Slim, light and a pleasure to hold, the just-announced Dash makes a play for the Moto Q's territory with its sleek design and Windows Mobile OS, while upping the ante with built-in Wi-Fi. Does it belong in your suit pocket?
Review summary of the T-Mobile Dash:
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 A pleasure to hold and to use for typing and messaging, the T-Mobile Dash finds itself somewhere between the larger and slower Motorola Q and the smaller, more nimble Cingular 3125. With a few simple additions, especially a trackwheel for quicker navigation, the Dash could easily edge out Moto's slim smartphone. Messaging options (including push e-mail and instant messaing) are impressive, the well-implemented Wi-Fi support is a great addition, and multimedia options are strong thanks to the mobile version of Windows Media Player. That said, we were disappointed by the Dash's mediocre calling quality and inability to edit Office documents. Release: October 2006. Price: $150.
Pros: Sleek, thin design is sturdy and easy to hold. Wi-Fi and EDGE make this a versatile smartphone. Messaging and e-mail are top of the line.
Cons: Call quality should be much better. Productivity is lacking without ability to edit documents.
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Full T-Mobile Dash Review:
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Editor's note: Microsoft has announced that a Windows Mobile 2006 update for the Dash will be available in spring/summer 2007.
Design
While the T-Mobile Dash (previously known as the HTC Excalibur) isn't exactly what we'd consider an attractive phone, it is a joy to hold: more slim that it appears, with a textured, rubberized backing that assures a firm grip. Buttons are solid and discrete, making them easy to find one-handed. We would rather do away with the large brushed-metal space between the keys and the screen and have larger buttons instead, but typos were rare on the well-rounded, firm QWERTY keypad. That said, the touch-sensitive buttons on the side of the phone were too easy to activate accidentally, an unnecessary "improvement" over a simple rocker switch. The screen is bright and clear, and the small text on the "Today" screen is very easy to read. Keys are backlit by a purple glow, a cool touch.
Messaging - Very good
As you would expect from a QWERTY smartphone, messaging is a strong suit on the T-Mobile Dash. Direct push e-mail from Microsoft Exchange servers is available, as well as support for most popular e-mail services, including AOL, Yahoo, Gmail, and various other providers. SMS messaging is simple, but effective, showing a full 160 characters on screen for messages. MSN instant messaging is obviously supported, as are Yahoo, AIM, and ICQ messaging. Typing on the Dash's keys is pleasant enough. The entire keypad is actually wider than the pad on our 700p, and the keys themselves have more breathing room than on the Treo. Plenty of symbols get mapped to letter keys, but instead of having to hold "Alt" and the desired key, HTC has thoughtfully made it possible to simply hold the letter for the symbol that shares its space. Cut-and-paste options are missing, which would have been nice in many applications, especially the messenger clients and the Web browser.
Calling - Very good
Call features on the Dash are myriad and well-implemented, though call quality itself is somewhat disappointing. Calls sound a bit fuzzy, with some dips in reception, even when we had full signal strength. In our loud office environment, plenty of background noise was audible, though speaking voices were clearly separate from the din. The speakerphone is fantastic, among the loudest we've heard, and much louder than the one on our Palm Treo 700p. Whether listening to calls or playing music, the speaker is loud enough to annoy your neighbors, which is fine with us. The phone can play MP3 and AAC files as ringtones, and rings can be customized for individuals. Profiles for rings and alerts are also supported. Finding a contact is quick and easy with Windows Mobile Smartphone Edition, which supports live searching and intuitive typing in the contact interface. Plenty of fields are available for each contact, as much as you would expect from a full-fledged Outlook client. Conference calling is intuitive, with only a single step into the menu. T-Mobile's new myFaves feature is available from the "Today" screen, allowing you to call one of your five selected numbers quickly.
Scheduling - Good
The calendar application on the T-Mobile Dash works well, but looks archaic. Worse even than that of the outdated BlackBerry, the Dash's calendar doesn't live up to those on other Outlook-based Windows Mobile Smartphones. The "Week" view is needlessly confusing, bare and white without any information beyond colored blocks that keep the event times squared away. The "Daily" view is little more than a list of today's events, without a complete hour-by-hour layout. A scroll wheel or other quick navigational device would help move through schedules better than the five-way button. Indeed, this is one of the few areas where the Dash is outclassed by the Motorola Q and the more powerful touch-screen Treo. Scheduling events is easy, especially if you are using a desktop Outlook client, which syncs perfectly through ActiveSync.
Productivity - Mediocre
Though Microsoft Office documents, PDF files, and JPEGs are viewable when attached to e-mails, the Dash can't edit them. With such a comfortable keyboard that equals or even outclasses the Treo's, the Dash's lack of editing functions is a glaring omission, albeit par for the course on the Smartphone edition of Windows Mobile. You can zoom in and scroll about the file, and files retain their proper formatting and look. Unfortunately, zooming requires an extra step to the menu for every increment, where it should have been a soft key function. Comments on Excel cells or within Word documents are not accessible. The Smartphone edition of Windows Mobile also forces you to download attachments twice, requiring a couple trips to the menus, but this process was relatively quick and painless.
Multimedia - Good
With Wi-Fi and 2.5G support, the Dash is a browsing powerhouse. The Wi-Fi connection manager lists all available connections in the area, and delineates between locked, open, and ad hoc networks. Joining a new network is a snap, especially if it's a T-Mobile HotSpot, which are specifically identified by the phone, enabling you to log on with only a few clicks. Mobile Internet Explorer handles complicated and graphically rich pages well, such as the complex infoSync World homepage, but stumbles when it comes to JAVA- and AJAX-heavy sites, such as YouTube. The New York Times page failed to load completely, but our SIM card hasn't been optimized for the Dash's WiFi connectivity, so it could be an anomaly (we'll update our review once we get a proper SIM card in place). Again, a scroll wheel would help navigate large pages more quickly. Media playing is robust thanks to Windows Media Player 10.
Price and availability
The T-Mobile Dash is available from T-Mobile for $150 with a contract and an instant discount of $150. A mail-in rebate of $50 is available, when signing up for a qualifying plan.
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