Hands-On with the Windows Mobile 6 Dash

T-Mobile Dash owners, you're in luck. Tomorrow you get to be the first consumers in the U.S. with Windows Mobile 6. That's because T-Mobile is making the new operating system available as a free download to Dash users.

To see what folks can expect, I installed the new OS on my Dash ahead of time, and in my view it's a must-get. Downloading the 44 MB file was relatively painless. After a few warning screens (charge your battery, and remember that the upgrade will erase all the data and programs on your Dash, yikes!), I plugged my Dash into my PC and had the new OS running in about 15 minutes.

Remember, you'll also need to upgrade to ActiveSync 4.5 or use Vista's Device Center to sync with the new OS. Both are free downloads from Microsoft's Web site .

The Windows Mobile 6 upgrade gives you all of the features of Windows Mobile 6 mentioned in my review . In my first few minutes of using it, the feature that jumped out at me the most was the full HTML and image support in e-mails, along with the SmartFilter ability to quickly search through e-mails. The new Microsoft Office document editors are also welcome. A far as I can tell, the upgrade doesn't seem to have slowed the Dash down, or for that matter sped it up.

T-Mobile has added a bunch of its own software to the Dash, and it's all useful and interesting. Along with Windows Live Mail, Exchange and POP3/IMAP mail, the Dash integrates both Yahoo! and AOL mail into the main messaging client. I loaded up a Yahoo! mail account easily and watched it appear like any other mail account - but remember, this isn't push mail. Also included is a home screen plug-in that shows "now playing" information and music controls. The company has also thrown in Handango InHand, a way to browse for and buy third party applications right on the phone.

Of course, the new Dash has the usual T-Mobile service features: MyFaves, which lets you call or message five people for free, and a client that lets you easily attach to T-Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots, such as the ones in Starbucks.

If you already own a Dash, this is a no-brainer – go online tomorrow and download the upgrade immediately. If you don't yet own a Dash, the upgrade cements the phone's position as a top-notch T-Mobile messaging phone. It also gets rid of the strongest argument for getting a T-Mobile MDA - you can finally edit Microsoft Office documents on your Dash.

Copyright 2007 by Ziff Davis Media, Distributed by United Press International