Windows Mobile 6 Phone Roundup
I’ve been using Windows Mobile phones since the early days of the MPX-200 and have used just about every phone that was released. For software testing, I’ve had to acquire the latest WM6 devices and have used them as my daily phone for minimum of several days. Here are my observations:
1) T-Mobile Shadow
Pros:
Excellent form factor - thin and light
Large, bright display
Good ergonomic keypad
Slide-up keyboard good for answering/hanging up
Cons:
Terrible battery life
Strange keypad layout causes slower text entry
Terrible camera
So-so phone reception
2) Motorola Q9H
Pros:
Built-in GPS
Large, bright display
Good phone reception
Fast CPU
Comes with extended battery
Decent keyboard
Cons:
TERRIBLE voice quality (sounds like talking to Darth Vader through a paper towel tube)
Heavy, bulky device
GPRS/EDGE data worked slowly and unreliably
Custom USB connector requires special cable or dongle
3) HTC Vox (S710)
Pros:
Good form factor for full-keyboard+keypad device
Large, bright display
Excellent numeric keypad
Excellent slide-out keyboard
Excellent voice quality
Excellent phone reception
Good GPRS/EDGE connectivity
Decent camera
Cons:
Little rubber covers warp and stick out (USB + MicroSD)
Conclusion:
The HTC Vox wins by a landslide. The only thing that kept me holding on to the Q9H for a few extra days was experimenting with the GPS, but since the EDGE connectivity was so hit or miss, I couldn’t get Google Maps to work because it kept timing out when receiving data. I guess the next phone for me will be the 3G successor of the Vox.
