BlackBerry Curve 83xx versus T-Mobile DASH
This week I finally decided to end the love-hate relationship I had with my T-Mobile DASH and purchase a new phone. Being that my experience with the Dash was so underwhelming and disappointing for the year that I used it, I considered forgoing a PDA/smartphone altogether.
I was misled by the reviews online by CNET and PCWorld, so much so that I almost didn't get the BlackBerry. It wasn't until after I purchased the Curve that I realized that both the CNET video review as well as the PCWorld reviews were factually incorrect and biased (both claimed that the Curve doesn't have Wifi; it does). The PCWorld video says that the BlackBerry doesn't have GPS, but neither does the Dash (which wasn't mentioned).
I'm glad I ignored the professional reviews and purchased the Curve, as I can honestly say that the BlackBerry is much better than the T-Mobile Dash/HTC Excalibur in almost every category.
Errant and Biased CNET video
Dash (HTC S620) Deficiencies I Experienced:
Before I get into a comparison of the two devices, let me just list out a few of the complaints I have about the T-Mobile Dash:
Cracked LCD. Within six months my LCD screen cracked. This is a common complaint among Dash users, and guess what -- it isn't covered by the warranty. You can order the replacement LCD on EBay, purchase a T9 Torx driver, and fix it yourself. The cost will be approximately $80 in parts, plus your time. Click HERE for a youtube video on how to replace the LCD.
I has been recommended that you file a complaint with the FCC if you LCD cracks. T-Mobile may replace your defective Dash with another phone.
Further, the Dash LCD screen is dim and difficult to read in direct sunlight, much like my older RAZR.
Internet Explorer. Although I didn't purchase the phone so I could surf the web, I did find that the browser would hang occasionally, requiring me to kill the browser and start again. Several times I had to pull the battery to restart the phone after the browser hung.
Also, I found it ironic that CNN Mobile is automatically added to your T-Mobile bookmarks, but you will receive a your browser is not supported message when you go to the CNN Mobile site.
Intermittent Freezing. Although rare, several times I experienced a complete system hangs. I'd have to pull the battery for that.
Terrible Call Quality. The Dash had terrible call quality, especially in even mildly windy conditions. I would often find myself shielding the phone and contorting to try to hear the caller when I was outside in a light wind.
Additionally, when paired with my Bluetooth headset, the calls would be glitchy. After my second Bluetooth headset (which I used with other phones without any problems) I identified this as a Dash issue.
Broken Jogger/Volume Slider. This was the most annoying thing about the Dash -- the "jogger". There are two touch sensitive areas on the right side of the phone which were intended to be used for volume control and as a scroll wheel. It would have been nice, except it didn't work and it was disabled (there is now a registry hack to enable it). The "jogger" was only enabled to control the volume while you were on a call.
However, many times I would be talking to someone and spontaneously hear the jogger triggered "doop...doop.." sound telling me that the volume was being raised or lowered. It was so unreliable I disabled it through the registry until I upgraded to Windows Mobile 6 (which lovingly overwrote my registry setting).
Alarms of the Undead. Dash alarm had a bug, confirmed by many users (including me). If you set more than one alarm, the Dash only lets you edit the last one in memory, causing the alarms you set earlier to go off even if you turn off the alarm feature completely. You could never clear, disable, or kill the first alarm.
Although they eventually fixed that issue, I still see at least one alarm related issue -- that when I power up the device the "deleted" alarm is still active until the "fix" clears it. As a result, in the time between power up and a fully operational phone, my phone will start loudly blaring away each undead alarm, before the phone is initialized enough to allow you to disarm them or it clears the alarm queue on it's own.
It is very embarrassing when you power up your device after a weekend in a meeting and for fifteen to thirty seconds your phone is loudly blaring out alarm tones.
Broken IMAP E-Mail. Now that Google has rolled out IMAP, I have migrated all of my email domains to Google Apps. I no longer have multiple copies of emails-- I have multiple views of the same synchronized mailbox from the web, outlook and on my smartphone. At least if it worked. It was also reported that the Dash won't communicate with some mail relays.
It doesn't. The Dash will download all of the headers, but won't download the bodies of the emails about half the time (more reports here). This was essentially the last straw that made me start looking for a better phone.
No Bluetooth DUN Profile. T-Mobile removed the DUN profile, which means you can't tether the Dash as a modem over Bluetooth (yes, the HTC FAQ says you can, but that was before T-Mobile removed the feature from their ROMs). If you are adventurous, you can enable a DUN profile with a little hackery (article here).
Alternatively, you can use the Bluetooth PAN (Personal Area Network) profile with Internet sharing instead. You have to run the Internet sharing app on the Dash, and connect your computer to the Dash via a Bluetooth PAN.
An Honest Features Comparison
Here is a quick look at the differences between the two phones:
| T-Mobile Dash | BlackBerry Curve Titanium/Pale Gold | |
| Wi-Fi | YES | YES |
| Cellular | GSM, GPRS, EDGE | GSM, GPRS, EDGE |
| Camera | 1.2 MP | 2.0 MP |
| Built-in Camera Flash | NO | YES |
| Stereo Bluetooth | NO | YES |
| Speakerphone | YES | YES |
| Music Player | YES | YES |
| Music Player Mute for call and resume afterwards | NO | YES |
| IM supported | AOL, Yahoo, ICQ; MSN messenger (two different applications) | AOL, ICQ, Yahoo, MSN, GoogleTalk, and BlackBerry Messenger |
| 3.5" headphone Jack for music | NO | YES |
| Organizer synch with Google Calendar | NO | YES |
| Can support Bluetooth GPS | NO | YES |
| Supports MicroSD cards greater than 2GB | NO | YES |
| Can record Video | YES | NO |
| Play Video | YES | YES |
Conclusion
The Dash is a terrible smart phone.
As far as capabilities, the only thing that the Dash can do that the Curve won't is record live video. In every other category the BlackBerry is at or above the Dash in features, robustness, and ease of use.
Consequently, I find myself wondering two things: 1) how much crack can a CNET Senior Editor regularly smoke during the course of a regular business day, and 2) how much advertising can revenue can purchase a good review at PCWorld?
Labels: Reviews
I completely agree with you. I was foolish enough to migrate from the BlackBerry 8700c to the Dash--and have been completely miserable ever since. The alarm glitch happened to me at work just the other day. If email is your thing, then BlacBerry is king, and you shouldn't go anywhere else, because there's no better experience.
Posted by
Anonymous |
January 22, 2008 12:40 PM
When you complain about a review being biased, it would really help your case if you could follow it up with an unbiased review, yourself.
A few points that I have issues with:
1) Don't mention a problem on the dash that has been fixed. There are numerous issues that have been fixed on your Blackberry that you fail to mention.
2) If you're comparing features, don't just include the features that are advantageous to the BB, or just ones that you prefer. There are many other Smartphone features that you failed to list in which the BB lacks. (office apps, doc editing, etc)
3) Cracked Screens are the fault of careless owners. I've had mine over 1 year, never used a case and drop it on the ground multiple times a month - not 1 crack, line, or distortion on my screen.
4) Googletalk works just fine, it just doesn't come supplied on the phone
5) I've had my browser hang once in over 1 year of heavy internet usage on my dash. (you are correct in that the OS occasionally hangs, but it's windows... Freezing isn't anymore common than XP or VISTA. I would estimate about 10-12x ever for me which is less than once a month )
6) Dash doesn't rely on a BES when hooking up to my workplace exchange server. (monthly usage costs also about 1/3 that of our company BB users)
7) My Dash worked just fine when the RIM network crashed yesterday. How did your phone hold up? :)
Sincerely,
A very satisfied Dash Owner
::and former disgruntled BB owner::
Posted by
Anonymous |
February 12, 2008 9:02 AM
P.S. I forgot to mention - Nice blog, just disagreed with the dash slamming :)
Signed,
^ That guy ^
(The same guy as the above anonymous)
Posted by
Anonymous |
February 12, 2008 9:10 AM
I DO NOT AGREE.
1. I have had both the dash and the bb curve and to my experince the dash is just way eaiser to use. with the bb i hated the weel thing i could never get it to work right i would turn the ball thing and it wouldent move then i would move it faster and it would move to options away from what i wanted.
in my job i do a lot with the internet and email. the bb sucked when i came to the internet. it was slow and would freeze all the time. sure with the dash the internet would frezze but not nearly as much as the bb. and wat made the dash so much better than the bb is the dashes wifi capaiblitys. but i do aggree on one thing the volume thing sucked that is the only thing that i dont like on the dash.
with the bb it has its service through cingular/ at&t and they are supposed to have way better service then t-mobile (witch they do) but when i would make a call people would have trouble hearing me and the reciver quility sucked it sounded like thery were talking in a halway the whole time. with the dash i have supber voice quility. with makes teh dash so much better.
Posted by
Anonymous |
May 12, 2008 11:44 PM
as for the alarm thing i have never had that happen to me. mabe you got a defective product.
^from the same guy^
Posted by
Anonymous |
May 12, 2008 11:47 PM
The Dash is definetly not for noobs. I installed an aftermarket firmware and gained so many usable features it's ridiculous. Opera just came out with a new opera-mini that lets you use the numpad to navigate - 5 to zoom in and out, which makes browsing very very easy, on the actual webpages, not "Mobil" versions.
Basehue is a cool program that lets you instantly pick any color for the taskbars and theme and quickly changes to it after you choose what color.
If the phone doesn't have something you want, you search for a program and bam, it'll now do what you want. A very cool thing about windows mobile software. Can you simply do that on your Curve? How about changing the firmware to add new features? Hmm
Posted by
Anonymous |
June 17, 2008 12:02 PM
I'm the previous poster, figured I'd add a few things.
I have SNES and NES emulators on my phone with every single NES game and a few SNES games, which play perfectly well.
I have the cpu overclocked to 240 all the time and don't experience shorter battery life, but notice a lot smoother phone interface. Haven't had problems with overclocking either.
I have a 4GB microSD card and keep many youtube videos on there along with 670 192 bitrate MP3's. I'd like to get an 8gb card so I increase the quality of the MP3's though and put some movies on it for on the go.
I have cordless Motorola HT820 headphones and they work fine on the dash. They can also be used as a hands-free device for phone conversations.
I could go on why I enjoy the dash so much..
Posted by
Anonymous |
June 17, 2008 12:21 PM
I like my dash!! the only thing wrong is that its kinda slow(well thats t mobiles guetto system not the dash) and the screens cheap i broke mine twice and sent it in for a new one for free because i lied to t mobile and told them it was another error..haha yea because they dont check them newayzzz..i just bought a curve and i like it but its confusing and the dash is more easy to use.. if u lock ur dash after you are done using it it wont freeze!! im returning my curve because i want video!! if only they made it like the dash but with the curves look..i like the dases settings..theres never a good enough phone for me :( i wish i could make my own lol
Posted by
Sexyvicc07 |
June 19, 2008 10:55 PM
I like my dash!! the only thing wrong is that its kinda slow(well thats t mobiles guetto system not the dash) and the screens cheap i broke mine twice and sent it in for a new one for free because i lied to t mobile and told them it was another error..haha yea because they dont check them newayzzz..i just bought a curve and i like it but its confusing and the dash is more easy to use.. if u lock ur dash after you are done using it it wont freeze!! im returning my curve because i want video!! if only they made it like the dash but with the curves look..i like the dases settings..theres never a good enough phone for me :( i wish i could make my own lol
Posted by
Sexyvicc07 |
June 19, 2008 10:57 PM
T-mobile Dash is a piece of junk. I had the cracked LCD problem... had the unit replaced. The battery also works for only about 9 months, then inexplicably starts powering off the phone, even when the battery power is listed full. The phone will shut off intermittently. The phone also takes almost 2 minutes to power on. My old Treo650, which I started to loathe, worked so much more reliably. Email on the Dash is worthless, POP mail takes way too long to download, if it downloads at all, IMAP email is unreliable. The WiFi function of the dash, although desirable, is also unreliable.
I can't wait for the iPhone.
Posted by
Anonymous |
June 21, 2008 2:00 PM
T-mobile Dash is a piece of junk. I had the cracked LCD problem... had the unit replaced. The battery also works for only about 9 months, then inexplicably starts powering off the phone, even when the battery power is listed full. The phone will shut off intermittently. The phone also takes almost 2 minutes to power on. My old Treo650, which I started to loathe, worked so much more reliably. Email on the Dash is worthless, POP mail takes way too long to download, if it downloads at all, IMAP email is unreliable. The WiFi function of the dash, although desirable, is also unreliable.
I can't wait for the iPhone.
Posted by
Anonymous |
June 21, 2008 2:00 PM
This post has been removed by the author.
Posted by
Will |
July 4, 2008 9:30 AM
just cracked my 3rd (yes, 3rd LCD) on the ol dash...im heading down to get a curve i guess, b/c Tmobile has the worst selection of phones EVER. every phone made by T mobile (ahem, HTC) - the wing, the dash etc. all have thousands of threads bitching about cracked LCDs. my most recent crack occurred getting out of my car. dash in the pocket, i turned to get out....i guess my shorts were too tight - crack - i could hear it - and there it was -(#%^@*!%*#%*)%! !!!! I got the new LCDs from Hong Kong - it only cost me around $20-30 and my time - but i can't do it anymore (though there is something satisfying about dismantling your phone and replacing something on your own)
why can't Tmob have a windows mobile NON-HTC phone?!?
Posted by
Will |
July 4, 2008 9:32 AM