T-Mobile Dash may not be getting an overhaul, may not be in stores now
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted December 22nd 2008 8:45PM
posted December 22nd 2008 8:45PM
Did we just blow your mind with this all-black T-Mobile Dash? Besides sporting a new look, this furtively shot handset seems to confirm details we received from a tipster over the weekend. According to the source, the new phones have been seen in a few T-Mob stores across the country, and they're sporting Windows 6.1 and a camera upgrade of some sort. We're light on details, like whether or not this bad boy is 3G, but then again there's no telling whether or not any of this is even for reals. But that is a picture, isn't it? We'll just have to wait and see.
[Thanks, Scott K]
[Thanks, Scott K]
Has anyone had good luck with the Dash? I've not owned one, but it's a freebie on our corp plan, and my coworkers that have used them have generally liked the hardware, but had very frequently lockups, at least on WinMo 6.0 (I don't think they ever tried 5.x or 6.1 though I could be wrong).
I also had a Dash. I really enjoyed it, probably the best Windows Mobile based phone I'd used at the time.
The screen breaks REALLY easily.
Fmr. Tmo Employee
There must have been a revision. I got one fo the first ones, screen broke without being dropped. I put it in my pocket, pulled it out, screen broke. Friend had similar experience. We both got new ones, they were fine after that. I liked it... the CPU was a little slow though. I have since switched to Verizon because of the ineptitude of T-Mobile to properly implement 3G in a timely manner, but I liked them other than that. Once you upgrade to WinMo 6.1 its night and day.
I loved my dash that I had for just under a year, especially with the wifi and a customized vanilla rom. Only problem was the screen cracked on me twice, making me extremely hesitant on whether to ever buy htc again.
@Ian...
Been said time after time after time.... If the government doesn't let you have the spectrum, you can't use it. No matter hooooooowwwwwwwww baaaaad you want.
If it means anything to you, I have a Dash as well, and I can only remember it freezing once. Ian must be right about the revision because I have never had a problem with the screen. The phone is great and the material used on the case feels pretty sweet. I personally would recommend it (plenty of better phones out there, but for the price this one is not bad at all).
I had a Dash, and I loved it. Unfortunately someone thinking it was a touchscreen phone pressed on the glass a little too hard and broke the LCD. For some reason the LCD on the dash is a lot more fragile than it should be, the way the glass is mounted on it is actually more harmful thant protective.
If you're careful not to break the screen, it's a great little phone. Powerful enough but very slim and lightweight.
I currently still use my Dash, though I'd like to move onto a Blackberry and switch over to Verizon. It's not that the Dash sucks, but I get almost no signal where I work.
My only real beef with the phone is that it's battery life is somewhere in the 24-27 hour range when Wifi is turned off, when it's on forget about that much time. I was really used to my RAZR which needed charging once every 3-5 days.
My screen did break on me once, that was because it had fallen from the table it was on and my bro stepped on it. I got a replacement out of it.
If it's free then I'd say go ahead for it, but there are some better phones out there. Though, we're talking about T-Mobile, who's been fairly consistently disappointing in the "variety" section.
@Ian
The T-mo dash was the biggest turd I've ever used. You're right about the screen, I went through THREE dashes in 4 months. It was a work phone so it got replaced each time with minimal fuss. I would be talking on the phone, hang up, stick it in the holster that came with it. A couple minutes later I'd get another call and go to answer it and the screen was half dead. Same problem happened 3 times. Finally work gave me blackberry and scrapped the winmo trial.
There must have been a hardware revision to fix the screen problem, because I got mine after it had been out for a little while and its screen is rock solid. I carried it loose in my pocket (no case at all) for a year and the screen isn't even scratched, much less broken.
I'm actually shocked to hear about it because my Dash has been solid as a rock. I'm not going to test it, but I have the distinct feeling that I could throw it on the floor and it wouldn't break.
That looks Dashing. (sorry, couldn't help it :P )
And i couldn't help trying to figure out what that red minus button does.
Wow, Joseph L. Flatley, that may not be the most confusing headline I've ever read!
@Unix,
Mine works great. The key is to remove the rubbish, bloated version of WM that the carriers install and replace it with one of the customized roms available. It's a great phone, works great with skyfire as a browser.
I had the original Dash for about a year and I absolutely loved it. The only reason I got rid of it was because I upgraded to the G1.
Yes, it's running Windows Mobile, and the hardware isn't quite as speedy as it could be, but damned if it isn't the best form factor of any phone I've ever used. The keyboard is awesome, better than any Blackberry I've used, and the screen is crisp with great layout on the navigation buttons.
If this new revision is boasting a decent hardware upgrade (it could really use a little more ram) then I highly recommend it to anyone on the fence about it.
Yes I had one for about 8 months and it abolutely SUCKED, it froze up all the time.
I have had a Dash for about a year now, and agree it is a great little phone. As has been mentioned it could use a little bit more ram, but is decently fast enough, and I have very rarely had crashing problems (maybe 5 times in the year i have owned it)
I finally got around to upgrading it from the WM 5.1 that came installed by TMobile to WM 6.1, and it was like getting a whole new phone. Everything is faster and works flawlessly. The all black one shown above looks awesome, and if it has any upgrades that would only sweeten the deal.
nokia E71 > Tmobile dash
@ digitallysick:
As far as the OS is concerned: Nokia = Palm, Palm < WinMo 6.0, iPhone = WinMo 6.1, All < Android (Six months from now)
Nokia makes some damn great hardware, but their OS only competes with Palm. WinMo has always pushed hardware to it's limits, which is a good thing (it pushes things forward), but it's complete disregard for a clean UI has finally caught up to it. iPhone has fantastic developers and hardware, but Big Brother Apple is holding it back from owning the entire sector. (This is Apple VS Microsoft all over again... with the same outcome!) Android is the iPhone without the Apple. All hail the future of Android! (Very much in development right now)
Regarding the dash, this phone would be great if it had double the ram. As it is now, the lack of memory causes frequent crashes and the inability to run some programs.
Who knows what the others will release six months from now? I can make statements like too.
Abuzar OS> ALL
60 years from now.
I wonder if the Cavalier (s630) will be released, after all, it is the s620's successor.
I have had mine for about 1.5 years, i put win mobile 6.1 on it and its alot better than the 5 crap that was on it. It had some bugs, but all went away with 6.1
Sorry... I meant on T-mobile. I forgot it was released worldwide last year.
who thinks the iphone 3g should have picture messaging???
I had a Dash then Wing and now a G1 and I must say I miss my dash, I didn't have any screen issues with mine it was solid! Well after I put a custom cooked rom on it from xda. After having touchscreen phones I probably would never go back to the Dash though(was temped to get an unlocked Palm golf), I've grown accustomed to the G1.
I still use my Dash even though I am not with T-mobile anymore. I had it unlocked and took it to ATT. I agree with everyone it is a great formfactor, thin and I like how the sides come to a blunt point makes it seem even slimmer. In my two years of ownership my only wishes have been more memory and faster data. I've watched movies on it (Divx and TCMP) and I just recently got skyfire on it and fixed my internet quality. I am getting a touch pro for work but it's brick formfactor does nothing for me. I am still waiting for a model to grab me so I can replace my dash.. The Samsung epix has potential but its chunkier than the dash.. The bold is nice too but I cant see myself with a crackberry.. and finally the Iphone.. its slim.. but I will totally hate myself .. no independent programs.. all software bought feeds the Apple machine and puts coin directly in Job's pocket.. sigh.. I'll just wait.
James, I have a DASH and am interested in having it unlocked and going to another service provider. May I ask where you went to get it unlocked and the cost? Thanks!
Sold my Dash to a friend to get the original iPhone (now on 3G :p)
More than two years later it's still kickin. You NEED to put a cooked 6.1 ROM on it to make it work nicely. It's a great device otherwise.
if it has at least a 2.0mp camera i would consider getting it its a great lil device and can work as my secondary phone
I also had a Dash, it was my favorite phone of all. I now have an iPhone 3G but if HTC would build one with a faster processor and AT&T 3G I would be all over it. I still have my Dash and I still use it from time to time.
I can't haz T-Mobile Dash II now?
Can someone point me in the direction of a good place to get WM 6.1 on my Dash? Appreciate it.
xda-developers.com
Go to the Forum and scroll down to the Smartphone section and visit the Excalibur forum. Read all the stickies and then ask for help if you need it.
Honestly,
Despite it's EDGE connection, slightly slow CPU, the damn thing worked, and worked everywhere. The winmo smartphone version is great (on the dash), I do not like the Pocket PC version. With exchange and the 6.1 update there is server side mail searching, which quite honestly is the most valueable feature while traveling. Finding itinerary information or hotel reservations that were sent to you a week ago is a task beyond the iPhone, but the little old dash could do it. Additionally, programming .NET on winmo is really easy and i made some cool GPS apps in a short time. The battery life on the last dash was very good, only needing to be charged every two to three days. It had the added benefit of being mini-USB compatible. It's also rugged, I can't speak about the screen issue, but after a few months I lost the fancy case it came with and carried it in my pocket, sat on it, and dropped it a couple times. It had a good keyboard, my only complaint was using blue paint for the special keys and then having a blue keyboard backlight. The rubberized back was really nice, and had a good feel in the hand. The micro SD card slot was cool too. It did not have enough memory though, which was a problem. The MS Virtual Earth client was really cool, but sometimes it would lock the phone up when it lost cell reception, no idea why. I have traveled the world with the phone and have only good things to say about it. It still sits on my desk because I don't have the heart to get rid of it. The iPhone has a number of features that go beyond the scope of a phone, and that's cool and all, but as a communications/navigation device the Dash was truly good at what it did. R.I.P. Dash!
I have one of the European versions of the HTC Excalibur: a T-mobile MDA Mail. In fact, it is also black like the one shown in the picture, although the number pad is silvery rather than blue.
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&hs=em3&q=t-mobile%20mda-mail&cr=countryUK|countryGB&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
That said, the European version does not have WiFi which was a bit of a downer as you are reliant on EDGE for data, but it is one of the most stable and reliable smartphones I have ever used. I have flashed it with one of the WM6.1 ROMs, and the new interface makes it like a new phone. It is simply one of the best phones for messaging (SMS, MMS, email) ever. A 3G version would be very welcome indeed.
i thought the excalibur was the dash 2? and this looks exactly like the dash just black?
THIS IS ONLY A SOFTWARE UPDATE AND NEW COLOR LAUNCH
Software Updates fixes the following issues:
•Alarms go off at multiple times or wrong times.
•Windows Media Player rotates 90 degrees in full screen mode.
•Displays "No Service" message after roaming.
This is NOT 3G ready.
With the XDA 6.1 wm kavana (the newest Rose Rom is worse, bloaty) the Dash is my perfect phone. But.... pisses me off cause no 3.5 jack (i bought an adapter but still) and the camera as all HTC's is horrible. I was wondering how the 6.1 was done so perfectly on this older phone. With the upgrade it is really THE BEST.
I am really pissed I just got a phone for my sister using my 1yr contract update. The MOTO Zine, nice basic phone with an amazing camera. Good all around once you get Opera working. A really beautiful Motorola, feels expensive. UI has too many useless menu's though. 3.5 jack though, wonderful.
I have a dash that I got two months after it's release. It is almost two years old. No cracks or scratches of any kind. I kept it in that supplied case for 8 months or so. Now I just keep it in my pocket with no change or anything whatsoever. Dropped it maybe twice. If you showed it to someone they would think it's new. I am really happy with the upgrades but if they were to have a nicer camera I would be envious.
If you are unhappy with the speed and battery life find the third party windows mobile 7.1 firmware makes all your problems melt away like butter between a fat womans rolls or just email me and i will send you a link to the website where you would be able to locate this firmware its awesome makes it 3d kinda but also alot more effecient it takes about 30 mins and you have to have a general knowledge about smartphone tech rated_r_racing@yahoo.com let me know i have all the answers for dash