Some of you may remember the T-Mobile MDA. It was a device with a lot of promise, but didn’t really work out well for the deaf market. T-Mobile has been selling a successor to the MDA, called the T-Mobile Wing, for about a month now. It’s pretty much the same device with a few changes. Some of those changes include: Windows Mobile 6 Professional (WM6Pro), better camera, rubberized body, better keyboard, spring-loaded slider, and a thinner profile than the MDA.

You will notice the biggest change of all immediately - the Wing is blue-black, rather than the boring gray/silver of the MDA. The word is that the new “soft touch” finish like the back of the T-Mobile Dash feels wonderful on the Wing.

Even though the Wing has the same 200 MHz cpu as the MDA, due to the new operating system loaded on it, WM6Pro, things run faster, and now programs can be unloaded from memory, conserving precious system resources. The Wing comes with AIM, MSN, and Yahoo! Messenger all preloaded, but be careful - the built in IM application uses text messaging/SMS to communicate with the servers, so if you have a limited bucket of text messages, you might find yourself with a large bill at the end of the month if you are a heavy IM user. It is still nice that IM is built in, and gives you easy access to relay services on IM.

Another nice feature of WM6Pro is that if you have an Windows Live or Hotmail account, you get “push” email on the Wing if you ensure the option in Windows Live is set to “As items arrive”. You can use any email account you want with the Wing which will be checked every 15 minutes, but only Windows Live and Hotmail give you push email. Windows Live also gives you many other options including Live Search which is similar to Google Maps.

This phone has quad band GSM/GPRS, and does have EDGE capabilities so it can be used pretty much anywhere - and if you want a faster connection, use the built-in WiFi.

However there are still some shortcomings with the Wing. There does not seem to be any sort of hearing aid rating for it, so using it with an hearing aid may be pretty much an “at your risk” thing - it’d be wise to go into a T-Mobile store and test it out with your hearing aid first. The Wing is also heavier than the MDA, even though it is thinner. The keyboard is claimed to be an improvement, but if you didn’t like the Cingular 8125 keyboard either, you probably won’t like the Wing’s.

If you still use your MDA, it may not be a great upgrade for you, especially if T-Mobile comes out with what is a still rumored WM6Pro upgrade for the MDA. If you are into Windows Mobile, and want a device with the latest mobile OS from Microsoft - this might be the item you’re looking for.