The Good: The Samsung SGH-T219 is a lower model in the Samsung range geared towards business users. It features support for multimedia messaging and has a 500 contact storage capacity with its ample internal memory.
The Bad: Due to this phone being aimed at business users, it does not feature a camera to comply with the more and more businesses prohibiting camera phones in the workplace. The display is generally clear, although does become difficult to read in direct sunlight. Call quality is adequate; however there is some echo and distortion when using both the earpiece and speakerphone.
The Bottom Line: Whereas the red colour may be eye catching and make the phone stand out aesthetically, the basic feature set and poor call quality don’t really impress that much.
The Good: T-Mobile has a history of producing and influencing the design of great phones, and the Dash, aka HTC Excalibur is no exception. It looks stylish with its silver bezel and curved edges, offers a host of connectivity options including Bluetooth 2.0 and WiFi, has the Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone operating system and offers quad-band worldwide coverage.
The Bad: The inabilities to only read, and not create Word; Excel and PDF documents may be problematic for business users, however e-mail can be synced with another computer via Outlook Mobile. The 1.3 megapixel camera has a confusing interface and produces hazy, washed-out images. Also, the touch-sensitive volume control strip on the right side of the handset is a little fiddly and unresponsive at times.
The Bottom Line: All in all this is a great offering for the modern mobile user with an ideal balance of features for both productivity and entertainment. The long talk and standby times add extra appeal as does the integrated WiFi receiver.
The Good: The T-Mobile Wing is a quad-band world handset with a full QWERTY keyboard, a 2 megapixel camera and is one of the first on the market to boast the new Windows Mobile 6 Professional Smartphone operating system. It also features the full Office Mobile suite which allows both creation and viewing of documents. There are a number of shortcut keys to frequent used applications, and the display effortlessly changes from portrait to landscape when deploying the QWERTY keyboard.
The Bad: With all this gadgetry on board, the handset is a little on the heavy side. Also, it sometimes behaves somewhat sluggishly, especially when multiple applications are open at the same time, which also takes a toll on battery life. Whereas the display is quite clear under normal operation, it can be difficult to read in direct sunlight.
The Bottom Line: T-Mobile has taken mobile productivity to the next level with the Wing, with a raft of useful features, enhancements and capabilities. However, its weight coupled with several bugs and performance issues give some pause for consideration.
The Good: The Samsung SGH-T719 is a flip-style quad-band camera phone featuring the popular Blackberry Push technology, allowing for the real-time delivery of e-mail to the device. It sports a 1.3 megapixel camera, both internal and external displays and a long talk time. Other useful features include Bluetooth, a large internal memory which stores up to 1000 contacts and MP3 ring tone support. The handset is slim and compact and fits easily into a pocket or purse.
The Bad: The external display only displays in monochrome and cannot be used as a viewfinder. The included SureType keyboard is difficult to get used to and becomes frustrating after a time. Also, the earpiece and speakerphone volume sounds low and muffled even when set to maximum. Also, despite having a camera, photo Caller ID is not supported.
The Bottom Line: The Blackberry Push technology undoubtedly gives this handset appeal, but otherwise it’s fairly mediocre. However the difficult keyboard and low volumes may cause buyers to think twice before purchasing.
