HTC HD7 is a HD2 lookalike with Windows Phone 7 and 720p video, exclusive to T-Mobile in US

Stop us if you’ve heard these specs before: 4.3-inch WVGA (800 x 480) TFT screen, 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250 system-on-chip, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, and Microsoft’s latest mobile OS on board. Yes, the HTC HD7 is almost a carbon copy of the much-loved HD2, albeit with a major upgrade to Windows Phone 7 software and an appreciated bump to 720/24p video recording. Beyond those enhancements, American buyers will be greeted with preinstalled Netflix, Slacker, and T-Mobile TV entertainment apps, along with 16GB of built-in storage.

T-Mobile gets the honor of being the exclusive US carrier, with exclusives also going out to O2 in the UK and Ireland and Telstra in Australia. O2 Germany will also distribute the phone, along with Movistar in Spain, Bouygues Telecom in France, and a choice of carriers in Italy. Bear in mind that the non-US HD7s are likely to come with a less capacious 8GB of storage. The phone is scheduled for an October 21 retail debut in Europe, to be followed by a mid-November arrival on US shelves. You’ll find the full press release after the break, although you shouldn’t bother if you expect it to explain why the nearly identical HD2 isn’t getting a WP7 upgrade.

Continue reading HTC HD7 is a HD2 lookalike with Windows Phone 7 and 720p video, exclusive to T-Mobile in US

HTC HD7 is a HD2 lookalike with Windows Phone 7 and 720p video, exclusive to T-Mobile in US originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

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

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.

Permalink   |  sourceDell  | Email this | Comments

T-Mobile exec downplays need for LTE, calls WiMAX ‘niche’

LTE? WiMAX? T-Mobile USA’s Neville Ray isn’t as interested in these technologies as the competition. In an interview with BusinessWeek, the Chief Network Officer said, “we’ll look towards LTE at the right point in time for us… that ecosystem is going to be much richer than the competing one from [WiMAX], which is really a niche play.” A niche play, you say? Network burn! What isn’t clear from the BW piece — and it’s something we’re painfully curious about — is if Ray himself used the term 4G as interchangeably as the article implies. After all, the company line is that it’s already got a 4G technology in (the theoretically slower) HSPA+, as it’s claimed as recently as the G2 announcement. We’re guessing not, but all the same, we wouldn’t hold our breath for any radical new cell towers in T-Mo’s immediate future — and we’d expect nothing less from AT&T than to continue to sneer at its use of the 4G term in its press materials.

T-Mobile exec downplays need for LTE, calls WiMAX ‘niche’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Phone Scoop  |  sourceBusinessWeek  | Email this | Comments

RadioShack to sell T-Mobile G2 ‘first’ starting on October 3rd

If you were proactive enough to pre-order a T-Mobile G2, there’s a better-than-average chance that your shiny new smartphone is already en route to your abode. For those who slept in, it looks as if RadioShack will be the go-to place if you’re looking to snag one early from the retail universe. According to the badly formatted flyer pictured above, The Shack will be the first B&M location to stock the US version of the HTC Desire Z, and it’ll be hawking ’em for $149.99 on a two-year postpaid contract starting October 3rd. Got that penciled into your little black book? Good.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Continue reading RadioShack to sell T-Mobile G2 ‘first’ starting on October 3rd

RadioShack to sell T-Mobile G2 ‘first’ starting on October 3rd originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 10:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

T-Mobile USA fires up first solar-powered cell site in Pennsylvania

A solar-powered cell site? In Pennsylvania? Say it ain’t so! Rather than heading to Death Valley or southern Nevada, T-Mobile USA has selected the bustling metropolis of Chalfont, Pennsylvania for its first US-based solar cell site. According to a report over at GigaOM, the carrier isn’t dishing any real details on the new development, only saying that it generates enough power to take the site “off-the-grid” and occasionally feed extra power back into said grid. It’s likely that the site is primarily being built for positive PR and as a test for future rollouts, as the actual cost for installing this versus a standard grid-powered site is “around two to three times more.” But hey, there’s nothing like looking forward to the karma that comes with giving Ma Earth a kiss this big, right?

T-Mobile USA fires up first solar-powered cell site in Pennsylvania originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceGigaOM  | Email this | Comments

T-Mobile G2 pre-orders go live for current customers, available to all on October 6

Just as promised, T-Mobile has started offering its subscribers that “exclusive access” to early G2 pre-orders. There have been a couple of early hiccups with the pre-order page for that select group, but they’re being ironed out as we type and there’s also word that the rest of us unwashed Android geeks will be able to join in on October 6. One of our tipsters forwarded along a bill for his purchase showing the phone to be valued at $249.99 and an estimated delivery date of September 30. That’s quite the steep entry fee, considering Best Buy will have the phone on October 6 as well for just under $200 and Radio Shack is undercutting all with a $150 price on the typical two-year contract.

[Thanks, Justin and Wei]

Update: Our tipster’s $250 levy is before the standard $50 mail-in rebate, making for the predictable $200 price when all’s said and done.

Continue reading T-Mobile G2 pre-orders go live for current customers, available to all on October 6

T-Mobile G2 pre-orders go live for current customers, available to all on October 6 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 02:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceT-Mobile  | Email this | Comments

HTC HD7 resurfaces on a T-Mobile accessories list, could be with us by November 1

Aha! The phone you heard about here first has made its second document-based appearance, this time crossing the Atlantic and showing up on a T-Mobile inventory sheet. We can apparently look forward to accessorizing our HD7s with a leather sleeve, a “charge shell,” a pair of different screen protectors, and two flexible protective covers made by Speck. Most of these parts are expected to arrive on November 1, and since accessories aren’t much good without something to put them on, we can probably expect that to mean the HD7 will be dropping some time before November. It’s expected on October 18 in the UK, which dovetails neatly with the idea of it being a headline Windows Phone 7 device from HTC — that’s about the time Microsoft promised WP7’s European launch.

As to that “Dell Claire” you see near the top, we’re hearing it’s the T-Mo version of the Dell Streak.

[Thanks, John and Jakub]

HTC HD7 resurfaces on a T-Mobile accessories list, could be with us by November 1 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 06:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MobileTechWorld  |  sourceTmoNews  | Email this | Comments

Walmart Family Mobile enters the postpaid war, reselling service from T-Mobile

Walmart’s already firmly entrenched in the prepaid cellular business, offering handsets and service via Common Cents (Sprint) and Straight Talk (Verizon Wireless), but according to Greg Hall, vice president of merchandising at Walmart US, there’s a “perception among customers that prepaid service doesn’t offer access to the best phones or the best network quality.” In order to combat that, the outfit will be launching a new postpaid service today dubbed Walmart Family Mobile. The actual fine print is somewhat confusing, as it offers the best of both the pre- and postpaid worlds; users will still pay their monthly bill at the end of the month, but no subsidization will take place on the phones themselves due to this being a no-contract ordeal. It’ll cost $45 per month for unlimited calling and texting for the first line, and $25 per month for every extra line; unfortunately, data will be a pricey addition at $40 per month for 1GB… but at least that rolls over each month in case you don’t use it all. Initially, Wally World will offer five handsets, with the flagship phone being Motorola’s Cliq XT at $249. Frankly, we aren’t too impressed at what’s on offer here — get unlimited data bundled with calling and texting for the same $45 / month, then we’ll talk.

Update: Official PR is now after the break, and that’s a September 20th launch date, so next Monday.

Update 2: So, Walmart’s PR team contacted us to flesh out the data plan details that the AP sort of glossed over. Thankfully, the full skinny is far more attractive than what we were led to believe. In short, each line comes with 100MB of data (one-time); after you use that up, you’ve got a trio of prepaid ‘WebPak’ options to keep you going. $10 buys you an extra 200MB, $25 gets you 500MB and $40 gets you 1GB. Good stuff!

[Thanks, Ksadd]

Continue reading Walmart Family Mobile enters the postpaid war, reselling service from T-Mobile

Walmart Family Mobile enters the postpaid war, reselling service from T-Mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAP  | Email this | Comments

Motorola Defy hitting T-Mobile this holiday season, details to come… on Oprah

Remember that Defy that Motorola outed at the front end of this month? Turns out the Europeans won’t be the only ones seeing it this Christmas, as Moto has just revealed that it’ll be hitting US airwaves exclusively on T-Mobile “in time for the holidays.” You already know the details — a 3.7-inch WVGA scratch-resistant touchpanel, plenty of rigidity, Android 2.1, the ability to withstand dust and water, a five megapixel camera (with flash and auto focus), DLNA support and the outfit’s own Blur interface (despite Jha’s claims that it would fade from view) — but it looks as if you’ll have to wait a tick to find out anything about pricing. How long? Tune into today’s farewell season premiere of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to find out. Yeah… strange. But true!

Continue reading Motorola Defy hitting T-Mobile this holiday season, details to come… on Oprah

Motorola Defy hitting T-Mobile this holiday season, details to come… on Oprah originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceMotorola  | Email this | Comments

T-Mobile G2 gets $150 price tag at Radio Shack

You didn’t rush out and grab that Best Buy pre-order while it was still hot and steaming, did you? Radio Shack’s decided to step up its charm offensive with any potential G2 owners in the best way possible: by chopping $50 off the upfront price for the handset via an instant rebate. So, Amazon et al, care to outbid this daring ploy for affection with your own discounts?

T-Mobile G2 gets $150 price tag at Radio Shack originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceRadioShack (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments