When it comes to the T-Mobile Dash 3G, I have some simple advice.

Don’t.

The longer I have this phone, the more of a clunker it becomes. My list of complaints include:

• In the last 24 hours, the battery has started to drain for no apparent reason – and yes, WiFi, Bluetooth, and background apps are all off. There appears to be no reason or logic behind this. The phone drained itself sitting on my bedside table last night, supposedly doing it’s standby routine
• Windows Mobile 6.1 is underpowered and ancient. There are a lack of (Social Media) apps for the Windows Mobile platform. All development seems to be focused on the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry platforms. And with Windows Mobile 6.5/7.0 delayed or underwhelming, it’s not going to get any better anytime soon
• It has weird behavior with bluetooth headsets. For every call, you have to manually tell the phone that “Hey! How about setting this to handsfree?”
• I got it for Active Sync, but frankly I could do better by hacking my way to near-Active Sync using Google Sync and routing my work email through a GMail account
• 3G Maybe. The TMobile 3G network is definitely not developed outside of major metro centers. I spend most of my time in EDGE mode, so the upgrade I thought I was going isn’t really there

Overall, this phone gets a monstrous thumbs-down from me. But, I’m stuck with it. I can’t afford to replace it, and the more I handle it, the crankier I get. I’m to the point that I may drag my old, underpowered, EDGE Blackberry 8100 out of the drawer and stop using the Dash 3G altogether.

Buyer’s Remorse is sometimes hard to swallow. Looks like I have to swallow it for another 23 months.

UPDATED: Impressions after the first month can be found here.

For the last 12-14 months, I have carried a Blackberry Pearl 8100 on my hip. And, as far as smartphones go, it served as a good, basic started phone. There were some issues though, including:

• No push email, due to limited corporate licenses for the Blackberry Enterprise server and an addition $30/month cost for Enterprise Support through T-Mobile. I did get my work email, but it was through a hack, and my work calendar and contacts had to be supported through Google Sync on the desktop and on the phone
• Poor camera. It was a 1.3MP camera. The quality of the camera varied over time, especially through various OS upgrades I put the phone through.
• Slow media support. Showing me the picture folder took up to 10 minutes, and got worse as more media was added

I was in the market for a new phone. The qualifications were:

• Better Camera
• 3G Support
• Active Sync Support
• Full physical keyboard
• WiFi (optional)

As a T-Mobile customer, the Active Sync and physical keyboard ruled out the new myTouch. The battery life on the G1 ruled that machine out.

Then I learned about the Dash 3G on Monday. It was exactly what I wanted.

Based on the HTC Snap, this phone is a serious upgrade to the old EDGE/GPRS Dash, which had always interested me. But, I was not willing to settle for EDGE/GPRS speeds. And though the T-Mobile 3G network may not be as built out as the AT&T 3G network, it is likely to improve over time.

Now, I have had the Dash 3G since Wednesday night. Comments so far?

• Moving contacts. This was sort of difficult, but it took only a few minutes once I had it sorted. Keeping my BlackBerry contacts synced with Google made this easy, as I exported my Google contacts, and imported them to Outlook
• GMail support. It’s done through IMAP, which is great, but it created a whole bunch of new labels in GMail that weren’t there before.
• Speed. Very fast, even when looking through folders of images.
• Camera. While 2MP is pretty low-end these days, it’s perfect for what I’m looking for.
• Ease of Use. Moving from one OS to another is always a challenge. But, Windows Mobile 6.1 benefits from being like Windows. And as much as you might disagree with that, it is a model that most of the world is used to.
• Battery life. Not bad, but I am always power-conscious. I only turn the WiFi on at home, and I haven’t fire up the Bluetooth yet. Using mainly the 3G network, battery life appears to be quite good. I plan to put it through a drain test over the next 36-48 hours to see how long the battery truly lasts.

Overall, through nearly 2 days, I am very happy with the new phone. If you are looking for a work-ready phone on the T-Mobile network, I highly recommend moving to the Dash 3G.

We got Samantha a new T-Mobile cell a few weeks back. But it came with an unwanted and expensive feature: every morning at 11:00, she receives a weather update from Windows Live Alerts.

Apparently the previous owner of the number had these alerts programmed. And of course, there is no way to shut them off because we have no clue who this person is/was.

If anyone out there from the Windows Live team or the T-Mobile support team can try and help us, it would be very much appreciated.

Technorati Tags: Windows Live, T-Mobile, TMobile, Windows Live Alerts, help, sms

Samantha’s second Samsung A560 died last week, so I got mad and called Sprint to try and get out of the contract. No way — a kidney and my eldest child is the only way to get out of this deal with the devil.

So, until March 2008, the phone will be powered down and stuck in a drawer. We will grudgingly pay the bill, knowing that we can then tell them to take a long walk off a short pier and not re-subscribe.

On Sunday, we added Samantha to my T-Mobile plan and she now has several fine phones to choose from out of my existing collection. I really don’t see us going back to a CDMA service…ever.

Got my T-Mobile Rizr Z3 unlocked yesterday and it is now running the stock Z3 Software…looks like for Malaysia!

I hated all the extras that came with the T-Mobile Software. Now, I am happy.

On my trip to Europe earlier this month, I picked up a Razr V3 that had been abandoned by one of my colleagues in the UK. Sitting in a drawer, it looked so lonely and abandoned.

It probably wishes it had stayed there.

Since I got it, I have been exploring all of the sites and boards that discuss the various hacks that people have performed on this magnificent piece of technology. Short of some of the advanced procedures (still trying to figure out how to convert the bluetooth into a directed energy weapon), this is not the same phone I received two weeks ago.

I have flashed the firmware (twice), switched on the Autoupdate feature for the Time/Date, and removed all of the Vodafone specific branding that came with the device.

I now understand how you can become heavily involved in phone modding. This device, which is a simple V3 that you see everywhere, is more powerful than my first 386. I can cruise the Web using Opera Mini, check directions using Google Mini-Maps, and use it as a modem if I am ever stuck for a connection somewhere.

I also have the Motorola Phone Tools software installed, so I can control my phone over USB.

A lot of what I have learned and done over the last three days is definitely in a “grey zone” as far as Motorola is concerned. However, given the number of people doing this, Motorola should open up their tools and let people know how to make the mods they want.

In fact, I would love to see Motorola should run a contest to see who can build the coolest Flash pack for the V3 that can be used by anyone. That would build intense customer interest and would make the V3 even more of a geek toy than it is now.

It is the single coolest gadget I have ever owned. It even outranks the Treo and the Zen Micro.

For those of you out there into the risk of turning your slek and sexy phone into a brick, I suggest Motox or MotoModders as places to start.

Long live MotoModding.

Technorati Tags: Razr V3, V3, Moto, MotoModding, Motorola, hacks, flash, modding