T Mobile MDA Compact III

In business...for business


With a gleaming compact design and cutting-edge features, T-Mobile MDA Compact III makes for your perfect business-aide. Get the competitive edge with Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system, MS-Office, Web'n'walk and PDF viewer. Groovy music and quality imaging capabilities to wash away the stress. Latest in connectivity, advanced messaging facilities and satellite navigation capability simply keeps you connected with the world.


The soon-to-be-available HTC Artemis will reach T-Mobile as MDA Compact III, it was displayed in Internationale Funkausstellung/IFA (the international consumer electronics fair) in Berlin.

The HTC Artemis is a quadband smartphone running Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition. It is the first HTC devices with GPS built in. Although we have see built-in WiFi report previously, the MDA Compact III didn't mention anything on the WiFi module.

The Compact III isn't your average Pocket PC phone. If you buy one people may still "think" it's a normal PDA but wait - it's far more than that. First up there's the control mechanism. When I first heard that it came with a trackball I thought back to an old arcade game in the local pub - it was called the "Crystal Maze" and involved a huge amount of trackball spinning. It would be fair to say that I didn't like the idea of a trackball much. Secondly was the scroll-wheel that surrounds the trackball. Surely that wouldn't work ? Would it?
There's something else the MDA Compact III has - GPS. It's built in. No seperate box, no extra bluetooth thingy to charge up - it's inside. Think about it. In space there's millions of pounds worth of satellites floating around, beaming location information right back down to this tiny box of tricks.What else do we have ? Well, we'll get to that in a minute. Let's look at something it doesn't have - most noteably there's no 3G and no WiFi. Bummer, perhaps I'm asking too much ? Is it just me that wants a device with GPS, WiFi, 3G, a QWERTY keyboard, hi-res camera and a numeric keyboard? Perhaps.

As a quick comparison I put the MDA Compact III next to an Orange SPV M3100 / T-Mobile MDA Vario II. As you can see it's a lot slimmer and more lightweight.

For the review we were loaned the MDA Compact III and CoPilot Live. Inside the CoPilot box is a very decent windscreen holder for your MDA Compact III and a car charger.. plus the data card too. It's just a matter of putting the data card into the MDA Compact III and you're done. CoPilot installs and you're ready to go. As a package it's an excellent deal.

Some specifications:

• 2.8 inch QVGA TFT LCD, touch screen
• 128MB ROM / 64 MB RAM
• TI OMAP 850, 200 MHz
• EDGE / GSM Quad-band 850 / 900 / 1800 /1900 MHz
• GPRS
• Bluetooth
• Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g ?
• 2 megapixel camera
• FM Radio
• GPS
• 1250 mAh battery
• miniUSB
• microSD card slot

T Mobile MDA Vario II

The stylish and powerful performer

Experience a rich blend of power and style with MDA compact vario II. Windows Mobile 5.0, Office programs, Microsoft Direct Push-its packed with smart business applications. Enjoy super-fast browsing with 'web n walk'. Shoot picturesquely, call your friends and see how they are doing on a colourful, vibrant screen. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for unlimited sharing and wire-free connectivity; QWERTY keypad for speedy typing; and scroll wheel for swift navigation. The gizmo means business.

The time has come - also for T-Mobile Germany (after O2 Germany and Vodafone Germany which introduced the HTC Hermes already): T-Mobile is launching MDA Vario II which will support, right from the start HSDPA. T-Mobile Germany's HSDPA networks offers at the moment bandwidths of up to 1.8 megabits/second and that's across the whole T-Mobile UMTS network! Users of this Windows Mobile 5.0 features Pocket PC Phone Edition can surf the Internet via web'n'walk at an ultrafast speed and access the information and entertainment services they need from anywhere. Those using the device for business will appreciate the high speed when downloading E-Mails with large attachments or researching online for example. Besides HSDPA, the integrated EDGE and W-LAN technologies in MDA Vario II also enable high-speed experience whilst on the move.

Innovative technology, sophisticated ease of use, high quality manufacturing and the smart range of colors on offer - anthracite, Bordeaux and black - are the cornerstones of the unique make-up of MDA Vario II. As a real all-rounder, the phone also offers numerous Office Mobile applications such as Word Mobile and PowerPoint Mobile based on the operating system Windows Mobile 5.0 for use on the move. Users can completely synchronize their Outlook with contact details, calendar entries, messages and so on with their device. MDA Vario II supports current E-Mail standards as well as the Microsoft E-Mail push service which T-Mobile provides as part of its MDA messaging solution. The BlackBerry Push Service can be easily installed on the device and software is supplied. For high resolution photographs and video recordings a 2 megapixel camera with close-up/macro mode and flash is built-in. A second camera on the front enables the owner to be shown during video telephony via UMTS. The side track wheel, the slide out QWERTZ keyboard, a button to hide/close completed programs and soft keys which can be allocated on the large touch screen color display mean all functions can be used quickly and easily. The large internal memory can be further extended by a plug-in micro SD card.

The MDA Vario II will be available from August 14, 2006 at a price of 699,95 Euro without a contract. Subsidized it will retail for 359.59 Euro on the Relax 100 tariff - a 24-month postpay contract.