Since I got the O2 Atom, I had become a fan of Windows Mobile 5.0 device. Although Windows Mobile 5.0 still looks a lot like Windows 95, but on the functionality front, it’s matches what I need.
My replacement of the O2 Atom is the HTC TyTn. TyTn got a lot of press coverage since it’s first introduced. (I think) it’s the first 3G mobile device with "world support" – HSDPA support in the US, UMTS (slower version of HSDPA if you will…) around the world.

I have been using TyTn for the past few days with interesting results. Cingular (my wireless carrier) has a decent HSDPA deployment in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you are currently on Cingular’s data plan, your settings will be "forward compatible" with the device. Means buying a HTC Tytn, get 3G service in the US of A.

HTC Tytn + Cingular’s 3G network is indeed impressive. In one speed test, I got up to 370kbps throughput, that’s half the speed of my home DSL. In real world usage, the combination of Tytn and Cingular network is a little mixed.
I have had very good results with high quality streaming content such as MSNBC Mobile (full screen QVGA), but poor experience with general Web surf (both Opera Mobile and IE). My guess is Cingular’s (legendary) poor DNS support cause the poor performance. Facing with multiple HTTP request from the browser, the whole experience just seems slow. On the other hand, since streaming of video content is just one request, the performance tends to be more stable.

Back to physical device itself, Tytn is nice but a little on the chunky side. The slide out keyboard is similar to what we have seen coming from the past HTC Windows Mobile. The physical buttons are nice, (browser access, email access, ok/confirm button, etc.) but got placed too close to each other or too small to be useful.

Tytn + Cingular 3G network while not perfect, it gives us a chance to see what’s possible when mobile broadband internet is finally here.