Kudos to T-Mobile and their efforts to put out more and more interesting phones. In the last quarter we've seen the release of the Samsung Galaxy S - Vibrant, the G2, the myTouch 4G, and now the first Windows Phone 7 handset on T-Mobile - the HTC HD 2.
Spec wise the HD7 is no slouch offering a 1 GHz processor, 16GB of internal storage, 5MP camera with dual LED flash, and 3.5mm headphone jack. Pretty much standard stuff for a high-end smartphone. The only issue at present seems to be if it's too little too late for Microsoft, the developers are already entrenched in iOS and Android platforms.
Still, at $199 (2-year contract)/ $500 (sans-contract) it offers up another alternative to the dinosaur (RIM), fragmentation with skins (Android), and smartphones without AT&T (iPhone).
So can Magenta make an early adopter out of you?
UPDATE: It looks like AT&T also has two Windows Phone 7 phones available today: the HTC Surround and the Samsung Focus.
T-Mobile has a new a flagship phone, the MyTouch 4G. Yes the G2 is a blogger darling, but the truth is the MyTouch is Magenta's flagship phone. T-Mobile took off the gloves in their latest ad blasting AT&T's 3G network as the iPhone's burden. Ask any iPhone user in NYC, SF, or just about any dense city and they may just agree with it.
So is T-Mobile's myTouch and "4G" Network enough to take you away from your sexy iPhone 4.
PS - Lol @ "You can Face Time anywhere that has wifi like an airport."
Hey there PoorMacs using a BlackBerry device (it's for work right? RIGHT?), planning on visiting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia anytime soon? Well don't be surprised when some of your BlackBerry's functionality doesn't work.
According to The Bangkok Post, at midday local time BlackBerry messages stopped functioning. The KSA recently announced it's plan to disable BlackBerry service earlier this week after the United Arab Emirates announced it's plans to shut down the service citing security concerns (read: They want unrestricted access to user's information). The UAE will reportedly shut down BlackBerry on October 11th.
Though RIM has vowed to fight both the KSA and UAE's decision to block the service, and getting the attention of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, neither of the Arab States seem to be backing down.
In less than 2 months after it's launch, various sites have reported that Microsoft's KIN devices are dead. And it's a damned shame. PMB will not be apologist here and say that Microsoft isn't partly to blame for their device not catching on with the masses but don't think for a second that we didn't see the potential here.
Just a refresher on the Kin: It's somewhere between being a smartphone and a feature phone. It was the next evolutionary step of the Sidekick. This made sense since this was the reason why Microsoft bought Danger a couple years back. The Kin was in the perfect position to be an alternative to the very expensive smartphones (primarily very expensive service plans) and far too dumb cheap feature phones. Microsoft had effectively launched a device that had a built in market ripe for the picking and somehow missed the boat.
We teased Microsoft for their confusing marketing strategy right here on PMB; but badvertising alone does not a flop make. No. Microsoft saw big bucks where there weren't any to be seen. Their partnership with Verizon all but guaranteed that the Kin would be a failure.
Again, the main draw of an in-between device like the Kin was price. The handset had to be free or close to it: +1 for Microsoft. The service plan would have to be tailor made for tweens/teens/hipsters (see mom/dad won't spend $80 per month for the kids' phone) and 20-somethings on a tight budget without restricting what they were looking for: access to Facebook, Twitter, and the internet. Verizon may be great in terms of coverage and coverage area but never have they been lauded for great prices.
Microsoft could've easily walked away with a considerable piece of Android's pie (Don't believe me go to your local T-Mobile store and see what's the new Sidekick - MyTouch 3G/Slide). Microsoft could've changed the smartphone scene; switching the focus from hardware to service. But for want of an exclusive carrier, they walk away heads down in defeat.
All may not be lost, both Gizmodo and Engadget have reported that (at least for now) the Kin group will be integrated into the Windows Phone 7 team. Maybe the Spot will make it to Windows Phone 7?
I realize that I may be late here but I saw this after tonight's NBA Finals Game 3. It's Palm's, yeah you know the guys that had a really great smart phone that nobody cared about because it wasn't an iPhone, latest ad campaign titled "Life Moves Fast."
The 30-second spot is for the Palm Pixie and it features a woman going about her day (listening to Mos Def I might add) and using the phone to track down shoes. She's checking email, directions, listening to music all at the same time. In fact, if I weren't into these sorts of things, I'd actually have a pretty damn good idea as what this phone does! It might even make me want to find a store that sells it and you know buy it.
On Feb. 15th, Microsoft announced the launch of their new mobile phone platform - the Windows Phone 7 Series (going forward I will only refer to it as WP7S). And although that's quite a mouthful to say; there appears to be more to it than just a name.
The UI is decidedly anti-WinMo and is more than just a nod at Apple's simplicity centric design. At it's core it is the first smartphone since the iPhone to rethink how a phone should operate. Long gone are the gridlocked icons - a minuturization of a Windows 98 desktop - in their stead a rather pretty and eye catching 2D menu screen echoing the Zune HD's UI. Let's rewind just a bit; 'pretty' and 'eye catching' were not typos they were used to describe something coming from Microsoft!
Rather than taking Apple's approach of an App to Task system, WP7S reimagines how we will information on our phones. Say you wanted to send an email to a contact, rather than looking up your contacts email in a dedicated app then opening a dedicated app for email, WP7S categorizes these and other functions (like social media updates) under PEOPLE so you can just pull up the contact you need. Think of if as MotoBlur but a lot crisper and more functionality beyond twitter and facebook. Interestingly enough, Microsoft has confirmed that they will not allow the use of skins over the UI.
Though it seems like Microsoft has kind of shut out Apps from their device we've been promised that this will not be the case. According to Andy Lees, Sr. Vice President of Mobile Communications Business, the WP7S experience will be codependent on it's relationship with the development community. App developers will be essential for this (or any other) OS to be successful and although Apple has the 2 year head start, Microsoft has the patience and the money to demand attention from the dev community.
So what we basically have here is the teaser trailer of what can be a really good movie or an over-hyped bust. Time will definitely tell if Microsoft can steal the show but they've definitely been able to turn heads. If Microsoft has learned from their previous mistakes with the WinMo platform then we should expect to see a more focused experience and a clear marketing approach. In either case, Microsoft has teased with enough eye candy to make this Apple enthusiast take a second look.
Yesterday Google officially made the Nexus One aka the Google Phone official; now what? After all but promising that the Nexus One will cure cancer, Google announced the latest (and currently greatest) handset running the Android OS. The much hyped news bouncing around the interwebs was that Google will change the way people buy cellphones and "change the mobile industry." If that was their intention they fell short of doing so.
To mark the occasion Google created a new way to buy the phone - direct from Google. Once you make the appropriate button clicks you're ready to make your purchase of a brand new unlocked Nexus One for $530 or a T-Mobile subsidized handset for $180 with a 2-year agreement.
As I mentioned earlier, spec wise the phone is a beast. Aesthetically it IS the prettiest phone to come out of HTC - whatever that means I'll leave up to you; and pricing isn't horrible for an unlocked phone. But I repeat: This. Will. Not. Change. The. Mobile. Industry.
Kudos to T-Mobile and their efforts to put out more and more interesting phones. In the last quarter we've seen the release of the Samsung Galaxy S - Vibrant, the G2, the myTouch 4G, and now the first Windows Phone 7 handset on T-Mobile - the HTC HD 2.
