Bluetooth

Want to use a Bluetooth headset, car kit, Bluetooth folding keyboard or transfer files wirelessly? Perhaps even use the phone as a wireless modem for a notebook or PDA? The SDA is up to these tasks and has a reliable Bluetooth radio and software stack which performed well in our tests. As we noted above, you can use the included voice dialing solution with Bluetooth headsets and we tested this feature with two headsets using the Hands Free profile: the Motorola H700 and the Plantronics Discovery 640, both of which worked like a charm. Range, voice clarity and volume were also good with both of these headsets.

Camera

While camera phones won't be replacing your digital camera in the coming year, photo quality on 1.3 megapixel models such as the SDA is good enough for personal web site use and capturing special moments you'd have otherwise missed. The camera can take still JPG photos up to 1280 x 1024 resolution which look quite decent when resized down to 640 x 480 or less using your favorite desktop image editor. The photos have some noise under moderate to low light settings and will white out in bright sunlight, making it best suited to partly sunny day shots and well lit indoor locations. The camera can take photos at a variety of less resolutions, and has presets for handy things like taking a photo caller ID contact, shooting MMS video and more. Video quality is average by camera phone standards, and is good enough to send to other phones for MMS.





Battery Life

The SDA has a large capacity 1150 mAh battery that provides long life equaling that of feature phones. Not bad, given the SDA's power-hungry additional functionality including a large color display, camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, EDGE and a fast CPU. In fact, the full-sized MDA and Cingular 8125 only have 100 mAh more capacity. Under average usage, the phone should last a few days on a charge, even with Bluetooth on. If you have the phone set to check email every 15 minutes throughout the business day, surf the web for hours per day or play lots of video and action games, you'll get less. WiFi is a big power consumer, but we were impressed that it had only a moderate impact on battery life, but as we noted, turn the WiFi radio off when you're not using it or the battery will drain more quickly for naught.

Software

All Windows Mobile Smartphones, including the SDA come with Mobile versions of Internet Explorer, Outlook (comprising of Messaging, Contacts, Calendar and Tasks but not Notes), Pocket MSN (MSN Messenger, Hotmail and MSN Mobile Home), Pictures and Videos (to view photos and watch video through Media Player), Games (Solitaire and Bubble Breaker), a voice recorder, Call History, Speed Dial, Calculator, Windows Media Player Mobile and ActiveSync on the device and on CD for Windows Desktops. The SDA adds video recorder and camera applications, an instant messaging client that supports AIM, Yahoo and ICQ, a Java Runtime, T-Mobile Hotspot apps, Clear Storage (wipe out the contents of the device to factory settings), File Manager, Task Manager and Westtek's ClearVue Suite which includes viewers for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF documents.

Conclusion

An excellent device for those who need a phone first and light PDA second. The SDA is attractive, powerful and has an excellent display. It syncs easily with Windows desktops, will work anywhere in the world GSM service is available and has triple wireless to keep you connected. Windows Mobile 5's software improvements and the SDA's upgraded hardware make this a no-brainer upgrade for MS Smartphone users. T-Mobile's bundled HotSpot plan is a bonus or a minus, depending on whether there are HotSpots near you.

Pro: A powerful device that has a phone's usability and ergonomics. Attractive (despite the hump) and classy looking. Fits easily in the pocket, yet offers some of the same features as PDAs. Syncs to Outlook and Exchange if you wish, which means you'll never have to T9 your contacts list into the phone and will have your appointments and reminders with you on the go. Great screen, EDGE for fast data, WiFi for really fast data and Bluetooth to keep you connected to headsets, car kits, keyboards and other Bluetooth enabled devices. Quad band GSM world phone that works anywhere GSM service is available.

Con: Buttons and keypad keys, other than the dedicated IE and media player controls are miniscule. Joystick isn't always easy to press straight down without moving sideways and thus changing your selection.