Get your blood pumping: it’s time for a brand-new phone announcement from T-Mobile! Now get your heart rate down again, because it’s an entry-level 3G phone. All joking aside, T-Mobile in particular should find plenty of customers for its new Prism 3G phone, which is manufactured by Huawei but gets no love from Magenta when it comes to branding. The Prism will cost $19.99 after a $50 mail in rebate (curses!) or $149.99 commitment-free when it launches later this month.
Low-end hardware is finally getting a little more boisterous: the Prism 3G has a 3.5-inch, 480×320 screen, where a year ago it might have had just a 3.2-inch 320×240 display. The rear camera is 3.2megapixels, and users will have to do without a front-facing cam. T-Mobile isn’t talking processor or RAM, but I’d be very surprised if it comes with anything more than 800mhz or 512MB respectively. There’s also no mention of capacity, though a leaked document yesterday implied it would be getting a free 2GB MicroSD card. Gingerbread is the flavor of the day, and the Prism is unlikely to ever be upgraded to ICS (at least officially).
Keep in mind that there’s a reason the T-Mobile Prism 3G is so named – you won’t be getting on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network with this little guy. Even so, it appears to be running Android relatively stock, so this might make a good first smartphone for those on a budget. Availability starts on May 6th at Best Buy locations, May 9th at Wal-Mart, and it’ll have a full rollout on T-Mobile’s website and in retail stores on May 23rd.
