Hasta La Gadget!

To say we’ve been eagerly anticipating the Dell Lightning would be an understatement along the lines of suggesting Microsoft’s launching a few Windows Phone 7 devices today. Dell’s AMOLED-equipped WP7 debut has just gone official with a cringe-worthy renaming to the Venue Pro for T-Mobile, who has in turn announced its intention to carry the 4.1-inch portrait QWERTY slider “in time for the holidays.” Notably, you won’t be able to purchase the Venue Pro directly from T-Mo stores, as Dell and its choice of handpicked retailers are set to handle the purchasing experience. Don’t look for any AT&T hookups, either — Dell has acknowledged T-Mobile as its “launch partner” for the device, giving team Magenta a second major exclusive, even if this one doesn’t last much beyond the launch period. Needless to say, we’ll seek to confirm the full spec sheet as soon as we can, though the officially known 1GHz Snapdragon chip and 5 megapixel imager agree with the Lightning’s original leak. For more on the fresher than fresh Dell Venue Pro, check out our hands-on pictures and impressions.

Continue reading Dell Venue Pro gives WP7 a 4.1-inch QWERTY slider with Lightning heritage and a T-Mobile future

Dell Venue Pro gives WP7 a 4.1-inch QWERTY slider with Lightning heritage and a T-Mobile future originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen O2 Germany’s HTC Schubert and a Chinese HD3, but here’s a giant Windows Phone 7 device with “T-Mobile” clearly painted on the upper right-hand corner of the screen. TmoNews got these alleged images of the HTC HD7 from their usual anonymous source along with a partial spec sheet, which actually claims slightly different dimensions for the phone and double the amount of flash memory (16GB in all) than we heard before. Different strokes for different folks, or is one of these two rumors totally off? You’ll probably want to keep both possibilities in mind before considering this last tidbit from the very same source: the phone will reportedly cost $199 on a two-year contract. Or you could just wait for us to blow out all the Windows Phone 7 details tomorrow, of course.

Update: Enjoying the look of this phone from your vantage point in Great Britain, are you? You might be able to pick one up as well — 911sniper apparently found a O2 UK version of the HTC Schubert’s ROM, as reported by Pocketnow below.

HTC HD7 (aka Schubert) pictured in glorious monochrome, headed to T-Mobile for $200? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Oct 2010 15:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sometimes FCC filings contain reams of glorious details, but there’s very few here — just the alphanumeric designation for a HTC Windows Phone 7 handset with 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth + EDR, and a set of cellular frequencies (including AWS) that all but peg the phone for a T-Mobile launch. Pay no attention to that “Camera-2nd” listed above, as it’s not proof there’s a front-facing camera on this device — rather, the “Sample 2” line indicates that the labs tested a pair of these phones, each with their own photo module. If there does happen to be a second camera on a Windows Phone 7 launch device, however, you’ll be the first to know — we’ll be on the lookout for this and other hot new phones at Microsoft’s Monday launch.

HTC PD29110 Windows Phone 7 device hits the FCC, sports T-Mobile frequencies originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Oct 2010 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The low-end LG Optimus S that wowed us earlier the other day has a magenta twin — the LG Optimus T, headed to T-Mobile with very similar hardware. Considering that both carriers’ phones will come in similar shades of purple and black, you could easily be excused for confusing the two — aside from a prominent logo and the physical button arrangement, they’ve got the exact same build. That’s not a bad thing, mind you, as it means the Optimus T is similarly solid as a rock, but there are a few differences here and there, like the lack of dedicated camera and voice buttons this time round. Whether it’s extra bloat (of which there’s some) or a slower chip, the T’s also not as wonderfully lag-free as the S, though both phones would handily beat most of the other low-end Androids we’ve seen.

The 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen’s just as responsive, though the physical buttons here aren’t quite as nice — we prefer Sprint’s distinct, textured keys to the slick plastic rocker for Home and Back and the Menu and Search buttons here. We weren’t able to download Quadrant on the T for benchmarking like we did for its sister phone nor verify the same exact specs inside, but paging through menus we spotted mobile hotspot functionality and WiFi calling, just as originally foretold, not to mention support for old-school FM radio. Now we just wait to see if T-Mobile follows Sprint’s lead and offers the phone at a similarly fantastic price.

Update: It’s a bit of a shame, but LG just informed us the Optimus T won’t have WiFi calling after all — it was originally considered for the device, but the software we saw was apparently a old, out-of-date build. T-Mobile reps wouldn’t confirm or deny that, but told us that the option is something they’d like to bring to more devices later on, though they said it might require Android 2.1 or higher to function properly.

LG Optimus T hands-on (update: no WiFi calls) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a long road to the T-Mobile G2 (and this review). Just two years ago, Android made its entrance into the smartphone market with the G1, a partnership with the fourth-place carrier, and a lot of promises about keeping things open. Since then we’ve seen the likes of the Droid family, Google’s Nexus One, and the powerhouses that are the Samsung Galaxy S line — to name a few. Yes, the Android landscape has become more than just a little crowded. But of those many, there are few who leap beyond what we’ve come to expect from the Google-backed enterprise into the realm of the top tier. For all the Android devices you can purchase, only a few rise above the noise. At a glance, the G2 looks like one of those handsets — designed and manufactured by HTC (and known as the Desire Z in Europe), outfitted with a (nearly) stock build of Android 2.2, and equipped with T-Mobile’s new HSPA+, which the carrier claims can offer network speeds nearly equivalent to 4G. So is the G2 the sum of its parts — the pure Android experience you’ve been waiting for — or does it fall short of the hype? Find out below in the full Engadget review!

Continue reading T-Mobile G2 review

T-Mobile G2 review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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