T-Mobile unveiled a Wi-Fi equipped mobile phone today, the T-Mobile Wing. Developed by Taiwan’s High Tech Computer, it is also the first U.S. phone to run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6 operating system.
Like the iPhone, scheduled to ship in a about month, the Wing operates on the slow GSM-based network; Wi-Fi technology gives the phones access to high-speed data networks.
The Wing ($299 with a two-year contract), features a full slide-out qwerty keyboard, a 2-megapixel camera, Voice-activated functions, Micro SD memory slot and Bluetooth. The Wing has a 2.8-inch diagonal color display made up of 240×320 pixels and features music and video playback capabilities.
Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6 connects with Microsoft Office documents and HTML e-mail, enabling users to use e-mail in original HTML format with live links to Internet sites. A Microsoft Live Search function can be used for online searches.
The Wi-Fi capability will let users connect to the Internet for high-speed access. While there are a handful of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones on the market, mobile phone service providers have been reluctant to market them because they can support free or inexpensive VoIP phone calls.
Nokia’s N95 iPhone killer (video, right) also includes GPS, Wi-Fi, music, video and a 5Mp camera. The Nokia N95 features a 2.6in, 240×320-pixel display can be oriented vertically or horizontally. It is a dual-slider design; up to reveal a numeric keypad; down to reveal four multimedia playback buttons. The Nokia N95 runs the Symbian Series 60 operating system.
Motorola’s V9 and V9m (above), feature a 2-megapixel camera, full Bluetooth, a microSD card slot, 3G support, video conferencing, a full HTML browser, Windows Media Player 11 with PC syncing, a 500Mhz processor, USB 2.0, and “CrystalTalk” voice technology that will adjust the volume automatically based on ambient noise. The high-speed models, the HSDPA V9 and the EVDO V9m, will run Motorola’s older Synergy operating system. The GSM/EDGE version of the RAZR 2, also known as the V8, will run Motorola’s new Linux/Java operating system with 420MB of on-board memory and a text-to-speech engine that will read your text messages out to you.
LG’s Prada Phone (video, right) is even more expensive than Apple’s iPhone. Media is stored primarly on microSD cards, and features a 3-inch, 400×240 screen with the option of playing videos in MPEG-4, H.263, and H.264 formats as well as music in AAC, MP3, WMA, and RealAudio standards. A 2-megapixel camera is built in for capturing both photos and video clips.
Other sites with coverage on the T-Mobile Wing include Mobile Burn, Brighthand, Mobiledia, PC Magazine, PocketPC Thoughts and BoyGenius. PhoneScoop has a Video Tour.
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