Hasta La Gadget!

T-Mobile’s myTouch series is back with a new pair of devices — a slate and a slideout QWERTY, to be precise — and the lucky manufacturer this time around is Huawei, following in the footsteps made by HTC and LG in years past. Of course, we can’t say that this is much of a shocker, considering we’ve seen these midrange handsets go through endless rounds of rumors, FCC certification and even our very own hands-ons when visiting Huawei HQ (where the devices are known more officially as the Ascend G312 and G312 QWERTY). But they’re finally ready for the final production line and will be available August 8th for $50 after a $50 mail-in rebate. The myTouch will come in black and dark red, while the myTouch Q will be offered in black and white.

So what kind of specs can we expect to enjoy (or strongly dislike, depending on your personal preference) on the myTouch and myTouch Q? It’s running Android 2.3 on a special customized UI, for starters, which will be a huge disappointment to many potential buyers. Additionally, both devices will offer a 4-inch WVGA screen, 1,500mAh battery, 4GB of internal storage, microSD expansion, 5MP rear camera capable of taking 720p video, 0.3MP front-facing cam, HSPA+ connectivity and an unspecified 1.4GHz CPU (though we reported earlier that it should be a single-core MSM8255T accompanied by 1GB of RAM). Head below to check out our gallery and hands-on video, and then continue reading after the break to hear our first impressions.

Continue reading T-Mobile myTouch and myTouch Q coming August 8th for $50, we go hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

T-Mobile myTouch and myTouch Q coming August 8th for $50, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, if you needed any more proof that the Galaxy Note will soon make an appearance on T-Mobile’s store shelves, take a gander at this.

TmoNews has discovered that a slew of Galaxy Note related documents can be found by searching for — what else? — “Galaxy Note” on T-Mobile’s website. Sadly, there’s no word yet on whether or not that rumored July 11 release date is still in the cards.

The documents run the gamut from explanations of the device’s specs and features to a software overview to a how-to guide for using enormous handset. All in all there are 12 such documents detailing various aspects of Samsung’s fabulous phablet, though there’s little telling what specifically is inside of them at this point.

You see, when trying to open up the documents proper, users are prompted to login to their T-Mobile Support Community accounts, and all they get for bounding over that hurdle is an error message saying they aren’t authorized to see the document. It’s certainly a bummer that we can’t pore over those documents to see how (if at all) the T-Mobile version differs from its international and AT&T-bound relatives, but things aren’t all bad.

Some people are surely heartened to see that T-Mobile will soon be getting some big screen love (even though a brand new Galaxy Note may be just around the corner), and with any luck it’ll come bearing the same Ice Cream Sandwich update that the AT&T model just received. And for those of you who just can’t wait to surf on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network with Samsung’s hefty handheld, well, let’s say just a little elbow grease can go a long way.

Color us unsurprised that US law enforcers would push hard for surveillance access. Congressman Ed Markey has published a new report on requests to cellular carriers that shows a recent rush of demand for information, including last year. The rates vary sharply, but T-Mobile has seen a yearly hike of 12 to 16 percent, while Verizon has seen its own grown 15 percent — and Sprint took nearly twice as many surveillance requests as AT&T or Verizon in 2011, despite its smaller size. Markey’s concern is that police and other investigators are casting too wide a net and sweeping up innocent customers through widescale requests, potentially violating their privacy in the process. Whether or not cell tower dumps and other broad fishing attempts are problems, carriers have been quick to point out that they have huge teams in place to deal with police requests and cling steadfastly to requiring a warrant when the law demands it. Needless to say, there are a few groups that strongly disagree with that last claim.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Internet

Carriers face big surge in cellphone surveillance requests, raise a few alarm bells originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jul 2012 20:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Naming conventions can be pretty tricky, especially when it comes to something that is very near and dear to your heart. Well, I suppose naming an inanimate object like a smartphone is not too tough a task, but T-Mobile certainly does not make things easier on the tongue, especially when you are talking about the latest device from T-Mobile – the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze Q. It is rather weird for a device to have two singular alphabets as part of its name, with Magenta deciding to launch Samsung’s T699 as the Galaxy S Blaze Q. This is a QWERTY slider that will run on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which should be a slightly detuned Galaxy S3. It will run on a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, sporting a 720p display as well as 1GB RAM accompanied by a 5-megapixel camera located right at the back. It is expected that the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze Q will arrive on T-Mobile later this August 15th.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: T-Mobile Galaxy Note spotted again, T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 skips out on LTE party,

An image of the T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note was spotted not too long ago, and it looks like the phone has decided to rear its head again. The folks over at TmoNews recently got their hands on a poster showing Samsung’s Galaxy devices that are already available or will be available from T-Mobile and unsurprisingly we get another glimpse of the massive phone-tablet. Still no official confirmation on the device (it’s rumored to be arriving on August 8th) but if rumors about the Galaxy Note 2 being revealed this year are true – T-Mobile/Samsung better work hard on pushing out this device before it becomes outdated at launch.

The Samsung Galaxy Note was been selling pretty well for Samsung, seeing how its humongous screen and stylus probably made it a niche device in the eyes of most people. The availability of the phone on another US carrier would probably give a slight boost to its sales figures. How many of you are waiting for the Galaxy Note to arrive on T-Mobile?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note LTE hacked to run on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 to be unveiled at IFA 2012?,