Jul 07

T-Mobile Announces the Exclusive Motorola Charm

Posted in: Android, motorola, t-mobile, Today's Chili
Motorola CHARM.jpg
The latest Android smartphone to hit the T-Mobile network is the Motorola Charm. It features Android 2.1 plus the latest version of MotoBlur, which integrates contacts, messages, and photos from social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter with GMail and Google Contacts into easy-to-follow streams of information. Advanced filters allow the user to choose what information they want to stream to the Happenings and Messages widgets, and can also customize as many as seven different home screen panels to organize their email and social networks.
All of the Android Google services are included, such as Google Search, Google Maps, and Android Market. Corporate push email is also supported. The Charm also includes access to the Moto Phone Portal, which allows users to access and edit the data on their phone from any Internet-connected computer through a USB or Wi-Fi connection.
Additional features include a 2.8-inch touch screen, a physical QWERTY keyboard, and a Backtrack navigation area on the back of the display that is designed to work like a laptop touch panel for enhanced navigation. A 3-megapixel camera with Kodak Perfect Touch promises brighter photos, which can then be uploaded to Facebook, MySpace, PhotoBucket, and Picasa at the touch of a button.harm
Exact pricing and availability information has not yet been released, At this time, the Motorola Charm is expected to be exclusive to T-Mobile and should be releasing this summer.
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Jul 07

Motorola Charm official for T-Mobile: portrait QWERTY Android at long last

Posted in: Android, breaking news, BreakingNews, moto, motoblur, motorola, qwerty, t-mobile, Today's Chili

The rumored Charm has just gotten a proper unveiling from Motorola — and while it’s not getting nearly the media fanfare its Droid X corporate cousin did, it’s arguably even more unique. The phone features a full portrait QWERTY keyboard placed directly below a 2.8-inch landscape touchscreen, but for most operations, you don’t have to touch it if you don’t want to because you’ve also got a touchpad mounted on the back of the phone (the so-called “Backtrack”) much like AT&T’s Backflip. Not only is this the first widely-launched Android phone to employ such a form factor, it’s also the first to run Android 2.1 with Blur — and interestingly, they’ve carried over the old version’s general look and feel rather than going with the Droid X’s updated skin. It’s got a 3 megapixel camera (with Kodak co-branding, something we haven’t seen on a Moto in a long time), WiFi, and a noise-canceling second microphone. Pricing and availability haven’t been announced, but T-Mobile customers can expect it “this Summer.”

Motorola Charm official for T-Mobile: portrait QWERTY Android at long last originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 06

Motorola Charm spotted in the wild, said to be hitting T-Mobile later this month

Posted in: Android, moto, motorola, t-mobile, Today's Chili
We’d already had a pretty good indication that the Motorola Charm was headed to T-Mobile, but it looks like most doubt has now been put to rest — TmoNews has what appears to be the first shot of the phone in the wild, and evidence that materials (with the name “Project Basil’) are already arriving at T-Mobile stores. Unfortunately, there’s not much new information otherwise, but the site’s tipster has apparently confirmed that the phone does indeed have a Backflip-like touchpad on the rear and that the screen is around 3-inches. Still no word on an exact release date, but TmoNews says it should be rolling out by the end of the month.

Motorola Charm spotted in the wild, said to be hitting T-Mobile later this month originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 04

Motorola Charm spotted in T-Mobile ad, free on contract for back-to-schoolers?

Posted in: Android, motoblur, motorola, t-mobile, TMobile, Today's Chili

Advertising a product before it’s even official, what could be more patriotic? TmoNews has a convincing (but still unconfirmed) picture of a T-Mobile “Back to School” poster featuring Samsung :), Gravity T, Gravity 3, and… Motorola Charm? Looks like our chubby, Motoblur-equipped candybar has been given an air of legitimacy, even more than the previous leak. What’s also interesting is the price — as part of the promotion, Charm is apparently free on contract (seems to be T-Mo’s special of choice, these days). Can’t say with any certainty what that means for the cost of the phone after this season’s school craze dies down — the Gravity 3, for example, is usually $80 with a two-year agreement — but it can’t be much longer now before we get the skinny on this square. Hit up the source for full picture.

Motorola Charm spotted in T-Mobile ad, free on contract for back-to-schoolers? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 02

T-Mobile Axes Sidekicks, Promises Fresh Experience

Posted in: Microsoft, t-mobile, Today's Chili

sidekicklx.jpg

Maybe buying a company called “Danger” wasn’t the brightest idea. Microsoft received the second half of a one-two blow yesterday when T-Mobile killed the Sidekick LX and Sidekick 2008, the last handsets built on Microsoft’s Danger software.
The death of the Sidekick comes just after Microsoft announced they had killed the KIN, which is the phone Microsoft created in part using Danger’s staff and software after they acquired the company. The KIN technology and team are now part of the Windows Phone 7 group, Microsoft said.
T-Mobile owns the Sidekick brand, so they can slap that name onto any phone they want. For their part, here’s what they have to say:
“As T-Mobile looks to further innovate and raise the bar for the next generation of the T-Mobile Sidekick, as of July 2, the Sidekick LX and Sidekick 2008 will no longer be available through T-Mobile, including retail stores, care, telesales and online. While we work on the next chapter of our storied Sidekick franchise, T-Mobile will continue to provide our loyal Sidekick customers with product service and support. Stay tuned for exciting updates in the months ahead, which we expect will provide customers with a new and fresh experience.”
Notice that T-Mobile is promising a “new and fresh experience.” This may imply that future Sidekicks will be designed by a different company, or run a different operating system. What would you want to see in a new Sidekick? Tell us in the comments.
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Jul 01

The Sidekick Gets Kicked To The Curb [Rip]

Posted in: cellphones, mobile, t-mobile, Today's Chili, top

I come to bury Sidekick, not to praise him. Less than 24 hours after Microsoft killed Kin dead, T-Mobile has abandoned the granddaddy of messaging phones. Sidekick sales will cease tomorrow, July 2nd, and honestly? No one will care. More »

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Jul 01

T-Mobile kills off current Sidekicks, Kin says ‘welcome to the club’

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, Sharp, t-mobile, Today's Chili

It’s truly remarkable to see almost every trace of a successful, well-established Valley start-up’s work wiped out in the span of 24 hours, but here we are: T-Mobile’s discontinuing the Sidekick line as of tomorrow, July 2, which effectively means that the Sidekick LX 2009 will no longer be available. As a refresher, the latest Sidekick LX was the last product holistically engineered by Danger as it got shoehorned into Microsoft — square peg in a round hole, as it were — before repurposing the team to work on the just-killed Kin line. In a way, it’s a miracle that the LX ever went back on sale following the nightmarish data issues they’d gone through last year, so we suppose it’s a silver lining that they made it this far — but still, it’s sad to see Danger’s years of design effectively vaporized without a trace like this. For what it’s worth, T-Mobile says that it’s working “on the next chapter of [its] storied Sidekick franchise” and to “stay tuned” for a “fresh” experience, but since T-Mobile owns the Sidekick brand (not Danger / Microsoft), we’ve got every reason to believe these new products will be based on Android considering the carrier’s huge investment in its myTouch line. Adios, Sidekick — we’ll do one last screen flip in your honor.

T-Mobile kills off current Sidekicks, Kin says ‘welcome to the club’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 30

LG Sentio Now Available from T-Mobile

Posted in: LG, phone, t-mobile, Today's Chili
LG Sentio.jpg
The newest phone to join the T-Mobile lineup isn’t a high-end smartphone. Instead, the Sentio is designed to appeal to more budget-conscious consumers who still want a feature-rich device in a small package. The phone measures 4.2-by-2.1-inches, and is only half an inch thick. It weighs just over three ounces.
The LG Sentio has a full touch screen display with virtual keyboard, Bluetooth, and an integrated GPS. This 3G device also offers visual voicemail, text and picture messaging, and T-Mobile’s social networking application, Social Buzz.

The three-megapixel camera can also capture video, and the built-in media player can keep you entertained with photo viewing and video playback. An address book, alarm clock, calculator, and calendar are also included to keep you organized.

The LG Sentio from T-Mobile is $69.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year service agreement and qualifying data plan, or you can choose to pay $179.99 for the phone up front to take advantage of the Even More Plus plan with lower monthly service charges and no contract requirement.
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Jun 29

Samsung T-Mobile Vibrant and Verizon Fascinate preview

Posted in: galaxy, GalaxyS, impressions, preview, samsung, t-mobile, t-mobile usa, T-mobileUsa, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless

You’d think we’d be totally sick of Samsung’s Galaxy S phones after seeing AT&T’s Captivate and Sprint’s Epic 4G, but we’re just not done lovin’ the 4-inch Super AMOLED, Android devices. Verizon’s Fascinate and T-Mobile’s Vibrant happen to be the last two Sammy phones to jump into our hands-on, but coincidentally, they’re also the most alike. Design-wise, both remind us of the iPhone 3G / 3GS — they’re all screen on the front, strikingly thin, and have black shiny backs. And just like the Captivate and Epic 4G, they’ve got four touch sensitive buttons along the bottom edge. The Super AMOLED screens continue to impress, and watching a clip of Avatar on both versions was pretty breathtaking. (No, we didn’t have an iPhone 4 on hand for comparisons, but make sure to check out the post where we put them head-to-head).

We didn’t get to put the 1GHz Hummingbird CPU to the test in our short hands-on time, though both Android 2.1-running phones seemed to perform briskly when opening videos and pulling up the browser. Beyond Samsung’s TouchWiz skin, both are preloaded with Swype and other carrier apps — Verizon’s version had Skype Mobile as well as a number of VCAST applications. Oh, and unlike most of the other Galaxy S phones, the Fascinate had a flash on its backside. We don’t have much more on these bad boys for now — we’re still waiting on pricing and availability — but the pictures and videos after the break should hold you over.

Gallery: Samsung T-Mobile Vibrant hands-on

Gallery: Samsung Verizon Fascinate hands-on


Note: Pay no attention to the background — there isn’t any intended symbolism to draw here, it was just the best lighting arrangement we could muster.

Continue reading Samsung T-Mobile Vibrant and Verizon Fascinate preview

Samsung T-Mobile Vibrant and Verizon Fascinate preview originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 29

Samsung’s American Galaxy S phones pose for family portrait

Posted in: Android, att, breaking news, BreakingNews, GalaxyS, Google, samsung, Sprint, t-mobile, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw

Samsung’s US team held a swanky event in NYC this evening to launch all four of its new US-spec Galaxy S phones in style. If you haven’t been brought up to speed on Samsung’s stateside Android invasion, the Captivate is headed to AT&T, the Fascinate to Verizon, the Epic 4G to Sprint and the Vibrant to T-Mobile. Each of the phones have 4-inch Super AMOLED screens, 1GHz Hummingbird Cortex A8 CPUs, and cams that can capture 720p video. We’ve already got detailed hands on impressions of the Captivate and Epic 4G, but stay tuned for Fascinate and Vibrant previews tonight. In the meantime, check out the family all together in the pictures in the gallery below.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy S family

Samsung’s American Galaxy S phones pose for family portrait originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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