Transitioning to a smartphone - Part 1

CELL PHONES

» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated

LAPTOPS

» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated

CAMERAS

» Coming soon
» Top 15
» Best-rated

» infoSync TV	» Review Center
» Tech Gifts	» Expert guides
» RSS & Alerts	» Ask The Editors

	Home / Cell phones / Business smartphones

	Transitioning to a smartphone - Part 1	By Jennifer Hooker, 24 May 2007

How difficult is the transition from a regular cell phone to a smartphone? Jennifer Hooker will fill you in on her first-hand experiences.

I've had my fair share of experiences with cell phones, from the simple calling and messaging phones to the tricked out multimedia phones packed with music and videos. Still, I've never quite delved into the smartphone arena. It's not that I never wanted to, in fact, owning a smartphone always seemed appealing to me, with its myriad applications and access to e-mail, not to mention a full QWERTY keyboard to speed up typing. However, I was also a bit apprehensive about how difficult it would be to use and setup. I recently got the opportunity to use the T-Mobile Wing for a month, and will be sharing my experiences in switching from my Samsung Blade to the Wing.

First encounter

When I first laid eyes on the Wing, I immediately fell for its smooth, soft-touch finish and liked its rich indigo color. I also noticed that the phone was quite a bit larger and thicker than my Blade, but I didn't mind its size as I never walk around with my phone in my pocket (though it does fit in a jeans pocket, albeit snugly, and the top does peak out a bit), and instead find room for it in my purse. However, I was a bit surprised by the Wing's weight; at 6 ounces, it's heavier than most of the items in my purse, with the exception of maybe my wallet. I was willing to overlook this, as most smartphones aren't as light as a feather.

The Wing takes flight

The Wing was the first slider I've used for an extended period of time, and also the first with a full QWERTY keypad, so I was pretty excited to use it. When I first turned it on, I was greeted by the Windows Mobile 6 "Today" screen. Given I've never used a Windows Mobile device before, its list of functions and programs seemed a little overwhelming. I decided to start small and make a phone call. After taking a quick glance at the user manual and the get started poster, I discovered the phones touch screen dialing pad, easily tapped in a number and was chatting in no time. The Wing was as comfortable to hold as any other phone I've used, and my pals reported that I sounded loud and clear; as if I had called them from a landline.

I then moved on to SMS and IM. Typing on the Wing was a breeze thanks to its large QWERTY keypad. It took a little getting used to, after years of texting on an alpha-numeric keypad, but I quickly adjusted. QWERTY is way better than T9. Signing on to my MSN instant messenger account was also easy, as the Wing comes with preloaded MSN, Yahoo, AOL and ICQ instant messaging.

Moving over to smartphone territory

I started out with baby steps, but decided I was ready to see what a smartphone could really do and decided to sync it with my laptop. How hard could it be? As it turned out, very hard. I figured I'd take a look at those user guides I tossed aside earlier as I'm not an expert. I slipped in the disk that came with the phone so I could install Microsoft ActiveSync. It all seemed simple enough, until I got an alert telling me I had to download the latest version of Adobe Flash player. I went ahead and installed it, but the alert kept on appearing. After three or four tries, I just downloaded ActiveSync from Microsoft's Web site and installed it. First battle down.

Next, I had to sync the Wing to my laptop, so I plugged it in via USB and waited for it to sync, only it didn't. I was told I had a problem with my connection settings, so I followed the instructions on how to fix it. Ok, take two. I get the same response. Take three (you get the idea). After searching through the manual and doing what it suggested without any result, I got frustrated and disconnected it from the USB. After a deep breath, I plugged it in again. While I was searching online for an answer, I heard the Wing beep and found that my address book, calendar and e-mail had transferred over. How this happened, I'm still not sure, but nevertheless, I considered it a victory. However, I still kept seeing the same alert about the connections. I tried turning it off and then back on again to see if restarting it would help…it didn't. So I continued to search online for how to fix the ActiveSync error, "support code: 85020006" and eventually I found a fix on a message board. After a quick fix on the Connection Settings on ActiveSync using my laptop, the error was gone and the Wing and my laptop were finally syncing properly.

That's as far as I’ve gotten with my Wing, but in the coming days I hope to further explore what this handset can do; hopefully, with less mishaps and troubleshooting.

Read on in Part 2 here.