Hasta La Gadget!

We needed to independently connect and verify a few dots before sounding the alarm here, but sure enough, it looks like Cell Phone Signal has unearthed the best smoking gun yet suggesting Motorola’s MOTOROI — the phone formerly known as the Sholes Tablet — is destined for T-Mobile USA. The evidence comes in the form of an FCC filing, a Motorola device with ID IHDP56KC6, that’s certified for quadband EDGE plus T-Mobile-friendly 1700 / 2100MHz HSPA humming at a peak of 10.2Mbps down and 5.6Mbps up (not too shabby) with Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, and magnetic compass. By and large, Moto managed to paint over revealing portions of spectrum analyzer screen shots that contained the product’s codename, but there are a couple they forgot to touch — and sure enough, the part they didn’t want you to see reads in part “SHOLES.”

So why are we so sure this is the keyboardless MOTOROI as opposed to an AWS-compliant form of the Droid / Milestone, which shared the Sholes name internally? The answer lies in the SAR report, which didn’t test the phone’s radiated power in both “slider up” and “slider down” configurations like we saw in the Droid’s documentation — there’s just one set of figures here. That, of course, means no slider, which in turn means no QWERTY, which ultimately means MOTOROI. Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to close fourteen sets of FCC filings, restart our computer, and grab a quick drink — but in the meantime, T-Mobile folks, take comfort in knowing that your Moto rollercoaster doesn’t start and end with the CLIQ. Don’t suppose this would be a March release, would it?

Motorola MOTOROI almost certainly bound for T-Mobile (thanks, FCC!) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As totally awesome and exciting as the Nexus One might be, with any new device there are bound to be some growing pains — f’rinstance, you might have heard about issues with the phone’s 3G connectivity. Well, Google has too (hell, our buddy Erick Tseng even addressed it on The Engadget Show yesterday) and while the cause is less than clear, the company assures us it’s working feverishly to get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately, that isn’t the only problem newly minted Nexus One owners are noticing. According to a lively discussion on Google’s Android forum, some folks are experiencing extreme touchscreen calibration issues after cold booting the phone — problems that resolve themselves (temporarily) after putting the thing to sleep and then turning it back on. That said, the good folks at Google assure us they’re on the case. If it turns out that it’s a hardware problem, it’ll be covered under your warranty. Software? They’ll issue a patch for it. If your phone’s having problems and you feel like joining the conversation, hit that source link.

Select Nexus One users complaining of touchscreen calibration, 3G connectivity issues originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re a T-Mobile customer with a friend or loved one in Haiti, here’s a bit of good news: T-Mobile will waive the tolls associated with international calls to the beleaguered country until Jan. 31, and retroactive to the date of the quake, or Jan. 12.

(Update 5 PM ET): Vonage has also jumped on the bandwagon. Vonage is giving all U.S. callers (not just subscribers) free calls to Haiti. Users can dial 800-809-2503 to place a call, according to the company’s Twitter account.

T-Mobile customers on the ground in Haiti can also roam on the island’s T-Mobile partner networks for free for the same period, T-Mobile added.

According to the company, T-Mobile will remove the charges from its customers’ bills.

“Our company and our employees care deeply for our customers, and we
know that many customers have been directly impacted by the disaster in
Haiti,” said Robert Dotson, president and chief executive of T-Mobile USA, in a statement. “While our
thoughts go out to those in Haiti who are suffering so greatly at this
time, our promise is to help people connect with those who matter most.
I can think of no better time to demonstrate this commitment.”

Users have a number of options to donate to the Haiti cause, either via text or online.

T-Mobile has also agreed to donate generators and other equipment as part of the process of rebuilding the Haitian infrastructure, the company said.

We knew the when and the what, but now we know the whom: Eric Clapton will be touting the new Fender Limited Edition of T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G on national TV, and a few of his hits will be pre-loaded onto the phone. The faux-wood handset goes on sale January 20th, and packs a 16GB microSD card for cramming in some of Clapton’s lesser-known jams from your own catalog, along with a long-awaited 3.5mm headphone jack so you can actually get some enjoyment out of them. There are also a few guitar-related apps preloaded, a new doubleTwist partnership for music syncing, and Fender will be selling a few accessories of its own to really kit the thing out. At launch the $180 phone will be running Android 1.6, but it’s supposed to get a 2.1 update this spring. Hit up the source link for the ad, featuring a very weathered Eric Clapton tolerating his new handset.

myTouch 3G Fender Edition subs for G1 on ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember how up in arms users were when Verizon raised its early termination fee to $350, in order match the subsidizing fees of its new batch of smartphones such as the Motorola Droid? Well, that bar has just been raised by The Nexus One.

Those who terminate their contracts for the T-Mobile Google phone will be charged a whopping $550. That’s more than the price of an unlocked version of the phone–a cost which, theoretically, is supposed to be impetus for such fees. The $550 fee breaks down to $200 for T-Mobile termination and $350 for “equipment recovery” on Google’s part. Ouch.

Google defended the price to The Wall Street Journal, stating, “This is standard practice for third-party resellers of T-Mobile and other operators.” Standard, maybe. Expensive, definitely.