Best of T-Mobile at CES 2009

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	Home / Cell phones / CES 2009

	Best of T-Mobile at CES 2009	By Philip Berne, 9 January 2009

T-Mobile made a huge splash in Las Vegas this year, unveiling the slimmest BlackBerry ever, the HotSpot enabled Nokia 7510, and the recyclable Motorola Renew. T-Mobile Shadow and Dash updates were also on display. Don't miss our hands-on look.

The slimmest BlackBerry ever

Arguably the most important new phone in T-Mobile's CES 2009 lineup is the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900. Some may scoff and say we've seen much better from RIM this year. The Curve 8900 has the newest version of the BlackBerry OS, so it looks very much like a smaller version of the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9000. But as much as we liked that high-end device, remember that the Curve is not only the best selling BlackBerry, it's one of the best selling phones period, and the BlackBerry Curve 8900 is a sleek, modern update to an already wildly popular smartphone. Plus, it gets access to T-Mobile's unlimited HotSpot calling plan using UMA over Wi-Fi. This phone isn't the top of the line for RIM, but we're sure it will be a huge seller.

A fresh update to the Windows Mobile Shadow

The T-Mobile Shadow gets more of a spit-shine than an overhaul in the newest edition of the device, and this starts a trend in T-Mobile's CES lineup. In fact, the second T-Mobile Shadow doesn't even get a new name, it's still the T-Mobile Shadow. That's probably for the best, because when we saw the device here in Las Vegas, we would have had to hold up the former Shadow to its newer self to see the difference. It keeps the SureType keyboard that we've always liked, as well as HTC's offshoot Neo user interface, another way HTC is making Windows Mobile easier for the masses. The T-Mobile Shadow is not a touchscreen phone, and we're glad T-Mobile didn't feel compelled to add the feature. The phone works fine without a touchscreen. Now, 3G networking? That's something we might not be able to live without.

Motorola's phone made from water bottles

Here at infoSync HQ we've mostly switched to purifed water from the tap, but we've thrown many bottles into the landfill in our sad time, so we were happy to see they might be going to some good use in the Motorola W233 Renew. The phone's plastic housing is constructed from recycled bottles, and Motorola has gone to some lengths to keep the phone's production carbon neutral. Beyond its renewable provenance, there really wasn't much to the Motorola Renew, as it's a simple talking and messaging phone, but the addition of Motorola's effective CrystalTalk noise reduction technology should make talking a nice experience.

A customizable Nokia with unlimited HotSpot calling

The Nokia 7510 is something of a departure from classic Nokia styling, it almost looks more like a Sony Ericsson device. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as the shiny clamshell features interchangeable covers in a range of colors and some cool lighting effects on the external, hidden translucent display. The phone gets Nokia's standard brilliant screen, a QVGA display capable of 16 million colors, and it uses the Series 40 interface. It also gets some Wi-Fi capabilities for UMA calling, so this phone will benefit from T-Mobile's unlimited HotSpot calling plans. Unfortunately, you can't use the Wi-Fi for Web browsing. A 2-megapixel camera and an FM radio round out the major features.

The T-Mobile Dash, now in black

The subtitle says it all for this one. The T-Mobile Dash is now available in black. We never liked the silver front, anyway, and we definitely prefer the black finish. It was a solid, if underpowered, smartphone when we reviewed it back in 2006. Now it comes in black, running the Windows Mobile 6.1 OS. For non-touchscreen phones, WinMo 6.1 provides some nice improvements, with a tabbed design on the Today screen that is easier to navigate. Still, again we can't help but wish for 3G support, and perhaps GPS, and a host of other improvements we've been waiting for since the phone's launch more than 2 years ago.