Since we've played with the Snap (and liked it—warning, April Fools link), and the handset is rumored to be unusually cheap, the two items of interest here are pricing and date of availability. Despite this, T-Mobile neglected to include either of these things in their release, so we'll have to wait, or take the previously leaked July 1st date as fact. [BGR]

T-Mobile Dash 3G Helps Customers Stay Connected to Work and Life

Bellevue, Wash. – June 17, 2009 – T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced the upcoming availability of its newest 3G-enabled smartphone, the T-Mobile® Dash 3GTM, offering a balance of personal and professional connections in a sleek design with faster data delivery and Web browsing via T-Mobile's high-speed 3G network and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g).

The T-Mobile Dash 3G, designed by HTC and powered by Microsoft's Windows Mobile® 6.1, is available in a glossy-black finish with red accents, features a full-QWERTY keyboard, easy-to-use trackball and vibrant display. This latest version of the T-Mobile Dash delivers easy ways to stay connected and organized with voice calling, messaging, support for personal and business e-mail, GPS for location-based services, and synchronization with Microsoft Outlook®. Whether staying organized while traveling or simply staying connected with friends and family, the T-Mobile Dash 3G provides access to the life tools customers need in a small, sleek package.

"As millions of families prepare to hit the road this summer, T-Mobile is offering our first 3G-enabled Windows Mobile smartphone to help customers stay connected, organized and traveling in the right direction," said Travis Warren, director, product marketing, T-Mobile USA. "We're excited to offer the power and style of the T-Mobile Dash 3G with high-speed Internet access thanks to T-Mobile's rapidly expanding 3G network."

"HTC is designing products like the T-Mobile Dash 3G to appeal to the ever-growing number of customers who are using the empowering features of smartphones to benefit their busy lives," said Jason Mackenzie, vice president, HTC America. "HTC is pleased to continue its long history of working closely with T-Mobile as we today introduce the next generation of the popular T-Mobile Dash."

According to new research by Yankee Group, 41 percent of consumers are likely to choose a smartphone as their next mobile device.* As consumer demand for feature-rich phones increases, T-Mobile is responding with an expanding lineup of 3G-capable smartphones including the new T-Mobile Dash 3G.

T-Mobile continues to expand its high-speed 3G network in 2009 to cover approximately 200 million people across the United States by the end of the year. At the end of 2008, T-Mobile USA's 3G network was available to more than 100 million people in more than 130 U.S. cities.

The roadmap also lists the release dates of various phones, including the Sony Ericsson CS8 and CS5, Samsung t469 and t549, Rhodium, and Dash 3G.

Again, keep in mind that this is all tentative, and there is no information about what phones will be able to take advantage of visual voicemail and how much it will cost. Still, if you were interested in anything on this list, it's worth keeping these dates in mind. [TmoNews]

Aside from Windows Mobile 5, push email and WiFi, the 8525 is the first UMTS/HSDPA smartphone in the US. Think of it as a double-decker, hi-speed data sandwich with the potential to clock 14.4Mbps downloading, while allowing you to transfer voice and data simultaneously from around the world. (EV-DO RevA might be faster, but will not allow dual pipelines). Is that a Cingular 8525 in your pocket, or are you...let's just go with the Cingular.

Check out our stunning 3DD graph, and hit the jump for a trans fat-laden edition of the Frankenreview. We eat the veggies so you can just suck out the jelly and call it a day.

Frankenreviewer Says:

Design
"...the device is on the heavier side at 6.2 ounces, so you may grow tired of holding it up to your ear after a while..."
"Closed, it is almost exactly the same size as a Palm Treo 700p, but it opens to reveal a large, comfortable QWERTY keyboard, while allowing for a large 2.8-inch screen..."
"The slide-out QWERTY keyboard has large flat keys that are easy to hit with your thumbs, even if they don't provide the best tactile feedback."
"All too often, keystrokes didn't register as we typed, requiring multiple strokes and making for numerous typos."
"More notable is the BlackBerry-style trackwheel, located on the left-hand side..."
"The wheel also doubles as a volume controller while you're on a phone call."
- Why would you get so much right, only to screw up the keyboard?

High-Speed Network
"The 8525 is the first global, high-speed smart phone, able to tap into mid-speed UMTS or high-speed HSDPA networks in more than 50 countries, including most of Western Europe."
"While UMTS enables streaming video and broadband Internet access with transfer speeds around 2mbps, HSDPA improves upon that performance with the potential to hit up to 14.4mbps."
"Over a couple weeks of testing, the 8525 averaged very good throughput of 872 Kbps using the HSDPA connection..."
"...in fact, HSDPA performance was even better than 802.11g."
"As for voice features, the Cingular 8525 is a quad-band world phone, so you can use it almost anywhere in the world."
"EV-DO phones make you choose between voice and data: HSDPA gives you both, simultaneously."
- This dual pipeline is just screaming for some killer apps.

Productivity
"...designed to be a workhorse for the power user and is equipped with all the features to do so..."
"...allows push mail from POP3/IMAP accounts, and the Clearvue PDF reader to top off the office suite..."
"...the e-mail experience was excellent..."
"As with reading e-mail, the generous screen real estate makes editing Word docs more pleasant than on smaller phones..."
"While the 8525 did a great job preserving the formatting of our documents, we found zooming in and out to be a hassle, requiring numerous taps on the menus..."
- Zoom or not, Excel will always scare the hell out of me on a smartphone...and off.

Multimedia
"...2-megapixel camera isn't great, but at least it's higher-res than previous models..."
"...more impressed with the photo quality as the images boasted sharp lines and bright colors..."
"Sharing shots is simple; just click or tap on the envelope icon and you can send images via e-mail or MMS."
"We were able to stream video without a hitch, though the quality wasn't the greatest. Music playback was decent via the phone's speaker..."
- Wear headphones, for your sake and ours. – Mark Wilson

OS: Windows Mobile 5 PocketPC
Network: GSM/GPRS
Bands: 850/900/1800/1900
Data: UMTS/HSDPA
Processor: 400-MHz Samsung
Memory: 64MB RAM/128MB ROM
Expansion: MicroSD
Display: 2.8 inches (240 x 320, 64,000 colors)
Camera: 2MP
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 2.0
Talk Time/Standby Time: 5 hours/220 hours
Size: 4.4 x 2.3 x 0.9 inches
Weight: 6.2 ounces

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