Cell phones > HTC Dash

HTC Dash Cell Phone

HTC Dash

User rating 4.3
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The HTC Excalibur might be small, and thin but this smartphone is hiding a ton of great features.  Renamed the Dash for T-Mobile GSM customers, this device is equipped with Wi-Fi, a QWERTY keyboard, and Windows Mobile 5.  Other key features include a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, a microSD memory card slot, and EDGE data.

In-Depth Review

T-Mobile Dash Introduction
HTC has done it again, introducing their first one-handed QWERTY Smartphone: the HTC Excalibur. The Excalibur is also known as the T-Mobile DASH and the HTC S620. The S620 is a direct competitor of the Motorola Q but offers a lot more features in a smaller more compact design. The Motorola Q GSM version has still not been released and the S620 may take all of its potential sales. The S620 has Windows Mobile 5, 200 MHz processor, built in Wi-Fi, GPRS and EDGE. The S620 is smaller than the Q and has better battery life too. Is the Excalibur worth getting? Should you renew your contract to get it? Read on to find out!!  

Design
The S620 is very small in size. Compared to the Motorola Q, the it is smaller in length but slightly thicker in width. The whole phone has a soft rubber feel and comes in black. The phone was designed very well. One design aspect of this phone I liked a lot is where the expandable memory is located. Usually phone’s expandable memory is either located on the out side or underneath the battery. The Excalibur’s memory card slot is located under the battery cover but not underneath the actual battery. This way the memory card does not ruin the design and looks of the phone. You can insert or remove the memory without turning off the phone and taking out the battery. The S620 has HotSwap capability, meaning you can remove/insert the memory card while the device is on.

The Excalibur is the first Windows mobile phone with a QWERTY keyboard and can be maneuvered by one hand. Other devices like Blackberries and the Motorola Q have a scroll wheel located on the top right hand side of the phone. Instead of putting a normal scroll wheel on the Excalibur, HTC had decided to change the style but not the scroll concept. The HTC Joggr is the new touch sensitive navigation bar. The navigation bar which is located on the right side of the phone, has four buttons. The top button when tapped twice goes back, the next two buttons are up and down scroll, and the last button is to access Outlook email. You use the touch navigation like it was an actual scroll wheel. To scroll down you would touch the top of the touch navigation and slide you thumb downwards, this motion will scroll down. You do the same to scroll up but place your thumb at the bottom of the navigation and slide your thumb upwards. To select something you just tap the navigation bar twice.

The keyboard looks good and the layout is excellent. The buttons are really small and it is sometimes difficult to type fast with. With the small size of the Excalibur the keyboard could not have been much bigger without making the phone bigger. It was a good idea for the rows of the keys to be spaced out because if they weren’t it would be even harder to type with. The keyboard has a shortcut to the camera, internet explorer and messaging. Overall the keyboard is excellent but the buttons may be too small for some.

The bottom of the phone has a mini USB port. The mini USB is used for rapid charging, syncing with your computer and is used for the stereo headphones. The mini USB has a rubber cover for protection when not in use. I liked the concept of the 3.5mm headphone jack that was on the HTC Universal, it is too bad that the new HTC phones all have mini USB for headphones.       

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T-Mobile Dash First in U.S. to Offer Windows Mobile 6

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced that T-Mobile Dash™ customers will be the first in the U.S. to download and experience the benefits of the new Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 software. Starting tomorrow, May 4, T-Mobile Dash customers can upgrade from Windows Mobile 5.0 to Windows Mobile 6 via a free desktop download available directly from T-Mobile. Designed by HTC and available exclusively from T-Mobile, the T-Mobile Dash is the first device in the...

Windows Mobile 6 on T-Mobile Dash: Friday May 4th...or right now

Word has leaked that T-Mobile will be offering Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone Edition as a downloadable upgrade to Dash owners starting Friday, May 4.  Presumably new Dashes will begin shipping with WM 6 installed on or around the same date. Can't wait that long?  There may be a link floating around the Web enabling you to download the official (non-Beta) release a few days early.  I'm not advocating your doing so, nor am I saying that attempting to download and install the...

T-Mobile Dash-a-Day Giveaway

T-Mobile Dash-a-Day Giveaway
Every day between now and December 25, 2006, T-Mobile is giving away a sleek new T-Mobile Dash™ Windows Mobile® Smartphone. Write and exchange e-mail easily. Access your calendar and contacts with Microsoft® Office Outlook® Mobile. Take and view pictures and video. Browse the Web or download large attachments using superfast Wi-Fi connectivity.* Show off how sleek and smart you are: register online for your chance to win. * Not all sites optimized for mobile browsers....

Best phone that I have ever used!

Overall Rating:
5 out of 5
By: Tyler Trusher on Thursday, March 22, 2007
From: Miami, FL (United States)
Experience: 3 Months
Pros: big screen,1.3 megapixel camera,high quality sound,fast internet,fast typing

Cons: small keyboard

Summary: The HTC Dash is definetly the best phone that I have ever used. It is a very fast and easy to use smartphone. The only downside of the phone is the fact that the keyboard is very small. Although, it only takes a few hours of using it to get used to the keyboard.

63 out of 93 people found this review helpful

The Dash

Overall Rating:
3.8 out of 5
By: Jeff No on Friday, March 02, 2007
From: Fort Collins, CO (United States)
Experience: 14 Days
Pros: Beautiful styling.
Screen is amazingly detailed with a higher resolution than any other phone T-Mobile currently offers.
Wifi capability.
Syncs great with a computer.
Feels sturdy and very well-built.
Keyboard seems small at first but I love it now.
Windows Media Player is great.
You can tether it as a modem.
E-mail management (either Outlook or MyEmail) is very easy to use.

Cons: Sometimes managing your missed, incoming, and outgoing calls is not intuitive.
As everyone else has mentioned, the volume strip is a little funny and its best to just set and turn it off.
Battery is touchy. I have to charge mine every night.

Summary: I'd buy it again.

26 out of 62 people found this review helpful

Awesome Phone

Overall Rating:
4.2 out of 5
By: ELVIN PEREZ on Thursday, February 15, 2007
From: Indiana, PA (United States)
Experience: 3 Months
Pros: QWERTY Keyboard is nice and very easy to use. Keys look to close together but it is an eas adjustment. Very nice screen. Rubber backing is nice and the phone feels very solid.The USB connector is covered by a small rubber plug to protect it. WiFi and Bluetooth works well and easy to set up.

Cons: Screen smudges easily, so invest in a screen protector. Volume touchpad is too sensitve during calls, best to just set volume level and disable touch keys. Homescreen are a little hard to find online, because of landscape screen.

Summary: This phone is super easy to use and I love the style and design of it. It fits very well in the hand. I will say that battery lie is not bad once you tweak various settings but it can be downright horrible if you use wifi or bluetooth together. Overall I am extremely pleased with this phone and i would recommend it to anyone!!!

46 out of 88 people found this review helpful
All HTC Dash user reviews

Re: Phone suggestions needed!

It looks like Noah answered your question :) " Dear Patty: Thanks for writing.  Yours is a good, and often-asked question.  The nice thing about choice is that there's an option for

Re: Tmobile dash

That makes sense.

Re: Tmobile dash

Hi Marissa That has been a popular topic in many T-mobile forums and unfortunately there is no way to make the image bigger

Re: Unlockded curve 8300 for use with t-mobile

You are definately going to have to get the configuration settings for T-Mobile. My buddy purchased an unlocked Dash that was being used on Cingular and had to reconfigure the whole phone to get it

Tmobile dash

I was also wondering how i can make the picture caller ID bigger? It's sooo tiny that you can barely see the pic when that person calls.

T-Mobile Offering Free Windows Mobile OS Upgrade

T-Mobile USA has announced that T-Mobile Dash customers can upgrade from Windows Mobile 5.0 to Windows Mobile 6 via a free desktop download available directly from T-Mobile. ");

Re: T-Mobile Dash picture caller ID

check the resolution of the pictures that you assign in your phone. You may be able to make it bigger.

Re: T-Mobile Dash picture caller ID

I have to ask my friend who owns one to see if it can be done... I will let you know as soon as I hear from him. Probably tomorrow..

Re: T-Mobile Dash picture caller ID

Thanks, phonegeek. I have used your instructions to check the picture, and I have even tried taking pictures in both the photo mode and contacts picture mode. None of those options change the

Re: T-Moblie Dash FAQ's

I just watched a couple of Youtube video reviews of the T-Mobile Dash and I have to say that is a dam good phone. I would strongly consider this phone if I can find one Unlocked and of course

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