I’ve considered the T-Mobile Wing (aka the HTC Herald) quite a few times since it was introduced into the T-Mobile lineup, but never bit the bullet despite the temptation.  When I found out that’s what I was getting on loan, I was pretty excited to be able to try it out.  I love HTC devices, and so far this one has NOT disappointed me!

Let’s look at what the Wing is packing under the hood:

• TI OMAP 850 201 Mhz processor
• 128 MB ROM
• 64 MB RAM
• Talk time of up to 4 hours
• Standby time of up to 6 days
• 2.0 megapixel camera
• MicroSD slot
• Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• Windows Mobile 6 Professional

My JAQ3 was running virtually the same processor, but it never felt as fast and responsive as the Wing does.  Programs that took up to 20 seconds to open on the JAQ3 open in just a few seconds on the Wing, and since I’ve had it, I haven’t had to soft reset the device once.  I was resetting the JAQ3 4 or more times a day at the end.

I can also see a huge difference on battery life using the Wing as well.  My typical usage during the day has the device checking my GMail and work IMAP accounts every 10 minutes, syncing my calendar via GooSync a few times, syncing my tasks via Milksync once every 4 hours, and talking for anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours.  I also fire up uBook to read an eBook quite a bit.  I’ve only seen the battery drop down below 50% when I’ve done all those tasks PLUS read an entire eBook.  That’s pretty impressive, considering I have grown used to constantly having a charger or mini-USB cable on me at all times, just in case the JAQ3 runs out of juice!

I grew quite used to the QWERTY thumbboard on the JAQ3, and while it had a really beautiful, clear screen, I often wished that it was bigger.  The slide-out QWERTY keyboard on the Wing seems like the perfect answer to that wish–the screen is large, clear and bright, and when I need the keyboard I can just slide it out.  The screen auto-rotates when the keyboard mechanism is engaged, which is a nice touch.

The JAQ3 was a slightly buggy device that I hoped would be fixed by a Windows Mobile 6 upgrade that was promised but never delivered.  I can only imagine the things it might have fixed…the Wing runs flawlessly on the newer OS.  Programs that never quite worked right on the JAQ3, like SPB Phone Shell, are working in ways I never thought they could on the Wing.  For instance, I have a black list set up in SPB Phone Shell to block random 1-800 numbers that call me from time to time.  On the JAQ3 it would work sometimes, but not all the time.  Numbers on the blacklist would still ring through or shoot to my voicemail.  On the Wing, I never get a single blacklisted call.  Video also works perfectly on the Wing, whereas on the JAQ3 it was laggy, would only play in portrait mode (read: sideways) on the JAQ3’s landscape-oriented screen, and you could only play video in Windows Media Player, which has never been my choice for mobile video.

The call quality on the Wing is on a whole other level from the quality of the JAQ3.  My poor friends and family have put up with a buzzing noise over the line for the last year and a half, and I know they must be happy to be free at last!  I actually have to turn the volume down on the Wing–on the JAQ3 I had to keep it cranked up to the highest level to hear my calls clearly.

Data on the Wing works without a hitch–the JAQ3 worked great at first, but the longer I had it, the spottier the data connections seemed to get.  I rarely connected on EDGE, even though I was in the middle of the T-Mobile EDGE network, and the data connection would drop intermittently, as would my signal.  I would have to reset the phone to get it to pick the signal or the data back up again.  It was so frustrating, but I dealt with it because it was just too convenient to have my PDA and my phone all in one device.

I’m looking forward to moving on to the iPhone a great deal, especially now that the App Store is open, but in the meantime I’m really enjoying one last month with a great Windows Mobile device.  If you’re on T-Mobile and looking to pick up a solid PDA phone, I highly recommend the T-Mobile Wing. I give it 4 out of 4 DTD stars!

I’m spending the next 45 days leading up to iPhone Liberation Day planning out my iPhone experience–researching cases, drooling over all the new programs in the App Store, reading reviews, etc. I’ve already got a running list of the apps I plan to install on my shiny new toy to take the place of similar apps I’ve grown used to on the Windows Mobile platform:

1. Pocket Informant for iPhone – This app won’t be out until the fall, but it’s already at the top of my must-have list! Finding out that Pocket Informant would be coming to the iPhone was what cemented my decision in the great Windows Mobile vs. iPhone debate. I decided quite early on that Windows Mobile’s built-in Calendar was not powerful enough, and when I found Pocket Informant it was love at first sight. It’s a wonderful, customizable calendaring suite that is easily the most useful thing in my mobile arsenal. I am a heavy mobile calendar user (as I’ve detailed in previous posts!) so knowing that I’ll have a more robust solution on the iPhone makes me happy.
2. Stanza – One of the things I use my PDA phone for most often is reading eBooks. I have amassed quite an eBook collection over the years, a mix of current stuff from retailers like eReader/Fictionwise and classics that are readily available from sites like Project Gutenberg and ManyBooks. When I saw Stanza in the App Store and examined it a little further, the top of my head almost blew off. It supports pretty much any format out there, which means that I won’t have to convert any of my library for the iPhone. I can just use the Stanza Mac application to transfer books to my iPhone and start reading right away. I think the iPhone’s gorgeous screen is going to make it a wonderful reading device. I can’t wait!
3. Evernote – I love Evernote. It’s a great catch-all for the little bits of information that would otherwise end up on a random computer print out or scrawled on a wayward sticky note. My Evernote contains bits of stories, ideas that occur to me in the middle of the night, phone numbers, software registration information, web pages I’ve clipped, recipes…the list goes on and on. The Evernote iPhone app lets you access all your current notes, upload new text notes, use your iPhone camera to capture an image and upload it (Evernote lets you search text within photos, how cool is that?!) and lots, lots more. I’ve been using their Windows Mobile application in addition to having the desktop clients installed on both my Windows PC at work and my Mac at home. What a great application!
4. eWallet – This is another program I use extensively on Windows Mobile that is making the transition to the iPhone. It’s not in the App Store yet, but apparently it’s just waiting on Apple to put it there, so it should be out shortly. It’s a GREAT service that stores and encrypts all your important information (accounts, passwords, etc.) so that you can access them easily AND safely. It’s been a lifesaver more than a couple times for me. I’m so happy that my favorites (or great equivalents thereof) will be on the iPhone!
5. ListPro – Another favorite of mine from Windows Mobile by the same company that makes eWallet is coming to the App Store in the near future. I have a crap ton of lists in ListPro–books I own (exported from Delicious Library), things to buy, food lists, etc. I hope I’ll be able to import information like I can in the Windows Mobile version (or better yet, use the lists I already have created!) because that would make the transition just that much easier for me.

What are your go-to apps on the new iPhone?  Talk back in the comments.

The best parts about having a WM phone are the always-on email and web connectivity and having my full calendar and contacts lists available to me no matter where I am. I am constantly going to client meetings and working off-site, so the ability to access my email and calendar on the go is huge to me. Since things always change, I needed the calendar and tasks to be in constant sync with my other computers. Thanks to the great mobile software community, I was able to figure out a quick and easy way to get my Windows Mobile phone to sync with Google Calendar over my T-Mobile GPRS connection:

1) Pocket Informant – The built-in Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts apps are good, but they’re just not quite as robust or as sleek as I want them to be. That’s why I’ve been a user of Pocket Informant almost as long as I’ve had a PDA. The latest version, Pocket Informant 8, has added a lot of features that make it great for a touchscreen PDA phone. It allows me to manage my calendar, tasks, and contacts any way that I want–it’s very customizable and I love that! I have my personal views set up for easy access to all my important information at a glance.

2) GooSync – GooSync is the best free solution available for syncing your Windows Mobile calendar with GCal. The free version of GooSync allows bi-directional sync of one calendar, which is all I’m rocking at the moment. In the future, I might like to separate my calendars into business vs. personal, or even break down my work calendars by client or project. If I end up doing that, GooSync offers a yearly plan that allows you to sync multiple calendars, as well as contacts and tasks. I may upgrade just to get the auto-sync feature enabled on my GooSync account–my only complaint is that you have to manually sync instead of just counting on it to sync in the background. GooSync is also available for many other devices, including any mobile phone that can run Java programs.

3) MilkSync – Since I’m such a big fan of using Remember the Milk for managing my tasks, I upgraded my RTM account to RTM Pro.  It’s only $25 a year, which I consider to be a web service sweet spot. RTM Pro adds a great advanced feature set, including MilkSync for Windows Mobile and Blackberry devices. It allows for bi-directional sync of tasks between the task application on the WM device and the web-based RTM account. I have it set to do a background sync every two hours so that I always know what I have on my plate.

These programs work seamlessly to keep my calendar and tasks updated on my Windows Mobile phone. I could not be happier with the solution–now I can walk into any meeting with confidence, and work off-site without worrying that I’m forgetting an appointment or deadline. Syncing my information without having to use a go-between (i.e. ActiveSync or Missing Sync) means that I’m never tied down.

How do you keep your devices and your calendar in sync? Talk back in the comments.

However, in my work life, I can’t help but be as organized as I can. I rely heavily on email, because often times it drives my daily tasks as well as provides a clear documented line of communication between me and my clients. I think it’s that way at almost every company in the modern age–live and die by email. I also use the Outlook Calendar a lot for scheduling client meetings, internal kickoffs, and more.

We have a documented project process that we follow for every client project, and I have the elements in place on my computer at work to get those things set up and completed. However, I am forever writing new to-do lists in the margins of my Levenger Circa notebook (my best analog tool at the office!) and I really hate trying to keep a paper datebook because my timelines for projects tend to be very fluid when there are delays, hiccups, or changes in scope.  I also hate having to change all my Outlook calendar entries when a project’s timeline changes, because somehow it never seems to sync up right to my PDA phone or iCal on my Mac at home.

I know I’m not the only one who has sat down with their various daily driver gadgets and thought, “Surely there has to be a way to make it all talk to each other!” There doesn’t seem to be one outstanding solution that will handle all needs for all platforms–yet. I think it’s coming, I HOPE it’s coming soon, but I can’t wait for it to arrive. I need a solution NOW.

I use the following devices every day:

• Windows Mobile Pocket PC phone running WM 5.0
• PC at work running Windows XP
• Power PC Mac at home running Leopard
• eeePC running Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04

I think I am slowly but surely figuring out the way that I can get everything to connect and sync together without trying to sync the PDA phone with any computer (a nightmare on Mac and Linux, annoying even on Windows) and across the multiple software platforms.

I have the first three “phases” of my calendaring setup completed and working, which I’ll document in more depth tomorrow.  So far, I have the eeePC, the work PC, and the Windows Mobile phone all communicating to the same central hub that I have set up in Google Calendars.

Up next, part one–tweaking out Thunderbird on the eeePC to be a robust calendar and task solution!