T-Mobile Germany Announces MDA IV - Phone With 3G and VGA

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.t-mobile.de/presse/ipk/mdaiv/1,8228,11677-_,00.html' target='_blank'>http://www.t-mobile.de/presse/ipk/m...11677-_,00.html</a><br /><br /></div>News sites are positively buzzing today about T-Mobile Germany's announcement (<a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.t-mobile.de%2Fpresse%2Fipk%2Fmdaiv%2F1%2C8228%2C11677-_%2C00.html&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&c2coff=1&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools">English translation here</a>) of a new Pocket PC phone -- that not only has UMTS 3G support and a VGA screen, but <i>also</i> has a flip+swivel design, exposing a wide thumbboard. Arne, <a href="http://www.ppcw.net/?itemid=2229">over at PPCW.Net</a>, has found a nice large picture of the device, which I've taken the liberty of brightening up slightly:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20050202-T-MobileMDAIV.jpg" /><br /><br />Other features include WLAN, Bluetooth, triband GSM/GPRS, a 520MHz XScale processor, and 2 cameras (8O) to help support video telephony. I've got two emotions: :drool: as this is the Pocket PC I want (bye-bye MPx!) and :cry: as T-Mobile US will probably never carry it (as it stands, their UMTS network is delayed). Hey, Cingular, are you thinking of carrying this device (at least, a version with 850)? It would be a perfect unit to showcase your new UMTS network! Are you listening? ;) Availability in Germany is slated for this summer. (More pictures and information can be found at the German sites <a href="http://www.pocketland.de/shownews.php?news_id=664">pocketland.de</a>, <a href="http://www.pocketcenter.de/657">PocketCenter.de</a> and <a href="http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/55854l">Heise.de</a>; as for English sites, see <a href="http://www.msmobiles.com/news.php/3551.html">msmobiles.com</a> and <a href="http://www.mozongo.com/movabletype/archives/2005/02/the_beauty_of_t.html">Mozongo.com</a>.)

[del1313]

That's my dream PDA! I sure hope Cingular brings it to the US!

[szamot]

This is LOVE pure and rare! I wonder why this never showed up at CES, perhaps it just goest to show that Europe cares little about the NA market if at all. Way to go, I want one so bad!

[sub_tex]

That's the nicest PPC I've seen in a long time. I love it!

[del1313]

I wonder if it might run WM 2005...I didn't see anything mentioned about the OS

[powder2000]

I think this is what we have all been waiting for, simply briliant, although a year or two late in coming. 8)

[jeasher]

If it runs WM 2005 and has ample memory we're looking at THE device. Now what more can we want?

[Jon Westfall]

Wow... the ultimate device... it would be a miracle. Sounds like I can scratch the mpx off my wishlist.

Jon.

[del1313]

The real question is HOW MUCH? I'm thinking it would be $700-900

[Ryan Joseph]

Oh my freakin' goodness. I'm moving to Germany, I swear! That's the single most beautiful thing I've seen in a very long time! Wow! 8O

[zybler]

OMG! OMFG! Who the hell needs a separate VGA pocket pc and a smartphone now? This one does it all! 8O

[maximum360]

It sounds like the perfect pda so far.

I will have one. (I'm saying this after just getting the XV6600 last week).

I'm guessing Cingular will carry this at some point. Hopefully there will be a CDMA version too and that Sprint and/or Verizon will carry this as well.

Which carriers supports UMTS right now? If not now, when should it be up?

The only thing that worries me is battery life.

[kozak]

T-Mobile said that it will be released in Summer 2005 and will be running Mobile 2003SE or Mobile 2005. I guess if microsoft releases 2005 by the time it's released, it will be on it. But from that statement, I'm sure you'll be able to upgrade.

[maximum360]

Cingular's UMTS/HSDPA network will initially support data speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps - the top speeds of the first generation of HSDPA-capable devices expected to become available next year. As more advanced end-user devices become available, Cingular's HSDPA system will ultimately deliver theoretical maximum peak data speeds of up to 14.4 Megabits per second (Mbps).

http://www.umts-forum.org/servlet/dycon/ztumts/umts/Live/en/umts/News_3G_Article040105

[yslee]

8O

More choices. 3G + WM2005? Hmmm.. maybe I should just wait even longer..

[WyattEarp]

Sweet looking so far, but just one question. How much RAM/ROM is in this thing.

[maximum360]

I'm sure it will probably have your standard 128 MB RAM &amp; 64 MB ROM at least.

WM2005 would be great as well.

[bblock]

I know Canada lags behind even the US in 2.5/3G networks, but is there anything even close network-wise in Canada that this might someday run on? (I'm in Vancouver, BC)

[JD Silver]

Now this is THE formfactor for me! Unfortunately, GSM is terrible here in the Great White North. At least this might spur the competition and push forward further innovation, much like Sony did to the Palm family of devices. This device would be a truly mobile office.

Is there a 12 step program for Techno-lust?

[alabij]

WOW!! F-ing WOW. I am at a loss of words. Talk about beauty. It's gotta be airbrushed. It's just gotta be. Talk about cool and WM2003SE/2005. Talk about perfect. Talk about 3G. WHY IN GOD'S NAME ARE WE SO BACKWARD HERE IN NORTH AMERICA?

Okay!! I'm calm. Europe is looking good for my calender in July.

[surur]

OK , one very wonderful Loox 720 VGA pocketpc for sale plus one very good SE V800 3G phone too.

Convergence, here I come (again)!!!

(or will the God's of disappointment strike again?)

Surur

[jeasher]

Convergence, here I come (again)!!!

(or will the God's of disappointment strike again?)
The only possible hangups are memory, size, and OS, and I'm confident they'll have at least two out of three ok.

[ADBrown]

I'm guessing Cingular will carry this at some point.

Cingular can't carry this specifically--it's only tri-band, and lacks the 850 MHz band that's vital to Cingular coverage. There would have to be another version that includes 850 specifically for Cingular.

Which carriers supports UMTS right now? If not now, when should it be up?

Currently, the Cingular has UMTS in a few cities. They say that they intend to start larger deployments in 2005, but anybody's guess as to what kind of coverage that means.

[wardy]

When someone asks you waht love means!! Just show them this device. At a 100 square cm its pretty compact too!

[ricksfiona]

This is an extremely cool design.

I had posted a poll/question on whether having a separate phone/pda or converged device would be a better option for my employees. With this kind of innovation, it makes it much easier to decide what route to take.

While I think this is a great device, I have real problems with built-in keyboards. Built-in keyboards are usually just too small. I've never been a fan of thumb-keyboards and this isn't much of an improvement. I'm a touch typist, so a keyboard like this would only really work for those 'hunt-n-pecker' types. It would be REALLY cool if the keyboard were able to expand once you flipped it open. THEN it would be a total no-brainer.

I have high hopes about the PDA market. This is one great device and I would seriously consider purchasing it over the i-Mate PDA2k. I'll NEVER use the thumb-keyboard on that device. The keyboard on the IV I may ocassionally use. VGA? Yummy!

Thanks for thinking out-of-the-box!

[possmann]

someone needs to terminate the T-mo senior staff here. THey may have the better price plans but they are sucking wind on technology - especially hardware/end user devices... You can tell that T-mo USA is no where close to T-mo Germany (sigh). :frusty:

I'm gonna hop to Cingular as soon as they release their branded version of the SMT5600 Smartphone (ok - no official release on that yet, but it was a big seller for ATT so logically...).

Wake up T-mo USA - you are embarrasing yourself in the lack of innovation. They could be the leader of the pack easily with deploying cool hand helds (like this) but nooooo.... Blackberry is whatthe USA market wants ( :pukeface: )

[outdoor]

hmm i wonder if they have an external lcd and a speakerphone at the back of the screen panel..... how do you answer a call when the MDA is in laptop mode? Its pretty funny to see how the phone will cover half of one's face when answering without the screen closed. :D

[Janak Parekh]

Cingular can't carry this specifically--it's only tri-band, and lacks the 850 MHz band that's vital to Cingular coverage. There would have to be another version that includes 850 specifically for Cingular.
Right, but if Cingular wants it you'd think they could ask the OEM to manufacture a 850/1800/1900 version. At least the hardware is finally in place.

I hope some Cingular guys read this site...

--janak

[Phoenix]

Now this is more like it! Very nice! Although I do wonder how much of a pain it would be to have the flip/twist lid. I think I'd prefer the dual hinge of the MPx better myself, but it's hard to tell exactly at this point.

Very nice specs, though. Very nice. This will kill the MPx immediately in Europe (providing other countries besides Germany also carry it). Now if T-Mobile could just bring it here to North America. Don't they know how hungry we are for these types of devices here? They could bring it here and it would undoubtedly kill the MPx in North America, too.

T-Mo! Bring this phone to North America!!! Personally, I don't care if 3G isn't active here yet or not. I just want everything else the phone has to offer!

[thunderck]

Can you say Sharp C860 :D I love this form facture! now with PPC :devilboy: holla

[Frank2]

hmm i wonder if they have an external lcd and a speakerphone at the back of the screen panel..... how do you answer a call when the MDA is in laptop mode? Its pretty funny to see how the phone will cover half of one's face when answering without the screen closed. :D

You can turn the screen 180 degrees, so the screen is outside when the MDA is closed, you know? It will look like a normal M/XDA II when it is closed with the big screen at the front and the camera (for photo) at the back.

I am using the O2 XDA II here in Germany, but O2 means today that there will be no XDA IV.... i can not believe it...

regards
Frank

[Stephen Beesley]

I just knew there was a reason that I am living through an Irish winter - if this may make its way across Europe to Ireland then everythng will be worthwhile!

[gibson042]

Well, I will miss all those application buttons on the Blue Angel. Regardless,

IT'S FINALLY BEEN ANNOUNCED!!!! WOOOOO!!!!!
:clap: :drool: :clap: :drool: :clap: :drool: :clap: :drool: :clap:

[Jonathon Watkins]

Most impressive. Someone has indeed started thinking out of the box, and I like it. 8)

[Chucky]

As long as the screen itself is 2.8" or less I'll be happy. I don't care how fully featured it is...I don't want a brick to my ear (nor do I want to carry a brick).

Think about how awesome the current line of VGA PPC's look on screens with are all at least 3.5"...shrink that to 2.8" and you've got quality on par (or higher) than most printed pages.


All that I am praying for is decent battery life, be it on par with the JAM and I'm sold.

[maximum360]

I still think 2.8" is just too small. If it has even the dimensions of the Audiovox XV6600/XDA III, I'll be content. Will all that they're packing in there, they'd be hard pressed to make the device even smaller than what it is.

I think 2000 mAH will become started with these new VGA Windows Mobile devices. Between the VGA screen and all those radios we could have all of 20 minutes of battery life to enjoy its goodness if not. :mrgreen:

Well, here's hoping that we'll see a CDMA version of this pop up at Verizon some time soon. I'm guessing end of 2005. Verizon should probably just bipass the i730 all together and just push for this device. They already have EVDO in place some large cities with more to come.

[Deslock]

Looks tasty. But will it be able to handle VGA DIVX video like the hx4700 and X50v?

[Typhoon]

...I can't believe I just shelled out over $500 for a Zaurus C860 + $210 for accessories..

This probably has only one SD slot. If it has a CF slot too, I'd be amazed.

[ignar]

Wow. This makes MPx and Treo so ugly and outdated.

[Typhoon]

Wow. This makes MPx and Treo so ugly and outdated.

True. This is odd though. I have talked about wanting a PDA like this for so long, esp. on this forum like others...now it has come out...on my birthday! And if you look at it...the keyboard looks pretty typable too! Unlike the C series Zaurus PDAs...

** BY THE WAY, what PDA company makes this phone? I want to email them and ask if it will ever come to the US, what carrier service, etc... **

[Janak Parekh]

** BY THE WAY, what PDA company makes this phone? I want to email them and ask if it will ever come to the US, what carrier service, etc... **
My guess is HTC, as they've manufactured all of the previous MDA/XDAs, but I don't have any confirmation on that.

--janak

[gibson042]

** BY THE WAY, what PDA company makes this phone? I want to email them and ask if it will ever come to the US, what carrier service, etc... **
My money's on HTC (High Tech Computer, centered in Taiwan) as the Original Device Manufacturer (or at least, it would be if anyone wants to bet against them... :wink:).

[Typhoon]

But I probably shouldn't be asking HTC, huh? Is MDA a company? Or is that the model?

I thought someone said that HTC is a Canadian company? lol, if it is Taiwanese, then it might be reliable hardware.

[surur]

Off-topic, but this story has already scrolled of the front page of PPCThoughts. 5 stories per page is just ridiculous, when this may be the most momentous ppc released in the last year. If you dont see the picture, how would you know its different from the other 99% boring same old releases?

More on topic, I was thinking of investing in a large memory card. Looks like SD would be the way to go.

Surur

[dignow96]

The specs seem very interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it. I'm still a big fan of dual memory slots despite my Jam quickly becoming my main driver (a brand new Loox 720 is now my backup). I'm sure I'm about to get stoned for this after scrolling through the last 5 pages of "OMG - that thing is gorgeous..." but I think it looks awful. It looks like it could be huge, the matt color, lack of application buttons, the thickness of that completely unneeded keyboard, just all around UGLY. I will reserve final judgement until I can hold one but I'm not sure I'd give up my Jam for this one just yet.

[Pdaholic]

Finally, a worthy replacement for my Sony UX50.

I love keyboards.

[Typhoon]

The specs seem very interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it. I'm still a big fan of dual memory slots despite my Jam quickly becoming my main driver (a brand new Loox 720 is now my backup). I'm sure I'm about to get stoned for this after scrolling through the last 5 pages of "OMG - that thing is gorgeous..." but I think it looks awful. It looks like it could be huge, the matt color, lack of application buttons, the thickness of that completely unneeded keyboard, just all around UGLY. I will reserve final judgement until I can hold one but I'm not sure I'd give up my Jam for this one just yet.

I see... one thing to note is that the pictures show a woman's hands holding the PDA. Women usually have more slender, longer and smaller hands?

If this PDA won't carry the new OS, then it might not be worth getting... I imagine someone else coming out with a UX50 like PPC in the future when the new OS comes out (if not soon enough).

[jlp]

Wow. This makes MPx and Treo so ugly and outdated.

I bet the MDA IV will be outdate too when it will finally be released in about a year time.

I dunno who said Summer 05 for Germany because the official press release says Q3, and I bet you won't find it in anything better than demo/sampling quantities before Q4 anyway.

Look at version 1, 2 and 3... how long it took to get them...

Germany based PPCW.net even offered the Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based iMate brand models (versions 2 &amp; 3) that were first released there. It took a good quarter before being available in normal quantities here in Europe (UK based O2 was the first one to release version 1)

[jlp]

It would be REALLY cool if the keyboard were able to expand once you flipped it open. THEN it would be a total no-brainer.

We've seen too many Tex Avery cartoons haven't we?! There's just no space for a flipping keyboard (pun intended :twisted:).

Tho it makes me think about the (in)famous HP prototype that was shown around two years ago. It had an integrated Stowaway XT keyboard, a VGA screen (way before the Toshiba e8xx), Wi-fi and BT. However it was rather large and had no integrated phone; so add this to it and you get a double brick worth of hardware :lol:.

[jlp]

WHY IN GOD'S NAME ARE WE SO BACKWARD HERE IN NORTH AMERICA?

((I wouldn't say "backward" myself but it always depends on who you're talking about :twisted:.))

Space, too frigging much space. Japan is the champion of cell phone infrastructure because it's made of overcrowded, relatively small islands.

EU is huge and NA is gigantic with so many wiiiiide open spaces as to be able to do inland nuclear explosion testing :evil:.

So it's impossible to fully cover such a vast territory with good coverage.

[beq]

Annoying Nitpicker Mode: Why won't this unit have quad-band GSM to be a no-compromise world phone? I bought the i-Mate PDA2k (aka MDA III) just one week ago from Expansys for over $900, for a global travelling family member. Quad-band was an important consideration. (BTW it was nice to see him plug in his Asian SIM card here in the US as a test, and have it just worked automatically.) Too bad the purchase is now already obsolete!!!

If HTC makes it then it should be picked up by other brands/carriers I hope. But what about the rumored next-generation after the Blue Angel (the one with the same formfactor as the Blue Angel but with higher-pixel camera, etc)? Is that scrapped, or is this MDA IV like 2 generations after the Blue Angel?

Can we have more details, such as how come there are 2 cameras?

[mangochutneyman]

Finally, a worthy replacement for my Sony UX50.

I love keyboards.

EXACTLY!!! This is what the next gen Sony UX series model would have been before Sony dropped out of the pda market! It had already been determined that the next gen UX was going to integrate phone functionality. I guess its up to the MDA line to continue with this form factor...

[Typhoon]

If this PDA isn't due out until the 3rd quarter, then we should (probably) expect the new PPC OS on it, right?

[beq]

Waaait a sec, how come the linked msmobiles.com and Mozongo.com articles both say this MDA IV is quad-band, whereas the actual T-Mobile English press release says it's tri-band?

BTW one of the photos on Mozongo.com makes the device looks as large as a laptop 8O

P.S. I hope it's WM 2005, as I don't think WM 2003SE has a mature enough landscape support that is going to be required whenever you use the keyboard?

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Waaait a sec, how come the linked msmobiles.com and Mozongo.com articles both say this MDA IV is quad-band, whereas the actual T-Mobile English press release says it's tri-band?
Ah! That would be common practice for T-Mobile. They either don't want to mention the 850 support or they somehow cripple it. They do the same thing with Motorola quad-band phones (check their pages on the V600 for example).

While it stinks for consumers, it makes sense for T-Mo from a business perspective. 850 is only supported in the US and only by their competitors.

[gibson042]

The specs seem very interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it. I'm still a big fan of dual memory slots despite my Jam quickly becoming my main driver (a brand new Loox 720 is now my backup). I'm sure I'm about to get stoned for this after scrolling through the last 5 pages of "OMG - that thing is gorgeous..." but I think it looks awful. It looks like it could be huge, the matt color, lack of application buttons, the thickness of that completely unneeded keyboard, just all around UGLY. I will reserve final judgement until I can hold one but I'm not sure I'd give up my Jam for this one just yet.
It is ugly. Less so than recent iPAQs, but inexcusably so given the beauty of its predecessor. Speaking of which, it also drops the oh-so-useful application buttons and (apparently) fourth GSM frequency band. Compared to its competition--if you could even use the term--it regrettably lacks CompactFlash support. Although many like the clamshell style, I don't. Although many like embedded cameras (in this case, plural even when referring to only one specimen!), I REALLY don't.

Of course, none of that matters. This is the ONLY Phone Edition with VGA. It has Bluetooth, WiFi, and UMTS. It has a form factor that is completely unique in the Windows Mobile world. And to top it all off, a very respectable processor and almost certainly 128 MB of RAM. I'll get one, Surur will get one, 75% of this sites readership will get one, and all our cousins will too just for the heck of it :wink:. Unless something with identical specifications beats this to market or it's priced above $1000, this model will be HUGE. We've all been asking for this since VGA was introduced, and in less than a year, we'll have it.

P.S. It felt so great to finally update my sig for real.

[mashtim]

Is the keyboard backlit?

[Menneisyys]

At last a VGA PPC PE combo...

[Darius Wey]

Cool stuff. A VGA Pocket PC Phone.

Motorola have cause for concern. I can hear surrounding MPx devices quiver in fear as we speak. ;)

[Jonathon Watkins]

Cool stuff. A VGA Pocket PC Phone.

The first of many hopefully........ :D

[Ryan Joseph]

Just my two cents here, I seriously doubt the final production version won't have any application buttons. They're just too useful to scrap completely. My guess is that this is a pre-preduction mock-up photo and the final version will be more functional. At least I certainly hope so. :wink:

[Janak Parekh]

Waaait a sec, how come the linked msmobiles.com and Mozongo.com articles both say this MDA IV is quad-band, whereas the actual T-Mobile English press release says it's tri-band?
Ah! That would be common practice for T-Mobile. They either don't want to mention the 850 support or they somehow cripple it. They do the same thing with Motorola quad-band phones (check their pages on the V600 for example).
Not T-Mobile Germany to the best of my knowledge, though. Anyway, I'm sure we'll hear more about the device sooner than later.

--janak

[disconnected]

I've been happy with two devices, so I can always have the latest and greatest PPC. If we get to the point that all the carriers disable dun for the bluetooth phones and/or make it impossible to use their new 3G networks using the phones as modems without high-priced data plans, and at the same time release up-to-date (large VGA screen, WiFi, Bluetooth, 2 slots) PPC/phones with more reasonably priced access to data at 3G speed, then I think I'll have to switch to one device.

When you have a swivel thing like this, what do the cases look like? i.e., when it's in the case what do you have access to?

[Jason Lee]

it's definitely designed for WM2005. For those who have seen the screen shots we know that it will have the two large menu buttons at the bottom of the screen just like the current smartphone os. If you look at the top of the keyboard there are two buttons made just for these menus, just like on the smartphone.

[Typhoon]

it's definitely designed for WM2005. For those who have seen the screen shots we know that it will have the two large menu buttons at the bottom of the screen just like the current smartphone os. If you look at the top of the keyboard there are two buttons made just for these menus, just like on the smartphone.

Definitely designed for WM2005? What do you mean? Are you sure?

[Ed Hansberry]

Talk about 3G. WHY IN GOD'S NAME ARE WE SO BACKWARD HERE IN NORTH AMERICA?
Because we have absolutely awesome landline coverage. We have landlines to every nook and crannie and if you want another phone line, it takes 24 hrs tops unless you are in a major city with a backlog. So the drive to get towers everywhere doesn't exist like it did for Europe in the 90's. I know people that had to wait up to 12 months for a landline, but with the carriers scrambling to put towers up to garner that business, and everyone sticking with GSM, they get ubiquitious coverage. Drives me nuts too, but there is a darn good reason for it. in 1995, the US had one of the best telecommunication networks around. We still do - until you factor in the wireless part, and then we don't look so hot.

Are you roaming now? :roll:

[Jason Lee]

Definitely designed for WM2005? What do you mean? Are you sure?

no, i'm not sure but what else would those two buttons with the white dots on the be for other than the hardware keys for the two onscreen menu buttons in the new windows moble 2005? if you can still find any of the screen shots floating around out there you can see that the edit, tools, and other menus and icons are all gone from the bottom bar of the apps in wm2005 and have been replaced with two large buttons that each take half the screen. just like in the smartphone os. i wonder how this is going to work with older programs like resco file explorer? it has lots of menus and icons down there...

[saru83]

Actually this is a big step for the inventors of the pocket pc phones. i really like it specially the keyboard and the vga screen. but i wonder what will be the weight of this device. i would rather prefer the 624MHz processor its already there i dont know why it will carry the 520 and i hope it wont be more than 200grams.... besides i hope the rom to be 256, i dont care that much about the internal memory as there is the 2GB SD card now....

[beq]

Because we have absolutely awesome landline coverage. We have landlines to every nook and crannie and if you want another phone line, it takes 24 hrs tops unless you are in a major city with a backlog. So the drive to get towers everywhere doesn't exist like it did for Europe in the 90's. I know people that had to wait up to 12 months for a landline, but with the carriers scrambling to put towers up to garner that business, and everyone sticking with GSM, they get ubiquitious coverage. Drives me nuts too, but there is a darn good reason for it. in 1995, the US had one of the best telecommunication networks around. We still do - until you factor in the wireless part, and then we don't look so hot.
OT: Speaking of PSTN landlines, I guess even the circuit-switched network providers themselves (especially in long distance) accept that they have no future :mrgreen: AT&amp;T sold to SBC, MCI shopping itself to Qwest (and hoping for bids from Verizon/Bellsouth)...

[scoobie]

Does anyone know :
1. What is the screen size? Looks like 3.5" only. I need > 4".
2. Why is the screen size not shown? I checked many sites to no avail.

[k_kirk]

I love it. Finally I feel good in my decision to hold off on buying an MDAIII and sticking to the XDA2 a little bit longer. My only grief with all HTC based XDA series devices is that they seem to waste too much frontal area with the frame. I would like to see that the screen to non-screen frontal area proportion changing towards more screen. Sort of like the iPaq 19xx &amp; 16xx series. This way you maximize the frontal size of the device and give it the largest screen possible.

[maikii]

Looks great!

Does it also open in portrait mode, like the mpx, to be used as a phone. If not, how does one use it as a phone? Does it fold up as small as a flip phone, as it appears the MPX does?

I'm pissed that my carrier (T-Mobile USA) never comes out with these cool new phone designs. Although this phone is coming out first to T-Mobile in Europe, the discussion here points to Cingular as the likely carrier in the USA, as they seem to carry all the new smartphones, etc.

T-Mobile SDA still never came out in the USA. Anyone have any news on that?

[Typhoon]

Does anyone know :
1. What is the screen size? Looks like 3.5" only. I need > 4".
2. Why is the screen size not shown? I checked many sites to no avail.

LOL more than 4"? for a cellphone? I would doubt it.

[yslee]

Judging from the photos, 3.5 is probably it. Maybe 3.8. I think it's about the size of the Blue Angel/Harrier, only thicker.

[maximum360]

Specs from this site say that the size and weight is equal to the XDA III...

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&amp;sl=de&amp;u=http://www.inside-handy.de/handydatenbank/T-Mobile/MDA%25204/datenblatt/642-1.html&amp;prev=/search%3Fq%3DMDA%2B4%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

[donbacardi]

One advantage of living here in Germany: it enables me to get ahold of T-Mobile nice tech toy's upon their release !

:drinking:

[Frank2]

Take a look at the new pictures here:

http://www.msmobiles.com/news.php/3584.html

http://x.msmobiles.com/portal/high-res-images/3gsm2005/htc-universal-1.jpg

Ugly! :roll:

regards
Frank

[galt]

Ugly! :roll:

I agree that this device doesn't look highly styled or sleek, but to me the appearance is very attractive because the overall package screams "functionality". Oh, yeah... the "F" word makes me hot! :devilboy:

I'd link to the new pic with the keyboard open as a rebuttal, but the pic is a little large for the forums.

[zybler]

Take a look at the new pictures here:

http://www.msmobiles.com/news.php/3584.html

Ugly! :roll:

regards
Frank
You probably could say the same of i-mate jam. They are all ugly.