T-Mobile SDA (HTC Tornado) review

As far as messaging goes, everything known and popular to the man kind has been implemented in the SDA. Sending and receiving text messages can be done at different points of the menu, either from the contact list, from the messaging menu and anywhere else where text messaging is applicable. It is very intuitive. The same goes for multimedia messaging and even e-mail. And since e-mail is a wide topic, here is the point to mention, that you can use your existing e-mail accounts and as soon as you put in the settings into your SDA you can start checking, sending and receiving e-mails as easy as it is done sitting in front of a PC, besides the typing part that is. If you don't have an e-mail registered you can use the SDA to do so, by either going on the Internet or by using the Pocket MSN bundle which comes as a feature in the menu as well. If you have an emails address from different service or provider, POP or IMAP accounts are also supported. You can set e-mail triggers with settings for the time between downloading new messages and the type of download (headers only or a specific number of bytes) are available to use as well.

When it comes to multimedia messages options such as postponed download of the media content and canceling the entire download are available, which might come in handy if you are being charged per usage. And if all that is not enough or if you happen to be a registered MSN user a prepackaged MSN bundle, which includes MSN Messenger, MSN Hotmail, Compose Hotmail and MSN Mobile Home, also comes preloaded on the device. You can take full advantage of this bundle since it offers you the complete and familiar functionality from the Internet.

The last but not least feature that comes with the SDA is the instant messaging capability. The device comes with AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger already installed and ready to use. Using those is as simple as putting in your login name and password and going live. And if you don't have a login then simply go to the Internet and get one.
When typing the messages you have the following entry options: numeric, text (with and without predictive “T9” input) or symbols. The T9 option is one where you can choose from a list of words which you can always add new words to.

Typing with T9 dictionary

The SDA comes with Outlook Mobile built-in, but unlike Windows Mobile Pocket PC editions phones, it does not have Mobile Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. Instead, a CD with ClearVue software comes bundled with the sales package. Its major drawback is that it does not allow the user to edit any documents or files – they can be only viewed. Also, if you have longer documents, there is no option to jump to a particular page – you have to scroll until you reach it. Then, if you wish to return to the beginning of the doc, you have to scroooolllllllll again. Not very handy.