Camera Phone Reviews

T-Mobile Wing

Designed by HTC and available exclusively from T-Mobile, the T-Mobile Wing brings many enhancements in form and functionality including a new keyboard design, longer battery life, a 2.0 megapixel camera, a great phone experience with speakerphone, and Bluetooth connectivity for reliable hands-free use. The powerful messaging options and full QWERTY “slider” keyboard provide quick and convenient access to personal and professional e-mail, and all four major instant messaging providers - AOL®, Yahoo!®, Windows Live Messenger and ICQ(a) - while the vibrant, high-quality screen provides a rich experience for Web browsing or watching video clips(a) in landscape format.

“The HTC-designed T-Mobile Wing is a versatile, user-friendly smartphone that will appeal to a wide range of consumers,” said Todd Achilles, vice president of HTC America. “The T-Mobile Wing is 30 percent smaller than its predecessor, the T-Mobile MDA, and is packed with broad functionality that enables users to experience the best in connectivity, productivity and mobility.”

T-Mobile Wing Features New Advances in Software Including Windows Mobile 6

The T-Mobile Wing is the first new device brought to market in the U.S. to be powered by Microsoft Windows Mobile 6, offering faster access to contacts, the ability to view and edit Microsoft Office documents, and even richer Web experiences. Windows Mobile 6 supports HTML e-mail so that people can view and compose e-mail messages in their original HTML format with live links to Web sites, support for images, tables and bullets. Text and images are displayed as they would be on a PC, whether from their Microsoft Office Outlook and Exchange Server account, from a Web-based account such as Windows Live Hotmail or from a myriad of other popular service providers.

T-Mobile Wing customers will also enjoy integrated Windows Live services, including Windows Live Messenger, to chat with more than one person at a time and to express themselves through emoticons; Windows Live Hotmail that is up-to-date and delivered directly to the device; all contacts in a unified, presence-enabled list; Live Search to quickly and efficiently search the Web for news, local businesses and entertainment, directions, maps, images, and more; and Windows Live Spaces to access links to friends’ spaces within contact cards and send photos directly to their space from the Wing.

“The T-Mobile Wing with Windows Mobile 6 helps people stay connected with friends, family and colleagues, whether they’re in the office or on the go,” said John O’Rourke, general manager, Mobile Communications Business, Microsoft Corp. “The T-Mobile Wing’s work and play features help people take their PC experience on the road with them, making sure they’re always in touch.”

The included Outlook Mobile software offers up-to-date e-mail, calendar and contact information. Customers using the T-Mobile Wing at work with Microsoft Exchange Server can get instant e-mail and enhanced security features that let them clear data from a device if it is stolen or require high-security passwords to access information.

The T-Mobile Wing is a myFavesSM-enabled phone, taking advantage of the personal wireless communications experience available only through T-Mobile. Customers are empowered with a fun and easy-to-use phone interface which, when coupled with a myFaves rate plan, facilitates unlimited nationwide calling to any five U.S. phone numbers, even landlines (excluding toll-free and 900 numbers).

Key features of the T-Mobile Wing include these:

* Compact, powerful smartphone with large external touch screen and stylus
* Slide-out screen exposing full QWERTY keypad
* Soft-touch exterior with deep blue color
* Wi-Fi and EDGE-enabled high-speed Internet access
* Full HTML Web browsing
* Support for Microsoft Office Mobile enables document viewing and editing
* Windows Live for Windows Mobile including Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Hotmail, Live Search, and Windows Live Spaces
* Direct Push e-mail available with Exchange Server 2003 SP2 and later; Windows Live Hotmail also supports push mail
* T-Mobile’s myFaves
* Voice dialing, voice commands and voice recorder
* Bluetooth connectivity
* 2.0 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom
* Video capture and playback music and video player
* Micro SD memory card slot
* 2.8-inch diagonal, 65,000 color screen with 240x320 pixels
* 2.3 x 4.3 x 0.7 inches; 6.0 ounces
* 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz
* GSM/GPRS/EDGE/Wi-Fi

The T-Mobile Wing will be available exclusively to T-Mobile customers beginning May 22 at T-Mobile retail stores and online at www.t-mobile.com.

(a) Additional subscription and/or usage charges may apply to certain of these features.

T-Mobile Wing Reviews

PCMag reviews the T-Mobile Wing and writes, "The Wing has a better camera than the MDA, but that's not saying much. The 2MP camera takes sharp but noticeably dim photos, with serious shutter-speed problems in low light causing blur. The movie mode is very basic: 176-by-144 videos at 10 frames per second aren't useful for much but novelty value. ... We still prefer the Dash with Windows Mobile 6. We also like the 8800; it's a fast and stable handheld, though it lacks a camera. But the T-Mobile Wing's numerous upgrades from the MDA make it a solid, if not ultimately compelling, touch-screen alternative."

MobilitySite reviews the T-Mobile Wing and writes, "The camera is a 2.0 Megapixel camera with an 8x digital zoom. The application that operates the camera and video camera is quite powerful and I was pleasantly surprises with the photos. ... Overall the performance of the Wing is acceptable. The lackluster processor is my only true complaint. I am sure that a faster processor would have me complaining about the battery life though. Most of the applications I through at it ran speedy and without hitch. One place I noticed some serious lag was on the keyboard opening. There was a noticable delay on the screen orientation change. The size and styling make up for minor performance delays."

PCWorld reviews the T-Mobile Wing and writes, "The dedicated camera button is located near the top left of the camera when the phone is oriented vertically, and at the top right when the phone is situated horizontally--the optimal way to use the camera. But the button is flat and hard to press. When I did click it, I often accidentally twisted the phone's slider mechanism, too, which makes me worry about the long-term integrity of this critical part of the phone. Pressing the camera button launched the phone's 2-megapixel CMOS digital camera, with its 8X digital zoom (for low-resolution images) and video camera (capable of capturing clips at up to 176 by 174 resolution), but the phone lagged considerably while the camera popped up."

Pocketnow reviews the T-Mobile Wing and writes, " The T-Mobile Wing has a 2 megapixel built-in camera. It does not have a macro mode like the JAMin or a flash like the K-JAM, but it works. The camera interface is full of cryptic icons, but you should recognize most of them from using other cameras. ... While the technical specifications for the T-Mobile Wing are not much different than the old T-Mobile MDA that it replaces, you really can't get any other Windows Mobile 6 Professional device in North America today. Though the new thinness and great build quality are very welcome improvements, really the Wing is all about being the first with Windows Mobile 6 Pro. If you're concerned that it doesn't have 3G internet, well guess what... neither does T-Mobile. They're still working on it and only testing it in a small number of Cities. So if you're outside of those Cities, you're not going to know what you're missing anyway. Even Cingular/AT&T doesn't have a very widespread UMTS network in place in North America yet, so it's not much of an issue."

MobileTechReview reviews the T-Mobile Wing and writes, "The Wing has a 2 megapixel CMOS camera with fixed focus lens and self portrait mirror but no flash. Since HTC manufacturers both the AT&T 8525 and the Wing, and they are roughly coeval, we expected to see the same camera and image quality from both phones. Instead, the 8525's photos were clearer, sharper and more vivid. While the Wing's photos are OK, the 8525 (and HTC TyTN) photos are better than average."

LaptopMag reviews the T-Mobile Wing and writes, "As a phone, the Wing could use some improvement. Call quality was inconsistent in our experience. Listening through the earpiece was generally okay, although the phone tended to pick up a lot of background noise. Our buddies said they heard echoes over the speakerphone ... We generally liked the Wing's 2-MP camera (upgraded from the MDA's 1.3-MP cam); it produced bright snapshots with decent detail, provided we had adequate lighting. As many photos showed color artifacts and jaggy edges, we don't think the Wing has the goods to make you leave your standalone digicam behind."

ComputerWorld reviews the T-Mobile Wing and writes, "The dedicated camera button is located near the top left of the camera when the phone is oriented vertically and at the top right when the phone is situated horizontally -- the optimal way to use the camera. But the button is flat and hard to press. When I did click it, I often accidentally twisted the phone's slider mechanism, too, which makes me worry about the long-term integrity of this critical part of the phone. Pressing the camera button launched the phone's 2-megapixel CMOS digital camera, with its 8x digital zoom (for low-resolution images) and video camera (capable of capturing clips at up to 176- by 174-pixel resolution), but the phone lagged considerably while the camera popped up."

CNET reviews the T-Mobile Wing and writes, "The Wing's has an upgraded 2-megapixel camera with an 8x zoom and video-recording capabilities. The options are pretty standard for a camera phone. You have your choice of five resolutions and four quality settings. There's no flash, but you get white-balance settings, including one for night shots, and various effects you can add to pictures. ... Overall, the T-Mobile Wing took decent pictures. Image quality was sharp, but there was a slight yellowish tone to them. Video quality wasn't bad; there was some of the expected pixelation but clips were still viewable. We should note that when shooting pictures and videos, take care where you place your thumb along the bottom edge (when held horizontally) as it was very easy to nudge the sliding cover."

Brighthand reviews the T-Mobile Wing and writes, "A camera is almost a requirement in a smartphone these days, and the Wing is no exception. What does make it exceptional is the quality of the camera. As it's a 2.0 megapixel one, it is noticeably better than what you find in your average smartphone, and vastly better than the 0.3 MP camera in a typical "dumb" phone."