T-Mobile Dash (T-Mobile)

The T-Mobile Dash is designed more for play than for work, but its compact size, durable build and strong battery life make it a viable option for some business users. Would you find a friend in the Dash? The answer depends on your personal needs.

When the T-Mobile Dash, a.k.a. the HTC Excalibur or HTC S620, hit American shores in October 2006, the smartphone space was all abuzz over the Motorola Moto Q, and every new phone on the horizon seemed to be aimed at capitalizing on the Q's popularity. The Dash, manufactured by Taiwan's High Tech Computer (HTC), was no exception. The Dash aims to steal customers from Motorola and its Q smartphone by offering similar functionality in an equally tiny—and perhaps more aesthetically attractive—package.

Though aimed largely at consumers, the T-Mobile Dash offers a number of features business users could find valuable, including its portable size, durable build, Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system and impressive battery life. It pays for CIOs and other IT executives to know what it means to support the Dash; its popularity means that one of your staffers could request that you link his snazzy new device to your network.

Stacey Morrison, an aerospace industry deputy CIO, agreed to review the Dash to reflect the needs of a real IT executive. Morrison, who requested that we not reveal the name or identity of her organization, is in charge of an IT staff of five managers and 30 contractors. She is responsible for smartphone deployment, and she selects and supports smartphones for about 100 corporate users. Her organization standardized on BlackBerrys, so her experience with smartphones has largely been with Research In Motion (RIM) devices. Morrison currently uses a BlackBerry 8700c as her business phone.

Bottom Line
The T-Mobile Dash is a consumer-oriented smartphone, and it shows. Among the device's best features are its media player and messaging applications—though its cramped keyboard makes typing a chore. The Dash's more business-oriented offerings, such as document management capabilities and corporate e-mail setup options, suffer at the expense of pleasing the Sidekick set. For users looking for a smartphone that can be comfortably pocketed, who want to receive e-mail but don't always need to respond, or who require only basic document management capability, the Dash is a viable option. Organizations standardized on Microsoft products will also appreciate the device's Windows Mobile OS and the ease of connecting it to Microsoft Exchange.

However, users who want a high-end business smartphone with robust document management features, an easy-to-use keyboard and multiple options to sync with various corporate mail servers will want to look elsewhere. For Morrison, who was unable to wirelessly sync e-mail from her Exchange Server due to a security setting, the device was somewhat difficult to configure. She much preferred her BlackBerry's user interface (UI) and track-wheel navigation to the Dash's UI and five-button navigation mechanism. Morrison also disliked the device's full qwerty keyboard, which she said she'd rarely use because it was too frustrating to type more than a few words. Because Morrison's organization is standardized on BlackBerrys, she won't likely be deploying any Dash phones in the near future. Were she to purchase a personal smartphone, she said she'd probably seek out a device with a touch screen and stylus to improve typing, but would consider the Dash.

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