T-Mobile MDA Compact
Discontinued 14th September 2004
At last - an HTC handset that we haven't
had in Mobile Gazette before - this time the
HTC Magician under the name of the T-Mobile MDA Compact.
You can bet that it won't be long until Vodafone, Orange,
O2, i-Mate and Qtek hit the streets with identical models,
but here we go..
..the T-Mobile MDA runs whatever the
heck version of Windows Microsoft are shipping these
days. We like Windows on smartphones, but when
it's called something stupid like Microsoft Windows
Mobile Pocket PC for Smartphones Second Edition or whatever
Microsoft's nom de jour is it just gets frustrating.
Let's say that we're pretty sure this is bang up to
date in Windows terms, OK?
This is a very small PDA format Smartphone,
measuring 105x59x19mm and weighing just 130 grams (bear
in mind the O2 XDA II is 130x70x19mm and 190 grams).The
MDA Compact doesn't skimp on features, with a 320x240
pixel 65,000 colour touch-sensitive display, 1.3 megapixel resolution
camera, Bluetooth, SD/MMC memory expansion and SDIO
peripheral support, quad-band GSM and GPRS. In fact,
it's just as good as the older XDA II clones, just smaller.
Like the T-Mobile SDA
/ SDA Music, the MDA Compact is a good phone, and
HTC in general produces impressive Windows-based phones
for a variety of manufacturers. It has all the bells
and whistles you'd expect, but we think the problem
here is innovation. It's just that the
MDA Compact is an evolution of a long, long line of
phones we've seen before, and although each revision
is better than the last, we haven't seen anything different
from the HTC factory. For example, we haven't seen an
HTC clamshell or 3G phone yet, two really big markets
that are crying out for more choice.
As for T-Mobile, it seems they're playing
catch up with their rivals. With the two SDA variant,
this MDA Compact, the outgoing MDA II and the new MDA
III, T-Mobile have quite a large range of Windows Smartphones
up their sleeves. They've got tough competition from
the likes of the Symbian-based Nokia
9300, 9500
and Sony Ericsson P910..
but in our view, we're happy to sit back and watch them
come out with more and more clever gadgets.
Expected late 2004 in Europe.
Photograph: T-Mobile
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T-Mobile
MDA Compact Provisional Specifications
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Available:
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Q4
2004/Q1 2005
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Network:
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Tri-band
GSM
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Data:
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GPRS
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Screen:
|
240x320
pixels, 65,000 colours
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Camera:
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1.3 megapixels
|
Size:
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Compact
PDA style device
105x59x19mm
/ 130 grams
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Bluetooth:
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Yes
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Infra-red:
|
Not
specified
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Polyphonic:
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Yes
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Java:
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Limited
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Battery
life:
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Not
specified
|
|
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