T-Mobile US recently announced their own take on an Android phone, called MyTouch 3G Slide (via moconews).
They did not just rebrand the interface but put in some interesting applications and services:
- a revival of the MyFaves-idea but this time it’s really about keeping in touch (and not about a tariff as it was before)
- Visual Voicemail, a feature that turned voicemail useful again already on the iPhone, now for the rest of … T-Mobile customers, at least (there are some for all, too)
- a time and location sensitive version of the Scenes from the HTC Hero to change your phone’s setup and appearance according to your (potential) situation
- and their own button to summon a Genius (for voice commands).
I find the last point especially remarkable, as changes in hardware, i.e. a service provider going for its own device, went pretty much out of fashion when Nokia and Apple gained more and more importance in the market. Also, hardware changes are expensive and thus economically more risky.
It appears as if the brand-formerly-not-known HTC is pretty open for these experiments (not only to T-Mobile). This is great news for us, designers with some special interest in “tangible”, i.e. hardware-based interaction!