T-Mobile MyTouch Phone – for The First-Time Smartphone Shoppers

Pros

The T-Mobile MyTouch Phone 3G Slide runs on the all new Android 2.1, featuring all its modern capabilities and has a complete QWERTY. The phone’s Android operating system gets a more use-friendly feel and look from the customized user interface of T-Mobile, and it gets some additional applications from its carrier such as MyTouch Music. The 3G speed and the call quality are the other impressive features of the phone.

Cons

The T-Mobile MyTouch 3G Slide’s camera delivers average photo quality and the Faves Gallery of the phone doesn’t always display’s the a large amount of current information.

Introduction

It has been a long time of T-Mobile being the only carrier with Android Phones. But now the scenario seems to be changing with Sprint and Verizon bringing in their android phones such as the HTC Droid Incredible, HTC Evo 4G and the Motorola Droid. Still, T-Mobile hasn’t given it up and is back with a whole new handset named T-Mobile MyTouch 3G Slide into its armory of Android phones. The phone might not be as powerful as the other SmartPhones that we’ve seen, but then it’s not intended to be one either.

The T-Mobile MyTouch Phone targets the consumers making a leap towards their first smartphone and delivers the needful. It comes with a conventional user interface and a midrange feature set from T-Mobile to meet the requisites of that that transition. On a whole we think that T-mobile’s Touches have been pretty potent, except for one or two flaws here and there, which by the way can easily be overcome with very small touch-ups. More prominently, the call quality of MyTouch 3G is immense and it has the advantages of being a SmartPhone with really stern physical Keyboard. That said the only problem we have with the phone is that it’s comparatively high-priced and costs around $179.99 along with two-year contract. This is because even the more dominant Droid Incredible and Evo 4G were priced only $20 more. Expectantly, T-Mobile will work on the price issue at some point of time. Come June 2 and you will get the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G in red, white or black.

Quick Fire Features

Manufacturer: HTC
Part Number: MYTOUCHSLIDEBLKWHT

Dimensions (H x W x D): 4.6 x 2.4 x 0.6
Weight: 5.8oz
Price: $179.99
Display Size: 3.4-inch
Display Type: Capacitive
Product Type: Smartphone
Operating System: Android 2.1

Design

The MyTouch 3G Slide from T-Mobile is almost identical to the other phones of the MyTouch family in terms of design and has the same rectangular body of plastic with a slight chin at the bottom of the phone. That said, the phone has some of its own qualities and features as well, like the phone comes with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. For such a phone we are happy to see how compact the phone actually is, it measures 2.4 inches wide by 4.6 inches tall by 0.6 inch thick. Though in weight department, there isn’t much to cheer about and the phone is a bit heavy with 5.8 ounces, but this extra weight of the phone gives it a rock-solid feel and as a matter of fact the phone actually is pretty sturdy.

Hardware

We might have said it a sturdy phone, but that shouldn’t be taken as a permission to toss the phone, after all the T-Mobile MyTouch Phone is a decent phone with all its assets, including the 3.4-inch capacitive touchscreen of it. The touchscreen here is an HVGA resolution, which surely is not as spiky as we’ve seen in Droid Incredible and HTC Evo 4G. Although the screen is bright and clear, but the colors here are not as vibrant as we’ve seen in some other screens and the pixels here are more noticeable. Though, the touch screen of the phone is quick to respond and you also get pinch-to-zoom support. Apart from this there also is an en suite proximity sensor and accelerometer, in addition to the light sensor, but still viewing it in bright sunlight is still not fun.

Slide open the screen on the right side of the phone and you will see the complete QWERTY keyboard of the phone. The sliding mechanism of the phone definitely isn’t the smoothest we’ve seen, but definitely is strong, and the screen of the phone locks sturdily into its place. The keyboard on its own is pretty decent. Although, the phone doesn’t have the same high quality and feel of the keyboard of Motorola Cliq, but the spacious layout of the keyboard gives sufficient travel and reduces errors. On the other hand, you will need some time to understand the diverse symbols, and hence it’s hard to compose messages in the beginning. There also is the onscreen keyboard in both the landscape and portrait mode and a Swype keyboard.

Positioned under the screen are the four shortcut keys for menu, home, the Genius button and the back button. There also is an optical track pad which doubles as a select button. The controls here are slightly congested and hence we had plenty of mispresses. Positioned on the left of the spine are a camera activation and capture button and a volume rocker. Positioned on the top of the device are a 3.5mm headphone jack and the power button, while at the bottom there is the microSD port. The camera flash as usual is placed on the rear end of the camera.

The T-Mobile MyTouch 3G Slide comes with an AC adapter, a wired stereo headset, a USB cable, reference material and an 8GB microSD card, in a snazzy plastic case.

Software

The T-Mobile MyTouch 3G Slide runs on Android 2.1, but as per the HTC, you can upgrade the smartphone to Android 2.2. Though, it’s not known when exactly it will be possible; yet, the company promises to release all possible updates by the end of this year.

Also you won’t be getting the Android 2.1 experience with MyTouch 3G Slide. Though the trademark features such as the Microsoft Exchange support, Google services, QuickOffice, full HTML Web browser along with some modern features like speech-to-text and Google Maps with Navigation. The MyTouch 3G Slide is a quad-band world phone and hence it will have all the essential wireless options that you expect on such SmartPhones such as the Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS and Bluetooth. But to make the phone different than the competition and to make it more connected and user-friendly, T-Mobile has provided its very own custom user interface.

Performance

The performance of T-Mobile MyTouch 3G Slide using T-Mobile’s service was superb and the phone gave great call quality. We got the audio at our end void of any voice distortion and background noise, the volume of the phone was sufficient as well.

The same was the case with our callers as well and they were impressed with the sound quality. They were in dilemma of whether we are on a cell phone or not. Even the Speakerphone quality was good as well. Although like most of the speakerphones the sound here was also a bit hollow, but on a whole we were able to carry our conversation without any problems. On a whole the overall call quality of the phone was satisfactory and without any major problems.

Battery

The T-Mobile MyTouch 3G Slide is powered by a 1300mAh lithium-ion battery. But the rated battery life is yet to be known.

Verdict from Experts Mouth

The T-Mobile MyTouch 3G Slide might not be the flashiest Android phone in the market, but the user friendly interface and the midrange feature set of the phone makes it a decent alternative for the first-time smartphone shoppers.