NEW YORK — T-Mobile USA yesterday launched the first cell phone in the U.S. to come with Microsoft's latest version of Windows Mobile, with improved handling of e-mail and tougher security.

The T-Mobile Wing costs $299 with a two-year contract and runs Windows Mobile 6, Microsoft Corp.'s latest operating system for "smart" phones, which handle e-mail, documents and Web browsing in addition to phone calls.

It's a competitive space: Microsoft is trying to translate its dominance in PC software into an advantage versus Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry, Palm Inc.'s Treo and Apple Inc.'s soon-to-launch iPhone.

Advances in the new Windows Mobile version are incremental rather than revolutionary. It lets users read e-mail with embedded images and graphics, and can be set up to receive e-mail instantly from Windows Live Hotmail. It also supports Live's instant messaging program and Web search. Synchronization of data with Windows computers via Bluetooth wireless has been simplified.

Security features have been beefed up to appeal to corporate users: If used in conjunction with Microsoft's latest software for corporate e-mail servers, the memory of a lost or stolen device can be wiped remotely by the owner through an Outlook account, with no need to call the IT department.

Files stored on removable memory cards can be encrypted, and the device can send and receive e-mail whose readership is controlled by Information Rights Management, useful for sensitive data.

Windows Mobile 6 also allows the user to search remotely stored e-mail and corporate address books.

The Wing features a 40-key keyboard that slides out from underneath the 2.8-inch touchscreen. The phone is similar to the discontinued T-Mobile MDA, but smaller, and like the MDA, is made by High Tech Computer Corp. of Taiwan.