T-Mobile Fender MyTouch 3G in the wild, due for launch January 20

A lot’s happened since T-Mobile first announced the myTouch 3G Fender Limited Edition, but if you’re looking for last-gen Android hardware in the sweetest case around, your wait is almost up: test units are going our to T-Mobile reps, and that formal launch will occur on January 20th. No word on pricing, but we can’t imagine it’ll be cheaper than the current myTouch 3G, especially since it adds a much-needed 3.5mm headphone jack and has that fancy woodgrain finish, bundled 16GB microSD card, and preloaded music. Yeah, we’ll still take the Nexus One, although we’d bet the myTouch 3G actually has… 3G.

T-Mobile Fender MyTouch 3G in the wild, due for launch January 20 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Nexus One Leaves Customers Sour

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Updated 01/13  to include Google’s comments.

Google’s Nexus One phone may have been one of the most anticipated devices of the last few weeks. But since the smartphone’s launch last Tuesday, it has left a string of unhappy customers in its wake.

Nexus One has been plagued by consumer complaints including spotty 3G connectivity, a high early termination fee, poor customer support from Google and problems with the touchscreen.

“There are some aspects of the experience that Google didn’t think through as carefully as they should have,” says Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. “This has implications for the store they have launched and their future ambitions for it. Google, clearly, has a lot of work ahead of it.”

Google introduced the Nexus One as the first device to be sold by the search company itself, rather than a manufacturing or carrier partner. The Nexus One, which runs Android 2.1, has been designed by HTC and works with T-Mobile’s network in the United States. But contrary to initial speculation, the device isn’t free. It will retail for $180 with a 2-year contract with T-Mobile. An unlocked version is also available for $530 — a price similar to most other smartphones — and that version will work on other GSM phone networks worldwide as well as AT&T in the United States, although with some limitations.

The difference, though, is the Nexus One is available only through Google’s online store. Unlike with a Motorola Cliq or a HTC G1, users can’t walk into a T-Mobile store and buy the Nexus One. They can’t even count on T-Mobile’s customer service representatives in store or the company’s phone support to solve their problems. Instead, Nexus One customers can only get e-mail support from Google.

It’s a strategy that has backfired on Google. The company’s support forums are full of customer complaints around the Nexus and the company’s poor service.

“A lot of complaints and frustration that people are expressing would normally be handled by going back into the store or by calling the support help line,” says Golvin. “Having a physical location where you can take your phone back helps customers and Google seems to have underestimated that.”

“Solving customer support issues is extremely important to us, because we want people to have a positive Nexus One experience,” says a Google spokesperson. “We are trying to be as open and transparent as possible through our online customer help forums.”

Many of the customer complaints are centered about the device’s inability to connect to T-Mobile’s 3G network. The Nexus One does not pick up the 3G network or keeps switching to the slower EDGE network, say some users.

A Google spokesperson says the company is aware of the problem. “We are aware of the issues that have affected a small number of users and are working quickly to fix any problems,” the spokesperson told Wired.com in an email. “We hope to have more information soon. When we do, we will post it to the user forum.”

Add to all this Google’s decision to charge a separate early termination fee in addition to the one charged by T-Mobile. Nexus One customers who bought the subsidized, $180 version and then decide to cancel their contracts will have to pay $200 to T-Mobile. But Google also charges users a $350 “equipment recovery fee” if you give up on the contract within 120 days.

Including all charges, Nexus One customers who want to bail early will end up paying  $550. That’s significantly higher than the controversial $350 early termination fee imposed by Verizon last year.

“Google provides a subsidy for devices purchased with T-Mobile USA service. If a consumer cancels service after 14 days, Google recoups this subsidy in the form of an equipment recovery fee,” says the Google spokesperson. “After 120 days, the equipment recovery fee will no longer apply. This is standard practice for third party resellers of T-Mobile and other operators, and you will find similar policies for other mobile service resellers. The T-Mobile early termination fee is separate and handled by T-Mobile.”

Despite the problems, Google can bounce back, says Golvin. Customer dissatisfaction is likely to be just a small speed bump in the road for Google’s mobile ambitions, he says.

“Google tends to have a bit of a Teflon coating,” says Golvin. “People tend to cut them a lot more slack — as they do with Apple — than they do with their mobile operator.”

Do you like your Nexus One? Have you faced any of these problems? Let us know your Nexus One experience in the comments.

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T-Mobile killing @Home service, softly

T-Mobile killing HotSpot@Home service, softly

Those of you making use of T-Mobile’s VOIP offerings to save some minutes, hang onto your WiFi. The newly Google-favored carrier has decided to axe its HotSpot@Home service, meaning no more landline VOIP calls through the service calls over WiFi from home. T-Mo will allow existing subscribers to carry out their existing contracts (if only to avoid giving them an early out), and everyone can still make calls over WiFi at the company’s public hotspots, but no new folks will be able to add the service to their accounts, meaning this old offering won’t die, it’ll just fade away.

Update: As a number of you pointed out it seems we’ve got things a bit wrong here courtesy of some conflicting reports. The HotSpot@Home service will live on, but the @Home service, which provided VOIP access through landline phones, is the one being put out to pasture here.

T-Mobile killing @Home service, softly originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google imposes $350 early termination fee for subsidized Nexus One in addition to carrier’s own ETF

Here’s another reason to consider going the unlocked route with the Nexus One, in addition to having the AT&T (non-3G) and international GSM option. As a number of people have noticed, Google’s got its own Early Termination Fee (ETF) equivalent, here called the Equipment Recovery Fee, in the terms of sale, to the tune of $350 if you cancel within the first 120 days. Sound familiar? It’s because we saw it in a leak just before the new year. Here’s the kicker, though: this is in addition to any fees imposed by the carrier — not necessarily a problem on its own, but we just glanced at T-Mobile’s terms of sale, and sure enough, there’s an associated ETF up to $200. If we’re reading this right, Nexus One owners who decide to end their service after the 14-day trial period is over but before four months have passed will be hit with upwards of $550 in fees — more than if you bought the phone outright from the start, especially when you factor in the upfront $180. There hasn’t been enough time for someone to tempt fate, but who knows — come January 20th when early adopters’ trial period ends, there might be some interesting stories abound.

Google imposes $350 early termination fee for subsidized Nexus One in addition to carrier’s own ETF originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 07:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile makes mention of 3G issues with Nexus One, hopes to have ‘more information’ soon

There’s no fix yet, but Nexus One users are getting a solid first step this week now that T-Mobile is officially investigating the 3G / EDGE fluctuation issues that folks have been reporting. A posting over on T-Mob’s official support forums is now asking for users with verifiable problems to report a few key stats including their location, the nature of the problem (no 3G or 3G / EDGE switching), and whether they’ve got another AWS 3G phone handy that’s performing better. The company says that it hopes “to have more information for you soon,” so, you know, keep that box handy just in case this puppy needs to get exchanged Nokia 5800-style.

T-Mobile makes mention of 3G issues with Nexus One, hopes to have ‘more information’ soon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC HD2 officially headed to T-Mobile

We had a pretty clear indication that this one was coming, but Microsoft and HTC have now finally announced that the HD2 Windows Mobile phone is officially headed to T-Mobile. Unfortunately, no one is being very specific about launch details just yet, but it will apparently be out sometime this Spring for as yet undetermined price.

HTC HD2 officially headed to T-Mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Subsidized Nexus One pricing not available to existing T-Mobile customers

Remember when you ran out to buy a T-Mobile G1 right away when it was launched 14 months ago? Google apparently doesn’t — it’s only extending the $179 subsidized price for the Nexus One to new T-Mobile customers, meaning existing customers are being told they have to pay the full sticker of $529 for the Snapdragon device. As you can imagine, that’s got quite a few T-Mobile customers pretty angry — especially since Google’s systems aren’t even allowing upgrade-eligible T-Mo subscribers to purchase at a discount, and there’s no customer service line to call and complain. We’re hoping this is just a glitch while Google takes its first steps into direct phone sales, but we’ll keep an eye on the situation.

[Thanks, Mike]

Subsidized Nexus One pricing not available to existing T-Mobile customers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile takes entire 3G network to 7.2Mbps

It’s really that upcoming 21Mbps HSPA+ action that has us all hot and bothered, but T-Mobile USA took a nice little interim step today in announcing that its entire 3G footprint has now been upgraded from 3.6 to 7.2Mbps. Considering that AT&T won’t be at 100 percent 7.2Mbps coverage for some time to come, this is a nice little boost — of course, T-Mob’s got a smaller network to contend with, so it’s a trade-off for customers. Can someone do us a favor and drop us a line when we can finally have both a blazing network and coverage everywhere? At the same time?

[Thanks, Patrick]

T-Mobile takes entire 3G network to 7.2Mbps originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Garmin-Asus working on an AWS smartphone, but what is it?

How many phones does Garmin-Asus sell on T-Mobile? If you guessed zero, you’d be absolutely correct, so we’re buzzing about this FCC filing that popped up in the last few hours detailing a “PDA Phone” with AWS 3G frequency compliance. To be fair, this could be a device for Canada’s WIND Mobile, too, now that it’s sharing T-Mobile’s spectrum space — but either way, we’ve got to wonder what kind of phone we’re looking at here. It seems a little late in the game to be re-releasing either the nuvifone G60 or M20 with new bands, so we’re hoping this is legitimately new hardware in the mix; if so, it’ll be interesting to see if the nuvifone franchise still has a chance to redeem itself after the G60 became one of the most catastrophically delayed launches in mobile history. Nothing a little Android can’t fix, right?

Garmin-Asus working on an AWS smartphone, but what is it? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 06:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Google Nexus One $530 Unlocked, $180 With Plan

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Screenshots sent to Gizmodo from an anonymous source reveal the possible price and tariff details of the Nexus One Google phone, along with some extra hardware details.

The Google-designed handset is expected to be launched at an invitation-only Android-themed special event on Tuesday January 5th. If these leaked pictures are correct, then the Nexus One will retail for $530 unlocked, ready to be used with any GSM carrier. Those wanting to buy the handset subsidized will pay $180 and have to sign up for a two year contract. There appears to be only one plan available for these customers, and that is the T-Mobile Even More Individual 500 Plan, which gives you 500 minutes, free weekend and in-network calls and unlimited SMS, MMS and data. That bring the total cost over two years to $2,100.

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The screenshots also offer a teaser about hardware accessories. There will be a dock for an extra $40 to allow you to “Charge your phone while streaming music and backing up your data” and a car docking station ($50): “Nexus One is dock-aware and will optimize its display for navigation and hands-free use.”

According to Gizmodo, you will be able to buy up to five handsets per Google account, Google will actually ship the handset to countries outside the US. As the handset is unlocked, there seems no reason not to ship it to countries that use the GSM standard, and that price starts to look very attractive next to even the subsidized iPhone when converted from US dollars into stronger currencies.

It doesn’t look like Google or T-Mobile stand to lose much on this deal. If you decide you don’t like the (subsidized) Nexus One, you can cancel within 120 days. The early-termination fee will be a staggering $350.

Leaked Nexus One Documents: $530 Unlocked, $180 With T-Mobile [Gizmodo]

Screenshots: Gizmodo

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