Skip the navigation
News

T-Mobile USA announces next Android phone, the 'myTouch 3G'

New device has touch-screen keyboard, unlike the G1

By Matt Hamblen
June 22, 2009 12:08 AM ET

Computerworld - T-Mobile USA today announced its second Android smartphone, the myTouch 3G, a touch-screen device that the carrier's customers can begin pre-ordering on July 8 for $200 with a two-year service plan.

The myTouch 3G, designed by HTC, is a derivative of HTC's Magic, now on sale in the UK from Vodafone.

The carrier said phones that are pre-ordered by T-Mobile customers will ship in late July; National retail availability for others is planned for early August.

The phone features a 3.2-in. touch-screen display and virtual keyboard, which can be used in portrait or landscape mode, depending on the applications, T-Mobile said. It includes a 3.2-megapixel camera and video capabilities for use with MMS.

The myTouch 3G smartphone
The myTouch 3G smartphone from T-Mobile USA has a 3.2-in. touch-screen display and a virtual keyboard.

By comparison, the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, has a swivel-out physical QWERTY keyboard.

MyTouch is aptly named, since much of the focus of its design is on personalization. Users can customize menus, wallpapers and icons and will have thousands of Android Market applications to choose from along with a choice of three colors -- black, white and merlot.

"There's no cookie-cutter approach to myTouch," said Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer at T-Mobile USA, in a statement.

One of the personalization applications on myTouch is Sherpa, from Geodelic Systems, which offers a learning engine that customizes itself to a user's preferences. The app learns a person's likes and dislikes, based on prior choices, in shopping, restaurants and entertainment. That information is combined with location information to help offer custom recommendations in upcoming choices, T-Mobile said.

T-Mobile said Sherpa is unlike any experience currently on the market.

Despite its potential appeal for personalization, the T-Mobile 3G will only function at faster 3G speeds where the carrier has upgraded to UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), according to a footnote that accompanied its myTouch announcement. The carrier has said it reached 130 cities with UMTS by the end of 2008, reaching 100 million people, and will double the number of people it reaches by the end of this year.

T-Mobile said that its 3G network supports Web browsing at speeds of between 200Kbit/sec and 1 Mbit/sec. When a 3G link is not available, myTouch will run over the older, slower GPRS/EDGE network of T-Mobile. The carrier has an online tool for checking 3G coverage availability.

T-Mobile's $200 price for the myTouch 3G "may vary, depending upon customer upgrade eligibility requirements," but gave no additional details. The question of upgrade eligibility has haunted AT&T Inc. in recent days over questions about the price of upgrading to the new iPhone 3G S.

T-Mobile released photos of the new device, but did not immediately make public a spec sheet for the myTouch 3G. It said that added product features and details will be available July 8, when T-Mobile customers can begin making pre-orders.

Read more about Mobile and Wireless in Computerworld's Mobile and Wireless Topic Center.



Additional Resources
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
WHITE PAPER
Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Mobile and Wireless White Papers
Digital Transformation: Creating New Business Models Where Digital Meets Physical
Individuals and businesses alike are embracing the digital revolution. Social networks and digital devices are being used to engage government, businesses and civil...
Empowering Your Mobile Worker
Today's most productive employees are mobile, and your company's IT strategy must be ready to support them with 24/7 access to the business...
An Interactive Guide: Bring Your Own Device
BYOD presents significant security and management challenges to IT departments who want to take advantage of the trend, but still protect corporate assets....
Calculating ROI for Mobile Client Acceleration
As mobile devices continue to expand in business use, ensuring these devices have optimal performance is becoming an IT imperative. This EMA paper...
Tablet Computing Without Compromise
This paper provides an overview of how and why that migration-from any old tablet to Windows tablets-came to be.
All Mobile and Wireless White Papers
Mobile and Wireless Webcasts
Live Webcast
North Pole to South Seas: Overcoming the Pitfalls of remote Performance
In today's always-on world, connectivity is a business requirement. You need the tools that allow you to operate as if you were on...
Supporting Mobile Productivity With A Limited IT Budget
Join us and hear from Kaseya mobile IT management experts as we discuss core strategies for supporting the mobile revolution on a shoestring...
North Pole to South Seas: Overcoming the Pitfalls of remote Performance
In today's always-on world, connectivity is a business requirement. You need the tools that allow you to operate as if you were on...
Unified Communications 101
What's the best way to implement a unified communications solution for your organization?
QNX® and BlackBerry® PlayBook™ Tablet.
RIM's multi-processor, multi-tasking BlackBerry PlayBook runs a new Tablet OS powered by QNX, a bullet-proof microkernel operating system. This track will take a...
A Close Look at Tablets
Learn More
All Mobile and Wireless Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs