I'm planning to get a PDA phone for myself this x-mas. I've done my research and it come down to 2 phones, both from t-mobile: MDA and Dash! (HTC S620)
Based on my research:
feature-wise, MDA win by couple points. MDA has the touchscreen and IR port. Dash! doesn't. Everything else is the same. oh yeah....MDA has larger screen.
Money-wise, Dash! smoked MDA. T-mobile offered Dash! with promotional price for 150 after rebate, while mda is 250 (both with 2 years activation or contract extension).
I'm a nursing student so budget is a big thing for me. but, most important thing is capability and flexibility. I've heard MDA (tmobile version) has problem using skype for voip calls.
If anyone already have Dash, or both MDA and Dash, can you please let me know how the two phone compare to each other. I want to know performance, battery life, wifi setup, etc. between these phone.
I've searched the forum for Dash!, but i can't find any thread on it.
I have the MDA and like it a lot. A friend just got a Dash and likes it a lot. There is another big feature difference, however, that you did not mention. The Dash is a SmartPhone while the MDA is a PocketPC phone.
PocketPC phones have built-in mobile versions of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint -- plus they are able to run other additional software that SmartPhones will not run. This is an important difference for some people, but not for everyone. It just depends on how you want to use the device.
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Don -- a starving teacher, who notices that starving students usually drive nicer cars than we do and have more electronic gadgets than we have
if you can wait that would be good as there should be a new lineup of phones coming out in 2007, however, if you can't then you could always go with a retailer like wirefly.com for larger discounts.
does that mean i can't run things like word on Dash? or does it have proprietary software to things like word processing and stuffs like that?
I also want something that will run my electronic drug book and care plan maker.
so, is it better if i wait and save up for the MDA or just go with the dash?
You can view documents on the Dash and other MS Smartphones, but you can't edit them natively. There is a document viewer that opens Word and Excel and PDF files but it isn't very good. You may or may not be able to run the drug book or other apps, that is dependent on the application. Most software comes in either Pocket PC *OR* Smartphone versions, but some support both.
if you can wait that would be good as there should be a new lineup of phones coming out in 2007, however, if you can't then you could always go with a retailer like wirefly.com for larger discounts.
what kind of new line up of phone is coming soon?
I already contacted wirefly.com and spoke to a rep. about their offer. They got a MDA for free with a 2-yrs contract and new activation. The thing is, they want me to have t-mobile internet data plan (extra 30 bucks a month) for 2 years to start the contract. They said i can take out the internet plan if i called t-mobile directly, but when i came to tmobile retail store near my house, they were not sure if i can. They said that i can't downgrade a contract, only upgrading it. if the contract start up data plan, then by taking the plan out it'll downgrade the contract which will void it (and cost me 200 bucks).
i don't have a list of phone that'll be available as i've read about them over the past couple of months....so i'm sure if you were to search in google for upcoming phone of 2007 you'd find it easily.
as to the upgrading/downgrading....that doesn't seem right...doesn't t-mobile have a 14/30 day trial period? I know in the state of california by statue we have 30 days to try any contracted mobile service.
if you have a 14 day trial period you can cancel in the allocated time without any cancellation fees etc...
Added a personal line to my T-Mo account and chose the Dash for it when it debuted on October 25th. I use the MDA for my business line.
The major difference for me is that I use the web alot so surfing is super easy with the touch screen on the MDA, where with the Dash it's not easy navigating the web since each time you toggle down on the d-pad you are going link to link on whatever particular web page you are on....major hassle if there are lots on links on the page.
The sound quality is a tiny bit better on the Dash but not enough that it's noticeable. What I like about the Dash is the real small size and the QWERTY layout...HTC did a really nice job with the keyboard.
If you are going to do alot of data usage and intend on using Word and Excel then the MDA is your best bet. If you are only looking for a small smartphone for quick emails and texting then the Dash would prolly work for ya.
Hope that helps!
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The "i" is intended for the EMEA market.
Actually, I suspect that some villain plotting to conquer the world has created a random letter generator that attaches meaningless alphabetical appendages to product names, forcing us all to spend time trying to figure out what they mean. The corresponding loss in productivity will lead to the collapse of western economies and allow the evil genius to dominate the globe.
I would suggest the MDA. I have a drug database/viewer application from HandheldMed.com that runs fine on the MDA but I don't think it works with the Dash!.
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