Say Hello to T-Mobile's HTC TouchPro2 and BlackBerry 8520 August 5, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Cell Phones , trackback
Is your T-Mobile contract running out and your shopping around for a new phone? Then texters and sick phone lovers should listen up: T-Mobile is bringing 2 amazing new phones over the next few days, the TouchPro2 and BlackBerry 8520. To know what its all about and if its for you, read further.
T-Mobile’s BlackBerry 8520 (in black– it’s also available in white)
Ok, so let’s start with the phone that’s coming out today(!) the BlackBerry 8520. This is not like the other BlackBerry’s you see, such as T-Mobile’s BlackBerry 8900, which all use trackballs to move around. The 8520 is the first of what might be the new thing for future BlackBerry’s, uses an optical trackpad to navigate. It also comes with a bunch of other features like:
- Thin design– Like all the latest BlackBerry’s, this thing definitely looks nice and should be easy to carry around.
- Touch Sensitive Optical Trackpad– Like we mentioned above, this is a new thing for BlackBerry’s, though it looks to be real solid and should work well. To use it, you just gently move your finger across the trackpad to move around, kinda like you move around the trackpad on a laptop.
- Full QWERTY keyboard– Wouldn’t be a BlackBerry without it.
- Dedicated Media keys– This is also new for BlackBerry’s, as you now have dedicated play/pause, rewind and fast forward keys like you find on most non-smartphones. This should be great for controlling your music while your phone is in your pocket and is about time BlackBerry added this.
- 2 megapixel camera with video recording– Decent camera, but not as great as the Curve 8900 which is 3.2 megapixel with flash and video recording.
- BlackBerry App World– For downloading apps.
- Mp3 player with microSD card slot– Comes with a 1 GB card out of the box, but you can always replace it with a bigger memory card if you want.
- WiFi– Sadly though, no 3G for T-Mobile BlackBerry’s yet. You can also make calls over WiFi using T-Mobile’s HotSpot @ Home service.
- myFaves support
- Out of the box Mac compatibility– This is also the first BlackBerry to sync directly out of the box with Macs, something which also is long awaited and that I’m pretty sure will find it’s way to some of the latest BlackBerry’s– like the Bold, Tour and Curve 8900– as well.
Now here’s the big thing– the price. The Curve 8900 goes for $149.99 with a new 2 year contract on T-Mobile– the 8520 g0es for only $48.88 (yes 88 cents) when it goes on sale at Walmart today (from what we hear, if you want to buy directly from T-Mobile it will cost for now $129.99 with a 2 year contract– something I don’t believe will last long especially because of Walmart’s amazing pricing). For a new BlackBerry that offers a bunch of new features, and the awesome BlackBerry keyboard, this looks like an amazing deal. You can order it now from T-Mobile here, Walmart here, and Amazon (which actually offers the sickest price of them all even though you can only buy it online– only $00.1!!!!) here.
T-Mobile HTC TouchPro2
Now let’s go to the next big T-Mobile upcoming release: the HTC TouchPro2, which we mentioned in our upcoming T-Mobile phones post a few months back. This is one the biggest phones of the year, and is said to be coming to all the big US cell phone carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint) later this year as well. T-Mobile is the first to get the phone, and thankfully for T-Mobile users, they are launching it next week! Just a recap of the features:
- 3.6 inch High Res screen with slide out QWERTY keyboard– a great touch screen which, if it’s anything like the Touch Pro’s– and we assume this one’s much better– means you’re in for a great device. And like the older AT&T Tilt, the touchscreen tilts up- very cool.
- T-Mobile 3G
- WiFi
- GPS
- Windows Mobile 6.1 with TouchFlo 3D– This makes Windows Mobile much cooler and easier to use for touch screen phones, giving you a cool way to quickly go through things like your music, pix, contacts and apps all from the homescreen of the phone using your fingers. In short– it’s awesome.
- 3.2 Megapixel camera with flash and auto focus
All in all, another great phone for T-Mobile that should be great for those looking for a more, stylish and feature packed phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. We don’t yet know price (I would guess between $150 and $250– which is expected for this type of phone), but it’s said to come next week, August 12th, so we’ll know soon enough.
Anyways, there you have it– some info on some really cool upcoming T-Mobile phones. You interested? Or you rather go with a myTouch 3G or other new T-Mobile phone (like these 2)? Sound off in the comments.
Comments»
i love this phone and i cant wait to get it this week