT!!!!

I have waited so long for the replacement of the original tmobile HTC pocket PC. Although this phone was a tank it had all the features that I wanted and especially the voice command feature that I installed that worked really well in any environment even with background noise. Now that I have the wing, although i like most of the features on it, the voice command is absolute garbage. I could be in a total quiet room and say "call john smith on mobile" and a 3-5 response lag time before the computer microphone gives a beep to turn off or it says please repeat. And if I repeat it may go through that same series of responses 2-3 times before i want to throw it across the room. I noticed above a suggestion of enabling the microphone AGC feature and this still has not helped. I have not used a Bluetooth headset yet but you shouldn't have to have a headset to use this feature. Are there any known fixes for this critical flaw bug?? This is one of my favorite features and it is ruining this phone for me.

[frank @ Jun 15th 2007 2:58PM]

I just found one of these things recently on the ground, lucky me right? Well when i start it up it wants an unlock code and i was wondering if there is anyway around this. thanks.