Introduction
Sprint has never had the best of luck with its PDA and Smartphone lineup. From the battery plagued Treo to the frail email service on the older Blackberry phones, Sprint has had a bad time of things. Sure, Sprint has the fastest data service of any wireless telecommunications company, and also has the largest lineup of phones. But lineup doesn't always equal success. Still, all that may be about to change.
In July, Sprint quietly released a Pocket PC that was a replacement for the PPC 6700 that had aged beyond its time. The PPC 6800 by HTC was nicknamed the Mogul, and sports the familiar features of the glitchy PPC 6700, but with a completely redesigned form factor and software set. Sprint has had this phone under development in cooperation with HTC since the end of 2006, after the announcement of the iPhone. HTC had originally told Sprint representatives that the Mogul would be released with Windows Mobile 5. Sprint administrators requested Windows Mobile 6 in order to go along with the new Windows Vista program, and HTC complied. Today, I hold in my hands my favorite phone of all time, and I hope to show you why.
The Mogul's Image
The Mogul is quite small, even when compared to a standard deck of playing cards.
The Mogul has a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard.
2.0 Megapixel Camera and Camcorder
Blackberry-style scroll and click wheel, OK selection key, Voice Command button, and WiFi on/off switch
Power button, Connection Manager button, camera button, stylus insert
Additional connections are an infrared (IrDA) port, MicroSD card slot, and Mini USB connection on the bottom of the phone. Placed unobtrusively, the stylus is telescoping and collapses to fit in the slot at the lower right corner of the phone. The four-way toggle also works as a selection key, but is very difficult to use. The email and Internet buttons on the front are easy to overlook, but are there for those who need them.
Overall, the Mogul is pretty, neat, and packs a lot of stuff in a small space. The Voice Command key is a little oddly placed, and often is depressed by accident while using the scroll wheel. One thing to note is that the phone seems to be designed for those who are left-handed: the keyboard slides out on the right instead of the left, the scroll wheel is on the left, and the Voice Command key is also on the left. If you're taking a picture, the camera key would also be on the left. I personally have no problem with that - I never used the old Pocket PC that was set up on the opposite side. The Connection Manager button on the right hand side of the phone is handy, though.
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