Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve been listening to the Engadget Mobile podcast lately, you’ll know that we don’t much like this trend of using verbs as phone names, but T-Mobile clearly hasn’t gotten the message, as one of its upcoming handsets is rumored to be called the Astound. What exactly this rebadged Nokia C7 is supposed to astound us with, we’re not really sure. We’ve seen its Clear Black Display already, which is very nice, but we’ve also seen the dead OS walking that is its Symbian installation. Still, for $80 on contract, it doesn’t necessarily have to compete with the crème de la Gingerbread to be an appealing option. Look out for it early next month, waving the Magenta flag with pride.

Nokia C7 rumored for T-Mobile launch under Astound moniker, to cost $80 on April 6th originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 09:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, Danger’s servers are going away, but the Sidekick brand belongs to T-Mobile — and that particular component of the teen-friendly smartphone ecosystem pioneer isn’t going anywhere. Of course, the carrier’s been saying for a couple months now that it’d be relaunching Sidekick on Android, but they’re making the device very official today with the unveiling of the Samsung-sourced Sidekick 4G. Though it lacks a swiveling display, T-Mobile is quick to note that the phone’s got a “pop-tilt” mechanism that should still be pretty unique in the market — and this is the first Sidekick with a touchscreen (3.5 inch WVGA, to be exact). The Android 2.2-based unit has a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 3 megapixel primary cam, and a pretty fierce-looking user interface (dare we say a tad Kin-like?) that comes loaded with a couple Samsung staples — Samsung Media Hub, notably — along with Qik video calling, DriveSmart texting-while-driving lockout functionality, and Sidekick Group Text and Cloud Text, which together form some manner of cross-platform messaging tool. Pricing and availability are a little murky at this point, but we can expect it “later this spring” in your choice of black or “pearl magenta.” Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading T-Mobile Sidekick 4G from Samsung announced, coming ‘later this spring’

T-Mobile Sidekick 4G from Samsung announced, coming ‘later this spring’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like those new webConnect plans from T-Mobile are still slated to go live this Sunday, but TmoNews — which reported the original rumor — has circled back with a minor bummer: the biggest of the plans has gone up a few dollars per month. There’s no information on why the carrier has opted to suck a few more dollars out of your bank account, but the good news is that it’s not too bad — it’s just another $5 (now $84.99) or another $4 (up to $67.99) if you’re pairing it with a voice plan. Of course, both the 5GB and 10GB plans are overage-free — it’s just a question of how far you want to go before you start getting throttled.

Update: TmoNews was on the money — these prices are now live at T-Mobile.

T-Mobile’s rumored 10GB data plan goes up a few dollars (update: confirmed) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s only been six months since Samsung launched its highly successful Galaxy S assault upon the US market with a series of carrier customized phones: the Vibrant and Captivate GSM twins for T-Mobile and AT&T, the WiMAX-rocking Epic 4G for Sprint and the Fascinate for Verizon. More derivatives arrived later, with the Mesmerize, Continuum, Nexus S, and LTE-equipped Galaxy Indulge. Still the Vibrant was the first, and the closest in appearance to the original Galaxy S, losing the front-facing camera, but gaining a search button. Unfortunately, Samsung was slow to upgrade early devices like the Vibrant beyond Eclair, and to fix the well-documented AGPS problems. As such, the release of the Samsung Galaxy S 4G for T-Mobile — basically an updated Vibrant with HSPA+, a front-facing camera, a bronze battery cover, Froyo out of the gate, but no dedicated internal flash storage — is bittersweet. While beneficial to those who waited, it’s a slap in the face to those who purchased the Vibrant. But is it a worthy upgrade? How does it fit into T-Mobile’s high-end Android lineup? Read on for our full review after the break.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S 4G review

Samsung Galaxy S 4G review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As it turns out a 20 percent discount isn’t all that’s in the cards for T-Mobile webConnect subscribers. We now have what looks to be full details on the new data-only plans for laptops and other devices that, rather sadly, feature price increases across the board. T-Mo will be offering a monthly 200MB plan for $29.99, 5GB for $49.99, and a new 10GB choice for $79.99. That compares to $24.99 for the current 200MB plan and $39.99 for the current 5GB plan — but don’t forget those 20 percent discounts if you also have T-Mobile voice, which bring the cheapest plan down to a more tangible $23.99, 5GB to $39.99, and 10GB to $63.99. The last two are overage-free, but they’re also throttling-enabled.

T-Mobile’s new data plans detailed, launching March 13th originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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