T-Mobile MDA Vario II / HTC Hermes

Having dared to suffer with the previous MDA Vario model, there was big hopes for this pimped up version from T-Mobile.

Sporting over double the CPU speed (now 400Mhz), more internal memory, and 3G capabilities, the HTC HERMES based handset has everything going for it.

3G network support, VGA camera on the front for video calls, 2.0 megapixel camera on the back, and connectivity dripping out of its holes (54Mbps b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (3.5G), GPRS, EDGE, UMTS (3G) )

The same hardware is also available on other networks under the names HTC TyTn, Orange M3100, Vodafone VPA Compact III, Vodafone 1605, Cingular 8525.

Software wise the device is running the latest Windows Mobile 5.0 with the AKU 2.3 ROM. So in theory it should be in full working order…

After a month of use I can honestly say it’s the best Windows based phone I’ve ever used. It works great, it’s responsive, and has loads of great features to keep any phone obsessed user busy.

Only downsides I’ve encountered so far is some infrequent lock ups and weird behavious with the MicroSD cards. Thankfully the lock ups can be cured with a quick reboot, as the device kicks in to action pretty quickly from a warm restart.

The MicroSD card problem occured because I used the card straight from the box. I installed the Co-Pilot Live 6 satallite navigation software on it. Upon starting the software the phone would lock up for the majority of times. After installing other software on the storage card and running it, I noticed similar problems. From a forum post it appeared the issues could be cured by formatting the MicroSD card to the FAT filesystem. This does appear to have resolved the issue for me.

Other users of the handset have reported all manner of problems to a dedicated forum, however I’ve not had anywhere near these kinda of issues with my UK T-Mobile device.

The phone hardware is quite robust, although the slide out keyboard does seem to start coming out when trying to use the phone in single-hand mode. I must be squeezing it too much!

The addition of multiple ‘OK’ buttons and the jog wheel make single hand mode really nice, the T-Mobile layout works nicely for my needs.

Software wise the phone runs Skype perfectly, and this works great over the T-Mobile data network and the phones WiFi connection at home and the office.

Web browsing is catered for by Pocket Explorer, which works to a reasonable degree.

Outlook sync with Microsoft Exchange 2003 SP2 has failed to work though, it’s been a pig to debug with certificate problems and still no joy - so we were unable to test this feature which is a core function of the Windows Mobile 5 phone.

In conclusion, if you’re looking for a multi-purpose Smartphone/PDA that doesn’t suffer from instabilities then the MDA Vario II is for you, paired with T-Mobiles unlimited data tariff (web’n'walk) it unlocks the capabilities nicely!

Get yourself one from t-mobile.co.uk. Prices range from £0 to £79 on a Flext25 tariff if you look for promotions in-store, otherwise pay more on-line.

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