T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide official: Android 2.1, QWERTY, coming in June (we go hands-on)
By Chris Ziegler 
posted May 4th 2010 12:01AM
posted May 4th 2010 12:01AM
We had a chance to play around with the handset a bit, and there's quite a bit about it that's an improvement over previous T-Mobile Android offerings. For starters, the keyboard is actually quite good, and without having that annoying G1 chin to block your moves, typing seemed pretty natural. The UI is a bit like a mashup of Sense and stock Android, with a little featurephone thrown in for good measure -- it's clear the carrier wanted to make this welcoming to beginners, and it's mostly succeeded. One addition we liked was that your recent applications are now docked in the notification window, which makes getting back to business a little easier. There are also a handful of Sense widgets here (yay), and despite the lower resolution screen (boo), it did feel like a roomier experience than the previous myTouch. One other plus worth noting: the Genius Button and corresponding voice recognition (powered by Dragon Dictation) was some of the best we've played with, nailing complex text message dictation (including the word Engadget) on the first try. Honestly, it put Google's stock voice recognition to shame. On the downside, we're not sold on the styling of this phone -- it's a bit plasticky and over-styled -- and we suspect that the lack of a more modern CPU (the Slide has an older generation Qualcomm chip) is going to spell trouble just around the corner. Still, we're holding final judgment till we have a review unit in hand.
New T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide Improves Communication through T-Mobile Exclusive Software
The latest Android-powered smartphone marries beautiful form with superior function on a faster 3G network.
BELLEVUE, Wash. - May 4, 2009 - T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced a new addition to its exclusive line of AndroidTM-powered T-Mobile myTouch® 3G smartphones - the T-Mobile® myTouch 3G SlideTM. Anticipated to be available in June, the new myTouch 3G Slide combines a roomy slide-out QWERTY keyboard with an incredibly crisp, high-performance touch screen powered by the latest Android software. The T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide is purpose-built for communication, with unique new features that help customers connect more easily, more quickly and more often to their closest family and friends.
"Many smartphones are increasingly powerful in their features and specifications without continuing to improve the main reason that so many people have mobile phones - the ability to communicate with each other," said Andrew Sherrard, vice president of product development, T-Mobile USA. "The new myTouch 3G Slide is a smart and sleek phone that fits into your pocket, your budget and your family life with exclusive T-Mobile features that put communication with your closest family and friends front and center."
New features only available on the T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide include the following:
Faves GalleryTM: Life is hectic, so it's easy to miss opportunities to connect with loved ones. Faves Gallery presents up to 20 of your favorite people and the different ways to communicate with them - calls, texts, e-mail, instant messaging, social networking updates - in a dedicated application accessible through a soft button and an easy-to-use widget complete with photos, contact information and one-touch ability to respond. All of your Faves® get special status on your myTouch 3G SlideTM; anytime they communicate with you or update their social network you get a notification in the notification pane. Even if you're not using your phone, a custom green light lets you know you've got a communication waiting from one of your Faves. And you can respond directly from the Faves Gallery, without launching e-mail or other applications, so you connect more quickly and more often with the important people in your life.
myModes: myModes helps you draw the line between work and home by creating different themes with home screen apps, widgets and wallpapers to empower people in the different roles they play each day. You can set myModes to switch at a designated time, by location, or manually with the option to create and store up to 10 customized modes. myModes removes clutter and makes you more efficient both at work and at home. Want to forget about work on the weekend? No need to hide your work phone or switch to another device; just put away your work tools, like e-mail and your calendar by switching modes, and bring forward all the things you love to do on Saturday.
Genius ButtonTM: With the Genius Button, you press one button, talk, and it delivers. The Genius Button, powered by Dragon Dictation from Nuance Communications (Nasdaq: NUAN), is an easy-to- access button on the front of the new T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide allowing the use of voice commands to control the phone and it's features including making calls, composing and sending texts and e-mails, searching the Web or your surroundings. It will even read text messages aloud, and lets you dictate responses naturally as if you were speaking directly to a person.
Powered by the Android 2.1 software, the myTouch 3G Slide offers a rich mobile Web experience and access to thousands of applications on Android Market from games to location-based social networks to on-the-go shopping and more. Similar to the original, the new myTouch 3G Slide was designed to facilitate personalization inside and out. A five-pane home screen, with the option to increase to seven panes, offers plenty of real estate for your favorite widgets, applications and themes.
Designed by HTC exclusively for T-Mobile, the myTouch 3G Slide features a 3.4-inch HVGA touch- screen display with virtual keyboard as well as a roomy, slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Less than 15mm thick, the elegant design slides easily into your pocket proving that Android brains don't have to come in a sci-fi box. The myTouch 3G Slide also features a 5-megapixel camera, a music player with a pre-installed 8GB microSD memory card, and enhanced video capabilities to make it easy for users to record and share pictures and videos, whether via e-mail, MMS or one-click upload to sites such as YouTubeTM and PicasaTM.
The device's powerful mobile data experience is supported by fast data speeds via Wi-Fi and T-Mobile's nationwide 3G network, which is getting even faster this year as T-Mobile upgrades its network with the latest wireless technology.
The myTouch 3G Slide is expected to be available in June, exclusively from T-Mobile USA in three colors - black, white or red. Customers can visit http://mytouch.t-mobile.com for more information.
The latest Android-powered smartphone marries beautiful form with superior function on a faster 3G network.
BELLEVUE, Wash. - May 4, 2009 - T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced a new addition to its exclusive line of AndroidTM-powered T-Mobile myTouch® 3G smartphones - the T-Mobile® myTouch 3G SlideTM. Anticipated to be available in June, the new myTouch 3G Slide combines a roomy slide-out QWERTY keyboard with an incredibly crisp, high-performance touch screen powered by the latest Android software. The T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide is purpose-built for communication, with unique new features that help customers connect more easily, more quickly and more often to their closest family and friends.
"Many smartphones are increasingly powerful in their features and specifications without continuing to improve the main reason that so many people have mobile phones - the ability to communicate with each other," said Andrew Sherrard, vice president of product development, T-Mobile USA. "The new myTouch 3G Slide is a smart and sleek phone that fits into your pocket, your budget and your family life with exclusive T-Mobile features that put communication with your closest family and friends front and center."
New features only available on the T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide include the following:
Faves GalleryTM: Life is hectic, so it's easy to miss opportunities to connect with loved ones. Faves Gallery presents up to 20 of your favorite people and the different ways to communicate with them - calls, texts, e-mail, instant messaging, social networking updates - in a dedicated application accessible through a soft button and an easy-to-use widget complete with photos, contact information and one-touch ability to respond. All of your Faves® get special status on your myTouch 3G SlideTM; anytime they communicate with you or update their social network you get a notification in the notification pane. Even if you're not using your phone, a custom green light lets you know you've got a communication waiting from one of your Faves. And you can respond directly from the Faves Gallery, without launching e-mail or other applications, so you connect more quickly and more often with the important people in your life.
myModes: myModes helps you draw the line between work and home by creating different themes with home screen apps, widgets and wallpapers to empower people in the different roles they play each day. You can set myModes to switch at a designated time, by location, or manually with the option to create and store up to 10 customized modes. myModes removes clutter and makes you more efficient both at work and at home. Want to forget about work on the weekend? No need to hide your work phone or switch to another device; just put away your work tools, like e-mail and your calendar by switching modes, and bring forward all the things you love to do on Saturday.
Genius ButtonTM: With the Genius Button, you press one button, talk, and it delivers. The Genius Button, powered by Dragon Dictation from Nuance Communications (Nasdaq: NUAN), is an easy-to- access button on the front of the new T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide allowing the use of voice commands to control the phone and it's features including making calls, composing and sending texts and e-mails, searching the Web or your surroundings. It will even read text messages aloud, and lets you dictate responses naturally as if you were speaking directly to a person.
Powered by the Android 2.1 software, the myTouch 3G Slide offers a rich mobile Web experience and access to thousands of applications on Android Market from games to location-based social networks to on-the-go shopping and more. Similar to the original, the new myTouch 3G Slide was designed to facilitate personalization inside and out. A five-pane home screen, with the option to increase to seven panes, offers plenty of real estate for your favorite widgets, applications and themes.
Designed by HTC exclusively for T-Mobile, the myTouch 3G Slide features a 3.4-inch HVGA touch- screen display with virtual keyboard as well as a roomy, slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Less than 15mm thick, the elegant design slides easily into your pocket proving that Android brains don't have to come in a sci-fi box. The myTouch 3G Slide also features a 5-megapixel camera, a music player with a pre-installed 8GB microSD memory card, and enhanced video capabilities to make it easy for users to record and share pictures and videos, whether via e-mail, MMS or one-click upload to sites such as YouTubeTM and PicasaTM.
The device's powerful mobile data experience is supported by fast data speeds via Wi-Fi and T-Mobile's nationwide 3G network, which is getting even faster this year as T-Mobile upgrades its network with the latest wireless technology.
The myTouch 3G Slide is expected to be available in June, exclusively from T-Mobile USA in three colors - black, white or red. Customers can visit http://mytouch.t-mobile.com for more information.
So does this pretty much mean my MyTouch 3G I bought about 5 months ago is not getting anything beyond Android 1.6? It wouldn't bother me so much if T-Mobile would just give a definitive answer.
I feel like making one of those Hitler Rant Videos on seeing this, wtf is this? where is Snapdragon? FAIL!
To all my geek brothers who live in another reality:
Not all manufacturers or carriers develop every single product and services with us in mind as the targeted demographic.
A device is NOT a failure just because it doesn't "one up," the last "best device."
YOU don't have to buy it. It's that simple.
This device is powerful enough and does what most prosumers want.
@JoeyButts Why would you not have snapdragon? To save 10 bucks on the processor? Serious FAIL!
@dementedacademic
First of all. The term "fail," is overused. You scream of being overweight, live in your mom's basement... etc.
Cough cough.
Second of all a faster processor does not guarantee a faster phone and is not required for all applications to run smoothly. A faster processor also kills battery life which just happens to be the number one consumer complaint about cell phones.
This device is not targeted to you or other nerdy twinkie eating friends. You don't have to buy it so STFU already.
@dementedacademic As I have said elsewhere on the Net, if T-Mobile sells 5 million of these and saves $20 cost on each (or let's use your $10 example) that results in a total cost savings of $50 million. That's substantial.
That's why T-Mobile order this phone with one processor over another.
If the typical Slide user does not care about that extra power, or will never use it, why waste $50 million just so YOU are impressed with its specs.
Besides, even if this was max spec'd out, you would still find something to diss about the phone.
Too bad they don't have TP2 in Android...now that would sell me. Or Snapdragon (or equivalent).
And for all the Apple Fan Boys...let me know when Apple sells more OS X than Windows...then we can talk.
@hated one
Dude you've had like 50 of these 80 posts.
Did android rape you're mother and kill your father?
@hated one One word: sheep. This is what happens when their users:
1. Can't think for themselves. No really. Talk to your average Apple fan and ask for the list of what makes the iPhone better then everything else and you will get a blank stare with the eventual answer that its easier....then what? A piece of paper? Well we have a ton of apps. Umm half of them are far apps, another quarter are basic notepads and flashlights. Android has more useful apps since they don't need approval from unkie Steve and his draconian, and random approach to approving apps. Think Locked in People. think worse then MS ever was. Nope you guys are incapable of thinking for yourselves. Which actually makes me pity you more then anything else. You will be locked into an ecosystem for the rest of your life and use what you are told to use and enjoy ignorant bliss as the rest of us do what we want with OUR devices.
2. Are being forced into substandard hardware because Apple holds back features for the NEXT revision which should have been in version one.
No really. You are digging yourself into a hole. Apple has made great sales. That is because its user base is desperate for the features that have been on other phones since day one. And iFad sales? Heh. Overgrown touch. Absolutely NOTHING innovative about it at all. People are buying it because it has THE logo on it. That is all. It really is pathetic, just as you are pathetic for trolling. No life eh?
@hated one
STFU and get banned already.
@hated one Apple has made it clear that they don't want people calling the next generation iPhone the iPhone 4G since it won't be 4G. AT&T is not getting LTE until at least next year. There's no way that Apple would be able to release a 4G iPhone next month. It's likely that Apple will probably call it the iPhone 4 in June and then release the 4G version the following year. Keep up on your gadget news, man!
Engadget,
Quit holding out on us. March 28th. Really?
Eww, that's Android? Why would they skin it like that?
Great phone but i hate the UI looks ugly!! I hope something better comes to tmobile because i'm gonna leave sprint because i have to many drop calls even though i have great 3g coverage. I checked my phone got another one and i'm still having the same problem unfortunately :(
comes default with Swype? sounds like a winner...
That's Tom Hanks' phone. He used to call the ball Wilson, now he calls it Andrew. Weirdo.
A7
@hated one Yah and keyboardless phones show what the users are more interested in: looks....that is all. I can type rings around a soft keyboard device. By the time you are done typing an SMS I've sent 3 and started on an email.
Softkeyboard devices are iPhone wannabes who don't care how the device functions as long as they look good. In short: you are shallow.
One again T Mobile pisses on everyone who prefers real keyboards AND a performance device. (Oh and that whole Android thing too.) Screw em. I'm leaving T Mobile this fall or whenever my ETF drops below $125. Enough of this crap.
@John Doe
Thank God. What will T-Mobile ever do without you?
It's so funny when geeks threaten to leave a wireless provider in disgust over a cell phone lack of 200 MHz of processing power.
@hated one no offense but this a post about a phone not a music player. And if you carry around a phone and a iPod touch, that in itself is stupid.
Tired of people making excuses for Android, saying it's "still maturing." iPhone OS has been on the market since June 2007; Android has been available as open source since Oct 2008. Not that big a difference. Yet iPhone OS has a lot of polish and cohesiveness that Android lacks, and there's no way you can say it's because Apple had such a leg up on the competition. Hell, Google bought Android Inc. in 2005 or something. I'm a pretty happy G1 owner, switching to the Evo soon I think; but I'm starting to worry... the Android ecosystem on the whole is coming along nicely but the overall quality of the Android OS is not what I'd expect at this point, especially given the frequency of version updates. Still hopeful that Froyo will address this.
@theylive Really? Not that big a difference? from October 2008 to now is less time than from June 2007 to October 2008. That's a substantial advantage. Plus, Google went into the game having no experience in consumer hardware design. I think a lot of the lack of polish is due to it being spread over so many devices - the iPhone and its software were built for each other, literally.
@theylive
Compare everything to the almighty....
Google just announced they were making android more than a hobby.
To think, this hobby of google's, surpassed apple
@normanb20 what the heck else am I supposed to compare it to? iPhone OS is the only thing in the same ballpark, and it's what Android is obviously trying to beat in most aspects (except openness, where it's already miles ahead).
@Valicore don't know exactly what you're saying.
06/07 - 10/08 = 16 months
10/08 - 05/10 = 18 months
And realize that both OSes were in development for a while before they launched. Like I said, Android Inc. was working on a mobile OS when it was acquired in 2005 by Google. But yes, the disconnect between the Android OS developers and the various hardware manufacturers is definitely a handicap, exacerbating the fragmentation issue.
Whats it take to get a 1ghz + phys-keyboard on tmo?
“Many smartphones are increasingly powerful in their features and specifications without continuing to improve the main reason that so many people have mobile phones — the ability to communicate with each other,” said Andrew Sherrard, vice president of product development, T-Mobile USA. “The new myTouch 3G Slide is a smart and sleek phone that fits into your pocket, your budget and your family life with exclusive T-Mobile features that put communication with your closest family and friends front and center.”
Leave it to T-Mobile to spin not having any high-end Android devices and having their FLAGSHIP DEVICE putting along with an ARM11 600mhz processor to mean they're innovators. Sigh.
@shinkinrui
It is the combination ARM 11 and Android that makes it slowish. ARM 11 @680 plus GPU really screams in N8.
@hated one ok, I just have to say this...WE ALL KNOW THAT THE NEW IPHONE WILL SELL MILLIONS. Me personally, I think the iPhone is overrated, well hell, everything that Apple does is overrated...all they do is add fancy animations and claim that their products are magical...and the iPad, all that is an oversized iPod Touch and Apple brainwashed a million people to buy one...if you're a fanboy that's all well and good because I will admit I am a Android fanboy, but people like you are just sad. Its called competition, and Apple is good for Google, Google is good WinMo and WinMo is good for Apple...its the circle of competion in the tech world. All of your posts, they are really dumb and please next time check your comment for errors because your grammer is horrendous.
@hated one 100% disagree, the only thing that will kill the iPhone is the iPhone...oh and one more thing, in all of your comments you have been misspelling numerous of words, so if your commenting from your iPhone your spell check must not be working correctly, just saying.
@p4w4rr10r gosh hopefully that will make that dude shut up, damn he is a tool lol.
The only thing that worries me is what is under the hood. I don't necessarily need the fastest or best design, but I do want to know the components are well thought out, and the power of the unit can hold its own. Then again, this phone is likely to be cheap.
Then again.. so isn't everything else coming out.
The more keyboard phones the better... I just don't know why they always seem to be paired up with lesser hardware.
Anyways, I'm looking for a Verizon keyboard phone so this myTouch Slider is out, but very interested in the upcoming Ally.
Looks nice!
Is it going to be able to run and update Android 2.1 to 2.2 (Froyo)?
If only they could've crammed a snapdragon cpu in there, it'd be perfect :(
UI is ugly
As a G1 user I can't not look forward to this, as long as it's got more app storage pace than the G1 (has to).
It's also got Android 2.1 which is nice but a stable build of 2.1 for the G1 is right around the corner thanks to Cyanogen so that's not as big of a deal as it was even a couple weeks ago.
I don't think I'd like the Sense UI and I'm pretty sure the T-Mobile stuff would suck so while I'll probably buy this I think I will wait till it's been rooted and there's a decent tweaked ROM available for it.
Wonder what it will really cost (not the fake contract pricing) I'm guessing it will set me back $349, if I'm lucky it will be $299 but I doubt it. I'm sure not getting it on contract the Even More Plus pricing makes that about as smart as playing the lottery
When I get this I am going to take a black Sharpie to the silver earpiece trim, that looks like a wing.
It seems like a decent phone, but as many have said, it seems a little dated. Personally as a T-Mobile user, I've been left wondering where all the good phones are. There sure are some decent ones, but no iPhone, Instict, Palm Pre, or any phone that sticks out to me as something that makes me want to stay with them. The low prices only go so far. Once my contract is up, I'm gonna be looking elsewhere.
Luckily it has an older (gen) CPU or else I'd be jumping on that even though I renewed my contract when I bought the mytouch 3G back in December.
I think I'm in love. It's exactly what I want in a phone: great keyboard, decent sized screen, HTC build quality, Android 2.1, solid camera, and something that doesn't desperately aim for the super high end and fall short in other areas.
Good bye Verizon. Hello T-Mobile. HTC, you have made me feel quite welcome.
Android > Apple?
320 x 480 resolution? 65k colors? no thanks =/
That skin is the same one from the leaked espresso sense UI way back when. Guess HTC decided to use it for something else in the end
I've already decided on the EVO 4G. No need for a physical qwerty anymore.
Nice phone though.
check out this hands on video of the T-Mobile Mytouch 3G Slide
http://socialmediaseo.net/2010/05/06/hands-on-video-of-the-t-mobile-mytouch-3g-slide/
@hated one Tmobile should of had the Nexus One in stores...Every other carrier is carrying a high end phone but Tmobile...
The price has come down to $89 which is much more reasonable in my opinion.
http://tmobilephones2010.com/2010/07/t-mobile-mytouch-3g-slide-official-android-2-1/