T-Mobile officially announced their next Android-powered handset, the myTouch 3G Slide, a Google Android 2.1 handset with a slide-out QWERTY keypad and a unique Genius button for voice-activated functions.
The T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide appears to be an incremental upgrade to the currently available myTouch 3G in the form of three hardware changes: the camera sensor is bumped up to 5 megapixels, the old trackball is replaced by a new optical trackpad and of course, there’s that sliding hardware keyboard. But the software functionality of the myTouch 3G Slide makes clear that this upgrade is more than just incremental.
Features of the myTouch 3G Slide include a slide-out QWERTY keyboard as pictured above along with a 3.4 inch HVGA touchscreen. The OS running on the Slide is Android 2.1 from Google [GOOG] bringing it up to date (at least for now) in terms of versions running. The phone it’s self measures 4.55 x 2.37 x 0.6 inches and weighs 5.8 ounces. For connectivity it has wireless that connects up to 802.11 b/g networks. Cell wise it can connect up to GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks along with 3G UMTS/HSPA bands I & IV.
Control wise the touchscreen is used primarily along with an optical joy stick found below the screen. Also below the screen four buttons can be found which include home, menu and back as well as the genious button. another feature on the phone is myModes that allows you to switch the theme of your smartphone by location, time or manually allowing you to easily switch out of business mode when needed.
The Genius Button activates software that is powered by Dragon Dictation. A green light flashes when a message arrives. Information from social networks or messaging services can be put in a single widget and put on the homescreen. Some of the features built in to the 2.1 build of Android include a Faves Gallery that allows you to connect with 20 of your closest contacts easily.
The myTouch 3G Slide’s radio is capable of theoretical 7.2 Mbps downloads and supports T-Mobile’s 21 Mbps HSPA+ network — currently implemented in Philadelphia, parts of Las Vegas, New York City, New Jersey, Long Island, and Washington, D.C. T-mobile my Touch Slide will be available in store in June with 3 colors ; Red,White and Black. T-Mobile won’t spill on pricing now, but I’d be kind of surprised if it was more than $130, given the target audience and specs.
