Finally, a Windows Mobile phone that excites me

I’ve had a few WM phones and while they have all done a decent job in the utility department, they have always lacked a few key features which kept them from mobile phone perfection.  The iPhone is probably the device that is closest to my perfect cellphone but it too lacks key features that I need and ultimately the Blackjack wins for the corporate scenarios.  My dream phone would have:



  • A regular headphone jack with no adapter needed
  • Charging and syncing via mini-usb
  • Wifi
  • Bluetooth – The usual Bluetooth profiles plus A2DP & AVRCP
  • GPS
  • A touch screen that doesn’t require a stylus
  • Physical keys – ideally QWERTY text entry or tactile touch screen
  • Good high resolution screen that is visible in daylight
  • Quad band GSM w/ HSDPA or HSUPA (UMTS extra credit)
  • A 3MP camera
  • microSD
  • Exchange ActiveSync with all the corporate IT functionality
  • A music playback experience that doesn’t suck

This basically amounts to a work hard + play hard phone.


Today Microsoft and Sony-Ericsson announced a partnership resulting in the Xperia X1 which has all of the above.  Engadget Mobile did a quick review and I am pretty impressed.  We’ll have to see what the build quality and form factor is like when held in my hand but I am officially holding off on my prospective purchase of a new WM device until I have a chance to play with one of these.



Previous WM phones I have owned are the Audiovox SMT 5600 and the Samsung Blackjack.  The SMT 5600 was a great device for its time but times have changed.  The Blackjack has a nice feature set but it has a really poorly-designed proprietary connector for headphones/sync/charging, bad audio quality, bad build quality (I’m on my 3rd and it is having problems), flaky Bluetooth and barely sufficient battery life.  Its saving graces are the compact QWERTY keyboard, HSDPA support, rubberized skin and scroll wheel.


Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.