T-Mobile Wing Review - Software
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Alfredo Padilla Published on June 05, 2007 Comment on this |
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OS (8.5)
Home Screen Score (9.0)
The T-Mobile Wing uses the standard Windows Mobile Today screen as its home screen. This is a dynamic home screen with various plugins that allow you to quickly access information and services at a glance. The Wing's home screen has plugins for wireless connectivity, myFaves, music, email, calendar and tasks by default. Any of these can be turned off and others are available to be turned on in the device settings. You can also easily change the background picture on the today screen if you prefer to use another graphic or a picture. The Today screen is one of the great benefits of the Windows Mobile platform due to its versatility. Many third party software titles also include plugins for the today screen so you can more easily access them.
Extensibility (9.0)
As a smart phone operating system Windows Mobile allows you to install a wide variety of native third party programs. These programs number in the thousands and range from freeware applications made by hobbyists to fully featured and extensive applications that are sold by software companies. In addition to native applications you can also install java applications such as Opera Mini on the T-Mobile Wing. Unlike Series 60 devices support for Java isn't included natively in the operating system, instead you will need to use the Java applications manager in the programs menu to install and launch Java apps. We very much appreciate having the ability to extend the capabilities of the Wing with third party software, as this makes the device much more customizable and can significantly improve its capabilities.
Customizability (8.0)
Windows Mobile Professional on the T-Mobile Wing provides you with a solid array of options to customize the look and feel of the interface. Themes are supported, which change the default colors and wallpapers used by the device, four themes are available by default but many more can be downloaded from the internet. You can also use your own images as a background for the home screen, as we mentioned above, and you can change the size of the text displayed to one of five different sizes. The programs displayed on the Start Menu can also be changed and there is very good control over what sounds are played for events on the phone. Compared to regular phones the wealth of customization options on the Wing is much appreciated.
OS Responsiveness (2.0)
As we've mentioned again and again in this review the T-Mobile Wing is not a very responsive device. We encountered significant lag using almost any operation on the phone. Applications are slow to launch and the shift from portrait to landscape orientation when you open the keyboard. Although Windows Mobile does have a reputation for being laggy, no Windows Mobile device we have reviewed before this has been as slow to respond as the Wing. We noticed that the free RAM, memory used for running program, on the T-Mobile Wing is much lower than on other Windows Mobile devices. The processor on the Wing is also only clocked at 200 Mhz, however other devices have used this same processor without exhibiting the serious lag we experience in this case.
Gaming (6.33)
Browser Features (8.0)
The T-Mobile Wing uses the standard Internet Explorer Mobile browser that is included with Windows Mobile. This is a solid mobile browser, much better than the browsers found on regular phones. It supports HTML and WAP pages, as well as javascript, images, frames, encryption and cookies. It does not support Java and flash, although you can download a flash plugin from Adobe. We were generally pleased with the features of Internet Explorer Mobile, but would have liked to see support for things like RSS feeds and password management. Browsing Interface (6.5)
Windows Mobile 6 brought a small upgrade to the browser interface on Internet Explorer Mobile in the form of a new home page. This page includes a search box for Windows Live searches as well as drop down boxes for easy access to your favorites and history. We like the new home screen, but for those who prefer to use a different portal you can easily change it in the settings. Web pages on the browser can be displayed in one of three ways, one column, fit to screen or desktop. You can change the text size to one of five different sizes, and the screen can be easily rotated by opening the keyboard on the device, with the landscape browsing providing a better viewing experience.
As we mentioned you can access your top five favorites and the last five entries in your history from the home screen. Access to full bookmarks and history is available from the left soft key menu. The history is saved between sessions and you can set how far back it goes and clear it in the settings. Favorites can be organized into folders and the name and link can be edited after you create them. One issue is that for some reason you cannot move a bookmark to a new folder once its been created. This is curious oversight given that you can do this on the standard edition of Windows Mobile.
Browser Access (8.0)
To test how easy it is to get to a web page on the browser we count the number of steps from the home screen until we have navigated to our web page. We use steps instead of a timed test in this case to take network issues out of the equation. Entering the web address is counted as a single step. We found that the easiest way to get the browser launched is to first open the keyboard. This is useful because you will need it to enter the web address, but it also allows you to use the shortcut of hitting the "I" key in the start menu to launch the browser. Using this method it took only five steps to get to our website on the T-Mobile Wing. This is the same as the Treo 750 and faster than the BlackBerry 8800, which took 8 steps. We should note however that as always we experience lag both switching the orientation of the screen and launching the application.
Calculator (6.0)
The calculator on the T-Mobile Wing is the same calendar that has been on Windows Mobile for awhile now. It provides access to some advanced features like 1/x, percentages and square roots, but falls far short of a full scientific calculator. We were happy to see support for storing numbers in memory. The calculator is more than sufficient for simple calculations, but those looking for more advanced features should find a third party solution.
Alarm (8.0)
Alarms on the Wing is very good, as with all Windows Mobile Professional devices. You can set up to three different alarms, each one can be set to go off any any particular day or combination of days of the week and you can choose the tone, vibration and screen settings for each alarm individually. We are very pleased with these features, especially compared with the very limited alarms found on other smartphones like the BlackBerry 8800 or Nokia N95.
Document Software (6.0)
As a Windows Mobile Professional device the T-Mobile Wing comes with a viewer for Powerpoint files and editors for Word and Excel files. There is also a PDF viewer installed on the device. The ability to view office documents and even edit Word and Excel files is an excellent value add for the Windows Mobile platform. The ability to edit documents is missing from the Blackberry 8800 for example.
Other Software (4.0)
In addition to the software discussed above there are also several other useful pieces of software on the T-Mobile Dash. Live Search is a Windows Live application that allows you to view maps, do local searches and even view satellite images. It is very similar in functionality to Google Maps, and we found that it was just as good. The Windows Live application is further proof of how Microsoft is integrating Windows Mobile devices with its online services. It allows you to synchronize contacts with your Windows Live email account, do a Windows Live search and get your email in real time. It also places a handy plugin on the home screen to access these services.
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