Last October, we would've never guessed that T-Mobile would bother to circle back with HTC on the
myTouch 3G to craft a slightly modified version that fixes everyone's single biggest complaint -- the lack of an integrated 3.5mm headphone jack -- but here we are now in January with that very product resting in our hands. Even crazier, though, is that the only version of the modified phone (or, at least, the only version announced so far) is a limited edition tie-up with Fender and pitchman Eric Clapton. Strange bedfellows, indeed -- maybe just strange enough to work. Seriously, who doesn't want a phone endorsed by one of the hippest, most storied brands of the 20th century?
Enter the
myTouch 3G Fender Limited Edition, a phone that takes the classic myTouch 3G formula, tacks a 3.5mm headphone jack along the upper right edge, coats the shell in faux sunburst fiddleback maple (just like that Buddy Holly or SRV Strat you've always wanted), and tosses in a few custom accessories and apps you don't get with the standard version.
Physically, the phone looks far, far better in person than you might picture in your head after having it described to you. This isn't some 99-cent applique we're talking about here -- the fake wood that's covering this thing could easily fool someone who isn't... you know, a wood "expert," if only it didn't seem too far-fetched to use real tree pieces on a consumer-grade phone. Both the wall adapter (which shares its styled shape with the standard myTouch) and the headphones also enjoy the treatment, and they all look great. No, seriously, we're not messing around.
Fender clearly took the partnership seriously, too -- it's not just the wood, but everything about the package from the zippered case with a pick-shaped logo to the crushed velvet pouch has an awesome, chic, high-quality feel. Honestly, we'd probably carefully remove the phone itself and zipper everything else back up and put it away as though it was a treasured collectors' item, but anyone who plays an electric guitar understands the awesomeness of the inside of a Fender case; if you're the kind of person who never leaves home without a six-string, we can see why you might want to carry the pouch around, too. It's silly, but it's fun and makes for a great conversation piece.
Once you turn the phone on, you'll notice that you're right back into familiar myTouch territory with a few key differences. As the Fender name indicates, everything that has changed with this version is music-oriented, starting with the jack and leading through to the bundled apps; T-Mobile has (wisely) swapped out Android's default music player and replaced it with HTC's, for example. It's the same one you find on the
Hero, and apart from graphic transitions being a little laggy, it works very well and looks a whole heck of a lot better than anything Google has done so far.
Musicians (particularly guitarists, we suspect) will appreciate the handset's Musical app, which serves as an umbrella for a handful of tools. It's got a metronome, tone generator, and tuner -- all handy for impromptu gigging on the road -- along with keyboard and percussion instruments that can be manipulated on-screen. Make no mistake, the instruments are purely novelties -- the screen's way too small to effectively use a keyboard, and even if it were, the lack of multitouch makes chords impossible. Interestingly, the app can be used as a MIDI controller over WiFi, a surprisingly pro-level feature for an app that doesn't have much practical purpose. Don't get us wrong, it's fun to dink around with and we'd bet it's great for parties or a quick game of Name That Tune, just don't expect to record your next masterpiece with it.
Next up is Solo Lite, a stripped-down version of a guitar app that any Android user can find in the Market (for free, no less, so existing myTouch owners shouldn't feel ripped off here). It sounds surprisingly good and can be configured to play the chords of your choosing, but as with Musical, we don't see how this is of too much practical use. It's cute, it's fun, and you shouldn't expect much more.
Unfortunately, both Musical and Solo suffer from some pretty extreme lag, symptoms of the myTouch's anemic 528MHz core. We're guessing they'd fly on a Snapdragon, but the apps tax this poor, outmatched processor to its frayed limits. The rest of the phone works every bit as well as a regular myTouch, but these apps seem to really be designed for something with a little more "oomph."
So, let's take a quick look at the Fender's other big deal: that 3.5mm headphone jack. We wish we could be a little more excited about this, but HTC seems to have rushed this one -- it obviously shoehorned the jack into a device that wasn't designed from the start to support it. The placement of the jack is totally fine, but we experienced far more hiss while listening to music than we've grown used to with recent music-capable phones; by and large, manufacturers seem to have gotten the hang of noise suppression, and the myTouch is a marked step backwards. Granted, we were using Shure SE530s for the test -- earbuds that are honest enough to make almost anything sound like crap -- but when you put it head-to-head with nearly any other modern phone with a jack, this one's going to come out on bottom.
Wrap-up
Look: it's a Fender-branded myTouch 3G. Existing myTouch owners really shouldn't feel bad about the inclusion of this afterthought of a 3.5mm jack, and fresh customers looking to get into an Android set on T-Mobile clearly have better choices in the range (and there'll be far, far more over the course of 2010, we suspect). That said, there's something about the Fender branding and the exquisitely-crafted details that tugs at our heartstrings here, and honestly, we might carry this one around just for the cool factor. And who knows -- when you become the next Jimi Hendrix, maybe it'll be worth something to someone some day.
posted January 29th 2010 1:45PM
Will someone please go and blow up the factory that makes these slow ass chips? It is unbelievable that they are still finding their way into these types of phones.
If I were to travel back in time to the 1970s, I would take this phone. While it would be somewhat useless, the simulated woodgrain would make it fit right in and throw off any viewers as to the device's true purpose.
solo lite runs fine w/ no lag on my Sprint Hero, same processor as the myTouch... must be RAM or something.
FAAACT CHECK!
"and tosses in a few custom accessories and apps you don't get with the standard version."
From what see here, everything as far as accessories are the same as whats included with the standard MyTouch; they just look different.
just saying
Good day, I'm in love with my Nexus One - superphone ( just updated yesterday -OTA- its so much better now about the 3G signal & more faster charging time ) - we still have the 2g iphone & 3gs but were using it as MP3 player in our cars - 09 RIDGELINE & 09 PILOT - I called my friend who's working on HTC in Houston - (he's senior engineer-the best guy to ask about software & phones) ( USA-HTC repair center is in Houston,Texas ) he divulge something to me. We moved from California for GOOD - he worked with APPLE before & myself with Honda R&D and now we are in Texas ( hes in Houston, I'm in the best city in the USA - AUSTIN,TEXAS). Here's the big scoop guys, GOOGLE wants some share on HTC board & they will invest in the company for more products to be made by HTC for them, like the ultra advance tablet & more advance phones that is way better than the so called OLD TECHNOLOGY iPAD& iPHONE, who are just good in aesthetic appearance with APPLE logo on it ( i'll bet all my money that whatever piece of crap they will make, people will buy it because of the name APPLE ) BUT if it is EMACHINES that even can do anything & will make your life easy and happy, still people will not buy it because its EMACHINE, people did you get it??? WAKE UP!!! Thats all for now... Take care buddies & gurlies... God bless y'all
You would be a complete idiot to buy this instead of the nexus one. Nothing is new on this phone, no new hardware other than the head jack.
@Hydra
It's a lot cheaper than the Nexus One for many people. My wife and I are on a family plan, and ALL family plan customers have to pay $530 for the Nexus One even if they're qualified for an upgrade.
My wife wants a new Android phone, and she's probably going to end up with this one because we can't afford to spend over $500 on phone hardware right now, especially when we can get any other Android phone on T-Mobile for under $200.
this phone has too much wood
Buy an iPhone.
I dunno why anyone would get this with the Nexus One on T-Mobile. But I do love the look. Very beautiful.
Fender's my favorite brand of guitar. And the book-matched wood grain on this phone sure is purrrrrrrrdy :-) . I still love my Droid but man, this here special edition My Touch thingy is the coolness. If Verizon had it, I'd buy one for my wife.
I don't understand how some very pertinent information regarding this phone was left out. Ordinary myTouch 3G's run on whats called a "32B" board which only has 192mb of RAM. This Fender Edition is a "32A" board which has 288mb of RAM (much resembling a true HTC Magic). I own this phone, its crazy smooth in comparison. Hero ROMS and future versions of Android OS will be made available to this phone as well as the myTouch 1.2 (which will have the same amount of RAM), and sooner or later when the Android OS hits the memory ceiling of the phone, it will no longer receive cool updates (ahem G1).
i have this phone and its pretty damn sweet. Sure its no nexus one but its still android and hopefully we'll get the 2.0 update later this year
It's the same price as the Nexus One with contract. Only the gullible public would buy this. Anybody that read tech blogs would just get the N1, for really obvious reasons.
I purchased the my3g about a week before the fender came out. Really had no idea about the fender until I got the mytouch to begin with. So I returned it for the fender due to the 14 day grace period and a $50 increase on the price, there were really no reasons not to.
While waiting for mine to arrive, I stopped in the store to check one out. They started out with only six that they had received just the day before launch and were already pre-ordered by the employees who worked there, but of course they were paying for them as customers.
I am actually very pleased with my decision to upgrade. Between the 3.5mm jack and updated music app that should have been incorporated to begin with, I'm in love. I've also noticed the the screen has been upgraded. No joke. Things are a lot more sharp and detailed.
One last thing I have noticed is the amount of free memory I have. 120 average free memory compared to a 24 average from the original is a drastic change if you ask me. I don't know if they upgraded the RAM/ROM but I believe!
This is just my general opinion in the matter. You can take it as you want to...
Another thing I have to address is the fact that you can do payment plans with ANY mytouch 3g. And because it's tough times in this day and age, payment plans are definitely the way to go for me.
Buying the nexus one disables you in having the ability to have a payment plan. You have to buy it in full if you have a current contract, which sucks if you ask me.
Straight from a webpage only and no customer service is not the way to be doing things. It's a horrible idea. No good. T-mobile got cheated out of this deal. I like my carrier. I like having their customer service around. I really don't know what I would do without them in some cases. Google Checkout is a mistake of all mistakes ever made and I say that with meaning...
@Philosophics Unfortunately with the payment plans you don't get the subsidized rate and then you still have a contract so even if you pay off the full retail price of the phone, and you break the contract you still have an ETF. That for me is a dealbreaker on the payment plans.
Anyway to get the htc music player on the Nexus One. Would love that.
The sustain...listen to it.
I don't hear anything...
Well you would, though, if it were playing.
Palm could learn a lot from this hardware