T-Mobile first to launch Windows Mobile 6 smartphone in US

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 19:13

Opinion and Analysis

 

Because it’s not a 3G phone, you can’t make video calls, and as it only has a Micro SD card socket, it looks to be only compatible with 2Gb MicroSD cards, and not the forthcoming 4Gb and 8Gb cards that work on the SDHC (SD High Capacity) standard that allow cards of up to 32Gb in size.

Although an 8Gb MicroSD HC card is expensive as it has only just been released, how long will it be before 8Gb is common, and we’re already seeing 16Gb and 32Gb cards available at the high end? Still, by then, we can be sure the cell phone companies will have plenty of greatly upgraded models to tempt you into replacing your phone with, with the phones likely to have 8Gb or more embedded as standard as well.

In the Wing’s favor, T-Mobile offers 8000 hotspots around the US where the Wing can used with Wi-Fi, and naturally enough, there’s plenty of Wi-Fi in place in homes and offices across the US where Wi-Fi would be used to enable high-speed surfing and downloads.

Still, 3G and faster connections give you high-speed access to the Internet almost anywhere, whenever you need it, make the online experience that much snappier – and if that’s important to you, it’s unlikely you’d be connected to T-Mobile anyway, given that the ‘2.75G’ EDGE standard at around 90bps is the fastest they offer at the moment.

T-Mobile target the ‘youth market’, and have included their ‘myFaves’ service to cater to their customers, dubbing it a ‘personal wireless communications experience available only through T-Mobile’. They say that customers are “empowered with a fun and easy-to-use phone interface which, when coupled with a myFaves rate plan, facilitates unlimited nationwide calling to any five U.S. phone numbers, even landlines (excluding toll-free and 900 numbers)”.

Given the target market does a lot of calling, sending SMS or more likely instant messages through AOL, Yahoo, ICQ or MSN messengers, keeping their address books, sending and receiving email and using the Internet when required, the Wing offers new or upgrading T-Mobile customers a highly connected device that does what it says on the tin, and coupled with the new WM6, does it all better than before – as long as you don’t run too many programs at the same time, and at a cost of US $299 on a 2-year contract, is a lot cheaper than either upcoming iPhone model.

But given that this is but the first WM6 device to hit the market, with plenty more on the way, including models that work on much faster 3G and 3.5G networks, the T-Mobile Wing is really only compelling to those currently locked-in to the T-Mobile network wanting to upgrade to a new model or new customers in T-Mobile’s target market, especially those who want to take advantage of the free calls to five nominated US phone numbers.

Anyone wanting access to a faster 3G or 3.5G data network and video calling (if desired) needs but wait, more WM6 phones are on the way, with many designed and manufactured by HTC (High Tech Computer), the Taiwanese smartphone behemoth that has for years sold phones with the re-branded by major cell phone companies worldwide alongside companies such as iMate and O2, and who has now become so successful that they have even started selling phones with the HTC brand name on them alone. 

Finally, other devices such as the onsale Nokia N95 with fantastic multimedia and handheld computing credentials of its own, with the upcoming Apple iPhone ready to offer both Microsoft, Nokia and all the rest some robust competition of potentially epic proportions, with all jousting for your attention – and your dollars!