Yes, you can tether it!

[Updated 7/20/2009 -- with tethering instructions and updated impressions.]

[Updated 7/24/2009 - additional comments / GPS issues.]

[Updated 10/19/2009 - Bluetooth tethering.]

Bottom Line: The Dash 3G is a competent Windows Mobile smartphone with a pleasing form-factor. It has sufficient processor speed and memory to run lots of applications and is kitted out with GPS, WiFi, and 3G capability. However, the price is steep compared to other smartphones with similar or better capabilities. Because of this it appeals a lot to diehard T-Mobile customers looking for a 3G device with grown-up features like simple Exchange integration and easy tethering. For other users however, a Blackberry, G1, or even the forthcoming My Touch might be a better value and offer more wow-factor.

Full Review

I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for years. For the last two years, I’ve had a T-Mobile Wing smartphone, and I just might be the only person in the US who actually liked it and thought it was a great phone. But, it isn’t 3G capable and getting a fast connection to supplement the poor wireless [see this post] on my daily train ride is becoming a necessity. So I was stunned when my wife discovered, quite by accident, that T-Mobile had finally released a 3G smartphone that wasn’t the G1.

Dash 3G (lifted from T-Mobile.com)

Cheap Data?

But that wasn’t the best part. It seems that T-Mobile has “grandfathered” their Windows Mobile Data Plan users so that Wing users (and original Dash and MDA users too) can have unlimited 3G data for the $19.99 a month we currently pay for EDGE data. You read that correctly … $19.99 a month for unlimited 3G data. And … according to two separate T-Mobile reps, tethering is allowed. So in spite of what you read elsewhere, you can tether the Dash 3G (as in it works — Internet Connection Sharing ships with the default T-Mobile ROM) and you are allowed to do it without getting booted off your contract. (In fact, here is the official HTC FAQ post about internet sharing.)

Tethering

So, HOW do you tether your phone as a modem? Well for Windows users this really couldn’t be easier. I tethered my phone to my Vista laptop via a USB cable in two easy steps. Really.

1. Get a USB cable and connect phone to PC. Do not sync phone via the connection.
2. Go to Start/More/More/Device Management/Internet Sharing on the phone. Select “USB” for PC Connection and “T-Mobile Data” for Network Connection. Hit connect.

To paraphrase Gordon Ramsay completing a recipe on the F-Word, “High speed connection sharing via T-Mobile wireless. Done!”

In the old days, and with some older operating systems and phones, you needed to configure your phone as a modem and use dial-up networking to connect to the data network. This meant configuring data providers on the phone with names like “wap.voicestream.com” and then configuring modem initialization strings on your PC with things like “AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”wap.voicestream.com”,”"” and dial-up numbers like “*99#.” Ugh… Windows Mobile currently uses NDIS drivers to make all thet mess go away. This is one of the few areas where Microsoft has shown true value with Windows Mobile by making it compatible with XP and Vista to make this simple. (For information on the old way of configuring tethering, see this at Howard Forums or this). I have successfully set up a Vista laptop and a XP laptop using the simple 2-step process above.

Bluetooth Tethering

OK, so the cable method isn’t cool enough for you. Well luckily old King Harald I is coming to the rescue. Bluetooth tethering is almost as simple as the USB kind. At least as long as your computer’s Bluetooth drivers allow you to join a Personal Area Network (PAN). To connect via Bluetooth, do this:

1. Go to the Connection Sharing settings as outlined above. Except, instead of selecting USB for the connection type, select “Bluetooth PAN.” If prompted to turn on “discovery” for the first connection, do it.
2. On your PC, click your Bluetooth icon and select the “Join a PAN” or similar option.
3. In the selection window, choose your phone by name. Click connect. If prompted, enter the PIN.

And that’s it — you should be connected. (Note, your exact procedure may differ depending on your PC’s Bluetooth software.)

And, by the way, this works perfectly for tethering a Mac as well. Yes, you read that correctly, you can tether a Mac via Bluetooth to your Windows Mobile phone. I have done this successfully on my 13″ MacBook. Just set up the Dash 3G for a Bluetooth PAN and add a new device on your Mac. Exchange the codes and you’ll be paired. Then simply select the data connection under the name of your phone on the Mac Bluetooth menu.

So what’s the drawback? Well, it’s primarily that T-Mobile’s 3G service coverage generally sucks (see my ongoing tracking here). Even in the first cities where T-Mobile began their 3G rollout, coverage is spotty at best. And outside those metropolitan areas it’s non-existent. But if you’re lucky enough to be in a 3G coverage area (and since I work in Boston, I should be, at least when I’m in the city) I dare you to find another carrier that allows unlimited 3G data for $19.99.

Internet Sharing -- Built Right In

Impressions

I’m having a tough time with this. On the surface, the Dash seems like a very competent Windows Mobile smartphone. It is fast, has plenty of memory, and the Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM that ships seems like a decent improvement over the WM 6.0 that I am used to. I like how thin the device is, compared even to the current generation of blackberries. And although only QVGA resolution, the screen suits me fine.

On the other hand, after two days, the transition from a touchscreen PDA to a smartphone is proving to be a pain for me. But this may be more my problem and may go away after I finally get used to some things.

Here are some impressions of the hardware:

• The processor is speedy. There is little lag when moving around. There is plenty of memory for installing apps.
• The keyboard is cramped but very usable. The keys are domed to help your fingers find them, and it takes little time to get used to the layout. Some reviewers, including Devin Coldewey have complained about the layout, but I think he’s picking nits. If you can’t get used to slight keyboard variations in the span of two SMS messages you have no business buying new smartphones.
• The trackball is smooth and reasonably sensitive right out of the box; setting it to high sensitivity makes it even better.
• The volume buttons on the left side are in a horrible place relative to the cover for the data/charging/headphone connection on the right. I change the volume EVERY time I open or close that cover. After a full week with the phone, this is really pissing me off.
• Speaking of the cover for the data port, it’s a pain to open.
• The screen seems bright and clear enough to me.
• HTC has an odd power-management scheme which shuts down the GPS receiver whenever the screen powers down. On the surface this makes sense –if  the GPS is used for guidance and who would really be navigating when the screen is blank? But it poses serious problems when using a GPS app that isn’t for navigating. Like GPSed for route plotting or other location services. This should at least be a configurable option but I can’t find out how to fix it.
• Another GPS issue is the reception. I have friends with iPhones and they can keep a GPS signal inside of buildings! The iPhone AGPS setup is solid. HTC claims that this handset supports AGPS, but if they’re serious then either the HTC or T-Mobile implementation sucks. Because you need to be standing somewhere under an open sky to even have hope of getting a lock when you first enable a GPS application. Near a window? Not good enough. In a car? 50-50 chance that you’ll get a lock in under 5 minutes. Outside under a perfectly open sky — then maybe 10 to 30 seconds. Once you capture the satellites then you have a decent chance of holding some signal inside a car or train. But this receiver definitely loses signal faster, and takes longer to get it back, then either my old Blackberry or my OnCourse Bluetooth GPS that I used with my Wing.
• Similarly to the GPS receiver, Wi-Fi goes to sleep when the screen does and if you’re somewhere without cell coverage (a distinct possibility with T-Mobile) you stop receiving any mail whenever the screen blanks. Not cool HTC. Thanks to a reader’s (Alex) insight (see comment #2) I’ve seen the error of my ways. Although the default settings put the Wi-Fi connection to sleep after the screen powers down, you can turn that behavior off by going to Settings/More/Connections/More/WLAN Settings/Power Mode and unchecking ‘auto turn off WLAN if no WLAN or user activities after LCD OFF over:’. Gee. I can’t imagine why I didn’t find that little gem at first glance … it’s only 6 menus deep. [superemotions file="icon_smile.gif" title="Smile"]

As for the software, I am having some issues:

• The default themes and color schemes suck. There’s not one palatable combination in the whole bunch, and, unlike my last Windows Mobile experience, you can’t easily switch to a simple black background (I finally took a picture with the built-in camera while covering the lens to get a pure black photo and set that as my background).
• Why are the system font-size choices only “normal” and “large.” Where the hell is small? Not everyone has bad vision and some of us would like to see more than four e-mails in a list. That’s inexcusable — having to resort to a registry hack to change the default font size to something smaller than 10 point should get someone at Microsoft or HTC or T-Mobile fired.
• The task bar is horrendous. The icons are bland white and convey little information. It’s so bad that an entire underground of programmers has developed to provide noting but improved taskbars! (See http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=54514 as an example.) UPDATE! I’ve flashed a custom cooked ROM onto my Dash 3G and it has great custom colored taskbar icons baked right in!

Note — regarding coverage, the 7/20 update of this post was written while tethered on the train between Back Bay and West Natick. Coverage is decent so far!

In my initial review of the T-Mobile Dash 3G, I made some comments about the GPS functionality. Specifically, I complained about HTCs power management and the sensitivity of the receiver. I wanted to take a closer look at the GPS after a few weeks of use.

Power Management

I still think HTC’s power management scheme is a problem. Essentially, when the phone puts the screen to sleep it shuts down all other functions except the basic processor and the cellular data service. This includes the GPS and Wi-Fi. The problem is the conflict this causes with modern location-based services like Google Latitude. What this effectively means is that you can’t use Latitude or track your movement with something like GPSed unless you set the power so that the screen doesn’t power down during use. What really annoys me is that many GPS applications have a setting that is supposed to prevent the screen from turning off, but many don’t seem to work on this phone. What’s even worse, is that locking the screen overrides the power settings! So even if you set the screen to not turn off, if you lock it, it will turn off anyway! That’s simply wrong. Try carrying the phone in a pocket with Latitude enabled and without locking it. Just see who you ass-dial when you sit down.

Multi-Program Use of the GPS Works

On a positive note, a common criticism of HTC and other GPS implementations is that most programs access the GPS output directly. Which means only one program can access the GPS at a time. So it’s not possible to use a navigation program at the same time as a tracking program. There are several ways that people have overcome this, including a popular software program called GPSGate, which acts like a GPS data server that several programs can access at once.

It appears that this implementation has solved the problem without the need for 3rd party software. Today I was able to simultaneously use my Garmin navigation program at the same time as GPSed to record my route. Both programs worked flawlessly. This is a huge convenience and helps offset the power management issues in my mind. I don’t know that it totally offsets the power issue, but it helps. No special configuration was required to make this work — the GPS receiver appears on COM 4 in this implementation. Just set your program to find that port and everything should work fine.

Sensitivity and Lock Time

[Update - 7/31/09 -- Because I always reserve the right to be wrong -- there is a quick note posted by an xda-developers member on his blog about a better experience with the GPS lock time than I report (see http://bupahs.blogspot.com/2009/07/htc-dash-3g.html). As with all things on the internet, I encourage you to evaluate the different experiences and draw your own conclusions. Hell, maybe even go to a T-Mobile store and ask them to fire one up for you and see how the GPS works for yourself.]

This is another issue I’m having. When the GPS is first enabled it needs a perfect view of the sky in order to obtain a satellite lock. If you don’t have a clear view, expect minutes before the GPS locks, And this isn’t affected by whether or not the HTC Quick GPS program is used. In addition, the GPS receiver seems to lose signal more than any other I’ve used before. I even lost signal in a completely open part of the Mass Pike (I-90) around Newton and it took 2 minutes to get it back.

Conclusion

On balance, the GPS seems OK, as long as you can get a signal. Of all the issues, I think the lock time and signal capture are the ones that concern me the most. I can find a way to carry the phone so that I don’t need to lock the screen. But the GPS doesn’t do any good unless it works when you need directions. And a GPS that can’t get a signal might as well be a brick.

Storm Brewin' in Boston

I never intended this blog to be a photo blog … but since I’m writing about my new phone lately, I thought I’d show off the camera built into the T-Mobile Dash 3G. I took this while walking to the train station after work in Boston today. This is overlooking Boston Common from near the corner of Tremont Street and Hamilton Place (near the Orpheum Theater). This was really tough light … that cloud opened up on me about 3 minutes later.

I’ve mentioned the poor lock time of the Dash 3G GPS previously (see this and this). Here are some real-world times.

Yesterday, I was sitting in a window seat of my train home. I opened Google Maps and let the GPS search. The phone was right next to the glass. GPS lock time: NEVER. No satellite lock was achieved in 10 minutes of trying. (Google Maps appears to have a 5 minute timeout if no GPS signal is obtained. I waited two full timeout cycles before giving up.)

So, when I got to my train station, I stood in the middle of an empty parking lot. No trees or anything for 100+ yards in any direction and no tall buildings at all. Time to find a GPS lock: 3 minutes 50 seconds. To put it simply, that is pathetic. I might as well bring my topo map and compass.

I certainly hope that HTC or someone at XDA-Developers can help sort this out because a GPS with performance that poor borders on useless.

It’s been 1 month (as of tomorrow anyway) since I’ve owned my new T-Mobile Dash 3G. I figure that’s enough time to start to understand some of the ins and outs of the phone and give a decent summary of my thoughts so far.

Hardware

Overall, I’m impressed with the size, shape, and feel of the device. The keyboard is more compact than a blackberry or my previous T-Mobile Wing, but it didn’t take too long to get used to it. The phone feels solid — not plasticy. the keys press nicely, and for the most part the trackball rolls smoothly. I say for the most part because I did go through a period where it seemed like the trackball had some dirt in it and it would jam in the vertical axis. But that issue resolved itself after a couple of days and hasn’t come back since.

The processor is speedy and the data radio seems solid. I tether this phone all the time and run multiple applications while doing it and nothing seems to slow it down. I currently have my laptop tethered to the phone with GPSed, Google Maps, and Facebook running and I just sent and received a message like nothing is running at all. There is also plenty of memory, both program and storage. This is the first Windows device of this type that I actually believe could be run decently just with the built-in memory.

The screen is OK for what it is. And what it is a QVGA display. This is clearly designed to be functional rather than the selling point of the phone. It’s bright, and the color reproduction is good. But it’s small. There’s just no way around it — it’s 320×240. This is an iPod display, not an iPhone display. If there was anything I would improve about the hardware, it would be the screen.

As a phone, it works great. Call quality is clear, the speaker is loud and clear — the speakerphone works well. No complaints at all on the phone.

Battery life is pretty good — I’ve never been one to push the limits of a cellphone battery though. I usually charge each night and then plug in again at my desk at work. But on the few occasions where I’ve had to go a whole day without plugging in, the Dash 3G hasn’t run down below 55%, even with moderate use.

The GPS has me concerned though. Most of the time, and with most programs, I have a terrible time getting an initial satellite lock. Inside a vehicle it can take 10 minutes to lock, if you can get one at all. Under an open sky, it can take 2 to 3 minutes. But other times it gets a lock in 30 seconds. I’ve tried to be consistent in my use to narrow down what helps and what doesn’t, but I can’t seem to get any consistency out of it. This is an area I will continue to experiment with.

One thing that I find annoying, but may be a little too sensitive about, is the position of  the volume rocker versus the USB port cover. They are exactly opposite each other on the side of the screen and I can’t seem to do anything with the USB port without changing the volume. While this isn’t a big problem by any means, it is annoying.

The camera is decent for a 2 megapixel camera. It does an OK job taking pictures in decent light, but doesn’t stretch well when the conditions get tough. Cameras on most BlackBerries are definitely better. The camera controls are definitely lacking — the settings are few and difficult to find. The menus aren’t really easy to navigate and changing settings quickly just isn’t possible. But once set to some middle of the road settings, snapshots will turn out looking decent.

OS/ROM

Windows Mobile 6.1 is a decent operating system and T-Mobile’s implementation of it is solid. The phone isn’t loaded with too much crapware (aside from the obligatory Handango-in-hand app and T-Mobile’s TeleNav navigation app) and the apps that T-Mobile does provide are useful (like the account status app). Windows Mobile does certain things very well — it integrates with Exchange servers easily, it tethers to Windows computers easily, and has a decent implementation of Pocket Outlook for mobile e-mail. What it doesn’t do is look particularly good. The new sliding panel home screen helps, but there aren’t a lot of programs that integrate well with the sliding panels yet. So, it is what it is — a regular Windows Mobile implementation without a lot of bells and whistles.

The other day I wanted to track my progress on a walk across Boston. I started near Government Center and walked 2.5 miles down Boylston Street past Fenway Park to the Green Line stop at Fenway. Never mind that it took 9 minutes to get an initial GPS lock, but even on an open street the phone lost GPS signal 9 times in 2.5 miles. It would drop to 0 satellites on the display and take anywhere from 30 seconds  to 5 minutes to get a fix back.

That’s just horrible.

The ext day I broke out my OnCourse Bluetooth GPS. It typically gets a fix in less than 15 seconds and never loses a signal. So I’ve gone back to carrying an extra GPS receiver because the built-in one is simply garbage.

GPS Satellite

After more than a month of struggling with the slow GPS lock on the Dash 3G I may have found something that speeds up the lock times a little. Using a freeware program called GPS Test (freeware from a British company called Chartcross), the onboard GPS seems to use a much more efficient search algorithm and finds a lock faster. Still not as fast as my OnCourse bluetooth GPS, but in a few tests much faster than the built-in GPS by itself.

I’ve found that starting GPS Test and letting it find the satellites, and then switching to Google Maps or another application works fairly well. I’ll keep trying this and we’ll see if it really makes the system more usable.

Here’s a quick list of the software I’m running since upgrading to ookba’s ROM. Links are provided where possible:

1. Opera Mini (included with 3volution ROM)
2. Skyfire (included with 3volution ROM)
3. Bing Search for Mobile
4. Facebook App (from Microsoft)
5. Garmin Mobile XT (modified to run from my own SD card, see this post)
6. Google Maps
7. GPS Test
8. GPSed
9. GV Dialer
10. Midomi
11. Nimbuzz
12. OggSync
13. Pandora (I got the CAB from xda-developers, but official page is here),
14. PocketTwit
15. Ilium Screen Capture
16. Skype
17. TCPMP (part of the 3volutioin ROM)

The other day I flashed my phone to the latest version of the 3Volution ROM which Ookba had released on XDA-Developers. It’s been three days now and I’m very happy with it. It’s stable and fast and, so far, everything woks as expected. Even the Skyfire ALT key bug has been fixed.

There was really only one last thing to tackle on this device: the cellular radio itself. In a cellphone, there are really two sets of code that make things work, The Phone’s Operating System (OS) and the radio software. The OS controls all of the functions that you can see, while the radio software controls the way the phone communicates with the network. The OS and the radio can be installed separately.

Users on various message boards have reported that their phones seem to drop their 3G data connection back to EDGE speeds whenever they end a phone call. And a few people have complained that their ability to capture a 3G signal in the first place is suspect. Some people hope that an upgraded radio software package from the manufacturer will address some of these issues. In fact, it probably won’t, since connection speed decisions are made by the network and not the phone, but at any rate I figure that if HTC released a newer version of the radio software, there must be some improvement in it….

My Dash 3G originally shipped with radio version 3.44.25.30 (check yours by going to START/SETTINGS/ABOUT). The manufacturer (HTC) released a Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade separately from the T-Mobile upgrade, and the HTC version had some updated radio code in it. Ookba managed to extract this package and build it into a stand-alone update, with version 3.47.25.29 in it. And that’s what I installed.

The Verdict

Well … the flash worked perfectly and everything installed in about a minute of work. Did it change the way my phone behaves? Not that much that I can see. It certainly doesn’t seem to have hurt anything, but there is no dramatic improvement either. I think that I am able to get better signal on my normal commute, but this could also very well be the result of T-Mobile’s ongoing network upgrades too. I don’t get any faster speeds when my laptop is tethered. I’m not sure yet whether actual phone performance is enhanced (I haven’t made enough calls).

So my recommendation is this: if you are comfortable flashing your phone, go for it. You might see some marginal improvements. But if flashing makes you nervous, then there’s no reason to suffer through this – the improvements aren’t dramatic.

Over the last nine or ten months I have tweaked, upgraded, and generally overhauled my T-Mobile Dash 3G smartphone. I’ve learned quite a bit along the way. And after my most recent upgrades I think I finally have a really solid phone that I love. So if you’ve recently picked up a Dash, or are thinking about it, here’s all the information I have in one place.

The Basics

To turn your new phone into a lean, mean, communications machine, I recommend ditching the Windows Mobile 6.1 that comes on the phone and upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5. Since neither T-Mobile or HTC has released an official 6.5 upgrade yet, you’re best bet is a custom “cooked” ROM. I use the latest version of ookba’s “3Volution” ROM. In the interest of full disclosure, modifying your phone with custom software will invalidate any warranty on the device, and most probably violates several copyrights. However, in defense of this practice, it has been well established that Microsoft is aware of, and its employees contributors to, the XDA-Developers community among others. And with all the resources at its disposal, Microsoft has not attempted to shut down the practice. So if you choose to do this, do so with an understanding of what you’re doing. (See sidebar for more info.)

To install it, follow these steps:

1. Install a \”hard SPL\” security fix, which allows non-official ROMs to be installed.
2. Install the latest version of ookba\’s ROM.

I’ve written a little about the upgraded ROM here and here.

Upgrade the Radio

Although I’m not sure upgrading the radio made a really dramatic improvement, it does seem to have helped a little. It certainly hasn’t hurt.

Install Some Useful Applications

I’ve made a couple of lists of useful software that I’ve installed. The main list is here and the second list is here.

Learn

There are many resources on the web for Dash 3G owners. Here are some good ones:

• XDA-Developers is the premiere forum for detailed inf0rmation about all HTC phones. The Maple forum is at: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=499
• The official T-Mobile upgrade information is: http://www.t-mobile.com/WMupgrade/
• The official HTC info is: http://www.htc.com/www/product/snap/overview.html and the HTC upgrade info is: http://www.htc.com/www/supportdownloadlist.aspx?p_id=262&act=sd&cat=all