What will it be, the good or the bad news first? How 'bout the good. After an initial rebuff, we finally managed to grab some photos of that exclusive T-Mobile MDA compact IV. You remember: 7.2Mbps HSDPA, GPS, VGA resolution screen, WiFi and 4GB of on-board storage. It'll also launch "mit neuestem Microsoft Betriebssytem" which we can safely assume is Windows Mobile 6.1 at this point. Oh yes, and the bad news. It's only a plastic dummy and our photographs were restricted by a glass cube. Still, this is as close as most of you will get for a long, long time.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SimonRichards @ Mar 4th 2008 1:12PM
A plastic dummy...yay?
But heck I like the sound of it!
patsy @ Mar 4th 2008 1:15PM
What, no slide-out keyboard? Meh, count me out.
james @ Mar 4th 2008 1:43PM
no slide-out keyboard? count me in.
john @ Mar 4th 2008 2:08PM
Yeah, no physical keyboard/keypad of any kind == not interested.
Prefer a side-slide qwerty or a suretype, at that. But, at the bare minimum, a POTS keypad with something like T9.
Virtual keyboard/keypad only == no thanks.
Cyon @ Mar 4th 2008 1:17PM
Wow, this phone reminds me of Samsung ultra series phones. ;)
Poonanny @ Mar 4th 2008 1:21PM
an MDA without qwerty keyboard!?!
you're kidding right??! This is smartphone? so no touchscreen! wtf!?
Phoenix @ Mar 4th 2008 1:56PM
This is T-Mobile GERMANY
Germany and the UK use MDA for EVERYTHING. Such as my MDA Vario III, the same hardware as the TyTN II and Tilt.
The Compact series have always been touch screen only, no hardware keypad or anything
Kris @ Mar 4th 2008 2:02PM
Don't be stupid you moron. It'll obviously have some sort of keyboard input most likely in the form of a touch screen keyboard from the look of it.
madeforidiots @ Mar 4th 2008 2:04PM
@Phoenix.
That's not the case.
I have an MDA Compact either I or II, and it has a hard keypad that slides out from under the phone.
Phoenix @ Mar 4th 2008 2:06PM
Wait... are you calling him a moron or me O.o'
But I have to say, engadget should specify at the top that in Europe the MDA line is smartphones AND pocket PCs, rather than just smartphones.
So a hardware keyboard is not as important ;)
Arne Hess @ Mar 4th 2008 2:08PM
@madeforidiots: That were MDA Vario! MDA compacts never had slide-out hardware QWERTY/Z keyboards: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=t-mobile+mda+compact&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
Phoenix @ Mar 4th 2008 2:10PM
From every photo I can find on Google, as well as every review, the compact was always only touch screen.
The Vario I, II and III have slide out QWERTY keyboards...
although america might be different...
Phoenix @ Mar 4th 2008 2:11PM
@Arne Hess
thank you, that's what I thought
Blackster @ Mar 4th 2008 1:26PM
i like the misspelling of the latest line *g* SPEicher hehe
should have been Speicher ;)
Chris @ Mar 4th 2008 1:39PM
Is this going to be the HTC Touch Cruise???
Phoenix @ Mar 4th 2008 2:07PM
it looks similar... but the VGA screen makes me doubt it
BioWare #1 @ Mar 4th 2008 1:39PM
Yeah, would make more sense to call this SDA 2 or Shadow 2, not MDA. But hey... HSDPA!! More 3G phones coming to T-mo... must mean they're getting closer to rolling out some high-speed, right?
Arne Hess @ Mar 4th 2008 1:53PM
It's an announcement by T-Mobile *Germany* and they have 3G and 3.5G in place for years already...!
bethel03 @ Mar 4th 2008 1:54PM
When the Shadow came out there were rumors of it being its own spin-off (like the sidekick series), this looks to be another phone that will fall into that category. It looks pretty damn nice to me, and who knows, maybe is does have a slide-out QWERTY like the HTC-S710, that would be really nice. Only time will tell..
Phoenix @ Mar 4th 2008 2:01PM
No go, I think. The Compact line have always been touchscreen only.
chris @ Mar 4th 2008 7:52PM
I think Bethel may be on to something, notice the Home and Back buttons? Those are specific to smartphones, NOT to WM Professional editions. This clearly isn't a Touch Cruise, as its thinner, it looks to me like a revised T-Mobile Shadow.
7on @ Mar 4th 2008 1:56PM
Is that a stylus on the lower right?
Phoenix @ Mar 4th 2008 1:58PM
Probably... seeing as the MDA compact line are Touchscreen devices...
john @ Mar 4th 2008 2:05PM
heheheheh.... "Mit neuestem Microsoft Betreibssystem"
So, in the US where we would say "Microsoft OS", in Germany they say "Microsoft BS"??? :-) I'm gonna be giggling all day.
PEZ @ Mar 4th 2008 2:19PM
The reason you wont see or hear of it for a long long time is because it will take quite a while for Tmo to release it, and in the meantime it will be out of date.
Thank you.
Surur @ Mar 4th 2008 4:37PM
Ive heard T-mobile says this is coming out in May, which is not too far away at all!
Kasona @ Mar 4th 2008 3:30PM
ooh, nice!! T-Mobile USA pretty please!!
-skyline- @ Mar 4th 2008 4:50PM
funny how engadget doesn't immediately call this as vapourware or blatant copying of the iphone like how engadget always does with Meizu's M8 whenever they show anything short of fully working product (Read: http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/04/meizu-m8-mini-one-vs-iphone-fight/)
Hung @ Mar 4th 2008 5:19PM
I was going to explain why you're wrong and that I'm not defending Engadget or Apple in the process, but then I went "forget it, I'll just low rank him." Done.
-skyline- @ Mar 4th 2008 5:22PM
oh referring to my previous comment... it was directed to engadget for their biased reporting rather than to this product.
Hung @ Mar 4th 2008 8:35PM
Wow, I'm impressed that you didn't respond with a tone of anger or discontent. You're one of the few people on Engadget who wouldn't start a random argument and be unnecessarily angry. I'm more than impressed.
You're still wrong about the MDA, but I'll up rank you, regardless. Congrats.
JasoniK @ Mar 4th 2008 5:19PM
This would indeed be a nice update on the form of the Shadow. With a little more solid construction. Rockin.
marcelol @ Mar 4th 2008 5:29PM
Yet another cheesy phone from TMo.....a year too late, a couple hundred MHz shy. It'll probably be powered by another ANEMIC processor.
In short, it looks like a Shadow. with a bigger screen. PUH-LEEZE....this is what they're hoping to gain market share with in 3G here in the US ? With the iPhone 3G now rumored for May ?
Wake up TMO..I've been with you for 9 years ( someone say Omnipoint in the house ), but if this is your idea of 3G....sign me up SteveJo....it figures that after 4+ months of silence since the Shadow being delivered, would come to something this cheesy being displayed, much less, announced.
Surur @ Mar 4th 2008 6:52PM
So a 3G phone with a VGA touchscreen, 4 GB flash, not to mention GPS, in a thin form factor does not excite you? Damn! You're a tough crowd.
marcelol @ Mar 5th 2008 8:56AM
3G - It's about time !
4Gb flash - Uh, at least one comes with 16Gb now, and there's these things...they're called uSD's....everyone can have 4Gb.
VGA - Yawn ( how big is the screen again ? )
GPS - Ok, I'll give you that one.
TouchScreen - I didn't see that in the article ? Where did YOU read that ?
WiFi - As if it'd be allowed to NOT come with it.
What we're looking at here people is essentially an updated Dual Touch Cruise. Hint: Some people want built-in keyboards for faster input. Touch screen is ok for navigation, but after using stylus input for over 12 years on everything from a Palm Pilot ( yes you heard right ) to an MDA III ( G_d I hated having to import that over ), I think I'm due for something that has a reasonable keyboard.
TMobile should've released something like the HTC TyTn or TyTn II here in the U.S.. Longtime customers are fed up with TMO offering the Least Common Denominator smartphones ( SDA ) and runt of the litter ( TMO Wing ) PDA phones. It's time they realized that has the talk plans become ubiquitous, that their bread and butter will come from data plans and the handsets that support their data services.
Anyone can buy a handset that will give them unlimited talk time now for around $100/mo.
So yeah, after 9 years as a TMO ( can you say Omnipoint ) customer, I think it's high time they brought a "decent" PDA Phone to the U.S.
Hung @ Mar 4th 2008 8:35PM
Wow, I'm impressed that you didn't respond with a tone of anger or discontent. You're one of the few people on Engadget who wouldn't start a random argument and be unnecessarily angry. I'm more than impressed.
You're still wrong about the MDA, but I'll up rank you, regardless.
dean @ Mar 4th 2008 9:13PM
So from what I've gathered, Germany has 7mbps HDSPA? When are we in the US T-Mobile crowd going to get even 1mpbs 3G? As soon as there is 3+mbps available, I'm buying a phone and tethering it to my laptop. No more DSL or cable for me. I'll probably be 30 by then.
ric @ Mar 5th 2008 8:05AM
Isn't this the HTC Polaris? If so, it doesn't have VGA: it's still 320x240.
Wyze @ Mar 5th 2008 9:26AM
Actually when it comes to the states....this will be known as the HTC Tom Cruise.....