More than just another Windows Mobile 6.1 3G GPS phone: MWg Zinc II
By Simon Bisson & Mary Branscombe in Editorial
Posted in Toys & gadgets, Windows Mobile, Mobile on
Never heard of MWg? You’re not alone, but you might want to hunt down the Zinc II. For one thing, it’s cheaper than the HTC Touch Pro or TyTN II although it has much the same features. For another, it’s stylish and surprisingly sleek for a phone with a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
I’ve been swapping between the Zinc II, the TyTN II and my trusty HTC Excalibur (better known as the T-Mobile Dash) in an effort to fulfill my new year’s resolution about always having navigation with me. Google Maps does very well at location on some phones, but on my Excalibur it’s far from accurate so I’m looking for GPS. And while EDGE is OK for quick searches, I want 3G - mainly so I can use the phone as a modem with my laptop. I know built-in 3G is always better, to the tune of 25% better bandwidth, but not every laptop I use has it. I want Windows Mobile 6.1 for two things; threaded text messages and being able to search my email on Exchange Server from the phone inbox. I have a US Samsung BlackJack II which might be ideal - it’s the closest to the size of the Excalibur so far - but it’s very thoroughly locked to its US carrier.
The TyTN II is a great phone - and as the Stella from O2 it comes with CoPilot, which is my favourite GPS tool - but it’s just a bit too big and slab-like for me personally. Plus the tilt action is great for viewing the screen, but it covers the two action buttons on the keyboard. The Zinc II is a little bit lighter, a little bit smaller and a lot sleeker, with a soft-touch easy-grip rubberized coating and a flush screen - it’s a very comfortable handful even for those of us with smaller hands. It also has a faster processor, which means the camera doesn’t make you wait an age to take your snap and it doesn’t get bogged down with lots of apps running in the background.
That’s handy as with the TouchFLO-style Quick Menu launching from what I expected to be the Start button, I found it easier to launch a new app than get back to the one I’d been using. Swiping your finger across the screen to turn between the pages of buttons and tapping to open apps is a good way to work in Windows Mobile Professional; my nails work pretty well instead of a stylus but menus are still pretty tiny.
The keyboard isn’t going to suit everyone. The keys are almost flush and don’t click down very far, but they have enough action so you know you’ve actually hit the key and not having discrete keys means - practically - that you won’t get dirt, dust and sesame seeds creeping under them. I’m used to the square layout of the Excalibur (and every BlackBerry I’ve ever known) and having the wide rows of keys slows me down until I adjust, plus the central spacebar isn’t quite in the right place for me. As always, secondary keys are distributed around the keyboard seemingly at random so you’re hunting for the dash and the @ symbol; it really is time we had a standard for this. But each key is outlined in blue light which is one, rather cool and two, really helpful in dim light.
MWg used to be O2 Asia’s device arm; they’ve expanded out to the US and Europe, renamed the company as the Mobile World Group and teamed up with gadget specialists Expansys. You’re not going to see the Zinc II on the high street unless they get another distribution deal, but it’s well worth checking out.
-Mary
Rated: 20% (1 votes)
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