This phone is housed in an awesome box, it doesn’t look cheap at all. In fact, it resembles a briefcase or a safe deposit box. It appears to be protected on every corner with rubber bumpers. Of course, the usual included accessories make an appearance also. Anybody excited about this device? Judging from the latest releases by HTC if you want one you better get to your local store early because it’s a good chance this will sell out.

“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.”

The myTouch 3G Slide features a 3.4-inch HVGA touch-screen, Swype is the default virtual keyboard and this device is less than 15mm thick. It also has a 5-megapixel camera, an 8GB microSD 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 YouTube™ and Picasa™. The myTouch 3G Slide will come in black, white or red.

Faves Gallery™: 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 Slide™; 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 Button™: 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.

Full Press Release:

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, 2010 — 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.

It also gets a smaller memory card than the myTouch 3G Fender Edition; at 8GB it’s half the size.  That certainly seems to indicate that T-Mobile will be making this a more affordable device than the $179.99 Fender limited edition.  Otherwise all the specifications are seemingly the same as the first-gen T-Mobile myTouch 3G.

Update: T-Mobile USA have been in touch to confirm that the new myTouch 3G is available from today, priced at $149.99 with a new agreement.  As well as the 3.5mm headphone socket it now has 288MB of memory and Swype preinstalled.

[Thanks Paul!]

Other specifications apparently include a camera with LED flash, a 1,300mAh battery and a microSD card slot that’s apparently accessible without requiring the battery be removed.  The display is an HVGA 320 x 480 panel and under the hood there’s an ARM11 processor rather than something more recent (and swift) like a Snapdragon.

Considering the myTouch Slide was tipped to be replacing the Sidekick range, we can’t imagine fashionistas being particularly keen either.  Rumors suggest the handset will arrive on May 17th.

[via TmoNews]

Also curious is the name on that user agent profile.  While HTC are listed as the handset manufacturer, the file itself seemingly comes from Google (at least going by the copyright details at the very top).  That’s led to some speculation that this could be the business-focussed Nexus device Google tipped earlier this month.

While we’ve already seen what’s rumored to be the Motorola Shadow, another QWERTY handset, potentially giving Google a choice of “best of breed” Android devices it could include in its store.  Adding more confusion to the mixture, there’s no sign of such a phone on the leaked 2010 HTC roadmap.

[via CellPassion - thanks Andy!]

Update: TMoNews are saying that an Android device known as the T-Mobile myTouch Slide (aka myTouch 2) is tipped to arrive on May 17th.  That’s believed to be the successor to the original myTouch 3G, and add a slide-out QWERTY keyboard together with black, red or white casings. [via The Unlockr]

We say “mildly tweaked” as so far that’s all the changes that are known about.  Still, it answers a common criticism of the smartphone, which so far has required owners to either use the bundled HTC wired headset or plug in a headset adapter (that uses the ExtUSB port HTC have fitted to the phone).

The tipster reckons that the updated T-Mobile myTouch 3G v1.2 will land on February 10th; no word on pricing.  It’s still a reasonable device, but we’re not sure we wouldn’t pick other, faster Android handsets over it.

“The rollout of Android 1.6 (Donut) to T-Mobile’s G1 and myTouch 3G customers is now underway. The over-the-air update will be delivered to all G1 and myTouch customers in the coming days.” T-Mobile USA statement

OS 1.6 also supports more screen resolutions, beyond the native HVGA of current handsets, as well as CDMA devices.  However those improvements won’t make any difference to either the myTouch 3G (aka the HTC Magic) or the T-Mobile G1.  The update comes shortly after HTC updated their developers’ handset with a build of 1.6, intended for coders to test their wares on the newly refreshed OS.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to prematurely trigger the new software, owners can only wait for their phones to flag up the update.  We’d be interested in hearing how Android Community users are finding OS 1.6, so let us know in the comments if your device has updated.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBRFkLKRwFw[/youtube]

It turns out, celebrities are just like you and me.  Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson needs his myTouch 3G to organize his hectic family life, while TV personality and “motorcycle maven” Jessie James is obviously an addicted customizer who apparently sees his smartphone as an extension of his tattoos.

Finally, Whoopi doesn’t use the myTouch 3G for anything so mundane as researching new material, checking sales of her various books, emailing her agent or the usual Hollywood rubbish; instead she’s buying shoes and finding places to eat hot dogs.  Hey, T-Mobile, I eat hot dogs too! This is obviously the smartphone for me.

[via SlashGear]

Existing T-Mobile customers can also choose to pre-order the myTouch 3G, priced at $199.99 with a new two-year contract, up until July 28th.  Be warned, though, there’s our old friend the T-Mobile $18 upgrade fee, and up to $200 early-cancellation fees (though it’s not clear whether that refers solely to the new contract or to any existing one you’re locked into).

The myTouch 3G itself – also known as the HTC Magic - has a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, Android OS 1.5 Cupcake, HSPA and WiFi.  You can find our review of the smartphone in its Vodafone Europe guise here.

That includes YouTube, Google Maps (with Latitude and Street View), GTalk and GMail, support for IMAP, POP and Exchange accounts and one-touch media uploads.  However, for the first time on an Android device, T-Mobile have loaded an app called Sherpa, featuring GENIE (Geodelic ENgine for Interest Evaluation), onto the myTouch 3G, which promises to recognize patterns of use and offer suggestions based on past behaviours.

The T-Mobile myTouch 3G is expected to go up for pre-order on July 8th, though initially only for existing subscribers to the carrier.  National availability is expected in early August, with the handset priced at $199.99 with a new two-year agreement.  Three color options will be release: black, white and merlot.

In the non-final hardware we’ve played with, the key change are the hardware buttons on the myTouch 3G’s “chin” section. The prototype has thin, sliver-style keys running under the capacitive touchscreen, together with a single button (”Menu”) to the left of the trackball. The final hardware will have four square keys under the screen, with functions switched around to leave call send/end on keys either side of the trackball.

That includes YouTube, Google Maps (with Latitude and Street View), GTalk and GMail, support for IMAP, POP and Exchange accounts and one-touch media uploads.  However, for the first time on an Android device, T-Mobile have loaded an app called Sherpa, featuring GENIE (Geodelic ENgine for Interest Evaluation), onto the myTouch 3G, which promises to recognize patterns of use and offer suggestions based on past behaviours.

The T-Mobile myTouch 3G is expected to go up for pre-order on July 8th, though initially only for existing subscribers to the carrier.  National availability is expected in early August, with the handset priced at $199.99 with a new two-year agreement.  Three color options will be release: black, white and merlot.

HTC Magic Full hands on demo at MWC09 by Eric Lin

HTC Magic Hands on at MWC09

T-Mobile USA Unveils the T-Mobile myTouch 3G with Google
Featuring Personalization Front and Center

T-Mobile and Google^™ Partner Again to Deliver a New Android-Powered Wireless Experience;
T-Mobile USA Customers Can Pre-Order Beginning July 8

BELLEVUE, Wash. – June 22, 2009 – T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced the upcoming availability of the T-Mobile^® myTouch^™ 3G, the highly anticipated follow-up to the T-Mobile G1^™, the world’s first Android^™ powered device. T-Mobile myTouch 3G boasts a sleek look and contoured feel, plus an array of new features that builds on its popular predecessor. A touch-screen display with virtual keyboard is built into a slim, smooth and lightweight design.

myTouch empowers users to simply create a unique, individualized wireless phone and experience. With the ability to richly customize menus, wallpapers, icons and more, thousands of Android Market™ applications to choose from, plus themes and skins that let customers express their style on the inside and outside, myTouch can evolve to become a virtual extension of oneself. Adding to its refined aesthetics and customization options, myTouch will come in three colors — black, white and a distinctive merlot.

“T-Mobile myTouch 3G puts you first, so you can create a mobile experience that is truly your own,” said Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer, T-Mobile USA. “There’s no cookie-cutter approach to myTouch.  Inside and out, there are boundless possibilities for personalization so you can put your personal touch on the phone and make it uniquely yours.”

In addition to the virtually endless ways to personalize myTouch, plus its deep integration of Google services and the latest Android software, T-Mobile myTouch customers will enjoy access to new applications that enhance their mobile lives. One such application, and at the heart of myTouch, is Sherpa^™. Created by Geodelic, Sherpa features GENIE (Geodelic ENgine for Interest Evaluation), a learning engine that automatically customizes itself to the user’s preferences. Through behavior and user feedback, the application learns a person’s likes and dislikes, prioritizing recommended retailers, restaurants and attractions. Seamlessly blending behavior recognition, a recommendation engine and location relevant information, this combination of learning is exclusive to Sherpa and unlike any experience currently on the market.

“Now more than ever, customers are regularly accessing mobile applications that enhance their personal interests. Through the power of location and social discovery, T-Mobile is working closely with Google and developers like Geodelic to create experiences that are as unique as each person using it,” said Cole Brodman, chief technology and innovation officer, T-Mobile USA. “So wherever you are and whatever your passion — music, marathons, movies and more — myTouch is the phone for you.”

Today, thousands of applications are available on Android Market ranging from games to location-based social networks to on-the-go shopping. Whether it’s a marathon runner who downloads the Cardio Trainer application or a music buff who lives by his or her Imeem application, myTouch customers can find and download unique applications to expand and personalize their phone to fit their precise interests and lifestyle.

“The G1 was highly successful and captured the imagination of thousands of developers as the first Android-powered phone,” said Andy Rubin, vice president, mobile platforms at Google. “With myTouch, T-Mobile is poised to capture the imagination of consumers everywhere, and by expanding the availability and appeal of Android-based devices, they’re giving developers a bigger market for the next wave of killer Android applications.”

Designed by HTC, myTouch features a 3.2-inch HVGA touch-screen display and virtual keyboard, which orients automatically from portrait to landscape mode in most applications. It also features a 3.2-megapixel camera, a music player with a pre-installed 4GB 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 YouTube^™ and Picasa^™. The device’s powerful mobile Web experience is supported by fast data speeds via Wi-Fi and T-Mobile’s 3G network.

“With myTouch, HTC and T-Mobile are delivering not just a new phone, but the ability to create a uniquely personal product experience on top of a remarkably strong feature set,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America.

myTouch features multitasking capabilities and one-touch access to the Google services that millions use every day including Google Search^™ by voice, Google Maps^™ with Street View, YouTube^™ and Picasa^™.  It also provides easy access to both personal and corporate e-mail, including support for Exchange, Gmail^™ and most other POP3 and IMAP e-mail services as well as synchronization with Google contacts and calendars. It also combines instant messaging support for Google Talk^™, as well as AOL^®, Yahoo! Messenger^® and Windows Live Messenger. In addition, users can pull down the windowshade notification bar by dragging their finger down from the top of the screen, easily displaying message previews and other convenient at-a-glance notifications depending on the personalized applications users download.

Pricing and Availability

myTouch will be available to pre-order for current T-Mobile customers starting July 8 for $199.99 with a two-year agreement^*; additional product features and details will be available at that time. Devices sold through pre-sale will begin shipping in late July, and national retail availability for myTouch is planned for early August.  Customers can visit http://www.T-MobilemyTouch.com for more information.