Windows Phone Thoughts: Say Hi to the T-Mobile MDA!

How's The Hardware?
The most striking thing upon removing the MDA from its box for the first time is the size of it. Compared to what most people probably expect in a Pocket PC, it's downright tiny and almost gets lost in your hand. The screen size is equally small, and not being VGA, can be a bit grainy at times, but it is bright, contrasty, and acceptable overall.


Figure 1: The MDA in comparison to an Axim X51v and a 5th-Gen iPod.

Aside from the Send / End buttons, there are buttons on the face of the device for Pocket IE, Messaging, and two Windows Mobile 5 softkeys. On the left side of the device is the button that brings up Comm Manager (the program that lets you turn the various wireless functions on or off), and an up / down slide switch that controls the volume setting both for the operating system and for the phone when you're in a call. On the right side, we have a button for the voice activation, a reset hole, and a button to activate the built in 1.3 mp camera.

The camera isn't so great, but it is a phone camera, so there probably isn't much in the way of expectations there anyway. Images tend to be toward the dark side and somewhat grainy. It does support resolutions of 1280 x 1024 and can take videos, but like most cameras that are built in to phones, it's not something you'd want to take family photos with.

Rounding out the MDA, we have a miniSD slot on the top and a power switch, which effectively shuts down only the PDA functions (screen and WiFi) while leaving the phone's transmitter and Bluetooth active. If you hold the button down for 3 seconds, you'll be presented with a warning about shutting down the device entirely, so it is possible to completely power it down.

On the bottom, we find a battery cover release, standard cellular headset jack, and a mini USB connector for syncing and charging. While I do appreciate that the connector is a standard one, I was slightly annoyed that T-Mobile only includes a USB cable in the box. They also include a travel charger, which is good for throwing in your bag when you're not going to be near a PC, but a cradle would definitely have been better.

Performance-wise, you may be disappointed if you've been banging away at a 624 MHz Dell Axim for a few weeks. The included processor in the MDA tops off at 206 MHz, which is not the fastest in the world, but more than enough for web browsing, messaging, phone calls, and light gaming. Don't expect to multitask a lot of apps and play MP3s at the same time, but you'll be able to get through.