I had the dash for a couple of weeks and returned it in favor of an unlocked nokia e61i ordered from nokia via letstalk.com. (I found no price difference vs ebay and this way it's under warranty).
reasons I decided on the nokia:
1. windows mobile and syncing with a mac issues, and updating firmware from a mac impossibility
2. the reported extreme fragility of the dash screen - the csr in the t-mo store told me both she and her bf's screens broke after barely being bumped. this confirmed reports from friends of mine. (and adding t-mo equip't protection still would result in $150 deductible so what's the point if the phone cost $159 after rebate?)
3. nokia UI vs. wm UI
4. wifi on the nokia
5. no low battery warning - the dash just turns off when the battery dies and that's it, whereas the e61i will turn off to conserve the last bit of power if you don't respond to the low battery warning.
6. the volume slider jogr - nightmare - this alone sent me running from the dash
7. no copy/paste functionality (maybe it has this in wm6, but couldn't upgrade or would lose missingsync (to sync with mac) as ms only works with wm5
8. had the dash in a bodyglove case which seemed to do a great job of protecting the screen (yes, I dropped the phone once and nothing happened), but made it impossible to see it in any sort of bright light. I mean at all?it looked like the phone was off. I think this is a problem even without a thick plastic screen cover.
that said, if it weren't for the volume button, screen in sunlight, and mac sync issues, I'd have probably kept the dash because:
1. nice small, light form factor
2. has this great feature with a user dictionary - it remembers words, email addresses, whatever you commonly use and suggests them so you don't have to type out the whole thing every time.
3. with a t-mo contract extension it's half the price of the e61i currently
4. call sound quality comparable to nokia (not sure about the RF, but I think it's quite good - my friend seems to have signal everywhere)
I like the e61i a lot. the screen is beautiful, everything works great/as expected.
minor issues to consider - the location of the power on/off button is such that I have inadvertently shut off the phone during a couple of conversations with the phone wedged between ear and shoulder so I could use my hands for something else (note to self: use headset).
It is on the large side, but I am a small woman and can put it in a pants pocket, so it's not so bad.
I haven't tried watching video on it yet, but it is supposed to be able to, comes with realplayer installed. having server time-out issues which I'm sure have to do with settings I need to change. not a priority for me at the moment.
hope this helps.
