T-Mobile’s MyTouch Q, taking a photo of the MyTouch. Both handsets are built by Huawei. Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired
T-Mobile’s MyTouch smartphone line isn’t aging well.
On August 8, T-Mobile will begin selling the new MyTouch and MyTouch
Q handsets built by Huawei, a still little-known Chinese gadget maker
looking to capture a chunk of the U.S. phone and tablet market. The
handsets combine an entry-level price point of $100 (or $50 after a
mail-in rebate) on a 2-year data plan with software and hardware that’s
straight-up disappointing.
A little more than a year ago, T-Mobile placed its MyTouch branding on the fantastic MyTouch 4G Slide,
an HTC-built handset that featured an 8-megapixel camera. Back then,
the MyTouch 4G Slide offered one of the sweetest smartphone cameras and
photo-taking apps available. It debuted at $200, but featured beastly
camera tech that wasn’t matched on Android phones until recent arrivals
such as the HTC One X, One S, Evo 4G LTE and Samsung Galaxy S III.
Over the last two days, I’ve spent quality time with the new MyTouch
and MyTouch Q, and can now report they’re both a far cry from HTC’s
MyTouch 4G Slide in just about every way.
Huawei’s MyTouch phones are now two generations behind the curve, which means newer apps might not run on the handsets, and Android usability advancements are off the table.
T-Mobile is methodically making its way down the manufacturer food
chain as it partners with hardware vendors for its MyTouch line. HTC
delivered a premium experience, but then T-Mobile turned to LG, a
lower-tiered player in the mobile market, to deliver the MyTouch
phones. And now the MyTouch partnership goes to Huawei, a company
that’s all but unknown to general consumers, and considered a hardware
bottom-feeder among tech enthusiasts.
The new Huawei phones share much of the same specs that appeared in
the pair of handsets that LG built, which were also called the MyTouch
and MyTouch Q, and were released late last year. This is a big problem.
Smartphone tech advances every month, so by maintaining specs over such
a long time period, the MyTouch line is actually regressing — and
that’s a bad thing for all those price-conscious T-Mobile customers who
might buy these phones after hearing an in-store sales pitch.
Huawei’s MyTouch and MyTouch Q are exactly the same phone save for
one notable difference — the Q version sports a keyboard that slides
out beneath the display, making the whole package palpably thicker. A
physical keyboard is a smartphone rarity these days, so T-Mobile’s
offering is a nice nod to disaffected BlackBerry users who are looking
to migrate to Android. Nonetheless, keyboard or not, the phones are
neither good nor an accurate representation of Android’s capabilities.
The MyTouch phones have always been designed as easy-to-use entry
points for first-time Android and smartphone users. In the past,
T-Mobile’s user-interface changes dumbed down Android, but were
arguably welcome as Google’s OS could be difficult to use. But as
Android has matured, it’s no longer the puzzle it used to be. Android
4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) made a huge leap forward in terms of
usability, ushering in a level of simplicity that’s competitive with
iOS.
But the MyTouch and MyTouch Q don’t run Ice Cream Sandwich. They run
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which made its debut back in December of
2010 — this era is practically smartphone pre-history!
T-Monbile and Huawei’s MyTouch Q (top) and MyTouch smartphones are low-powered and low-priced. Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired
Given that Ice Cream Sandwich made its debut in November 2011, the
Huawei MyTouch line shouldn’t be debuting on an operating system that’s
so far behind the times. This is especially troubling considering that
Google recently released Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) as an over-the-air
update to the Galaxy Nexus smartphone, and the Nexus 7 and Motorola
Xoom tablets. Essentially, Huawei’s MyTouch phones are now two
generations behind the curve, which means newer apps might not run on
the handsets, and Android usability advancements are off the table.
Worse yet, Android and most apps run terribly slowly on the MyTouch.
The operating system itself, which is saddled with T-Mobile’s MyTouch
OS changes, frequently stuttered during the last two days on both the
MyTouch and MyTouch Q. Rotating either phone from portrait to landscape
results in icons and widgets that disappear and reappear as they
attempt to keep up with what you’re doing. The phones also include a
modified app launcher with a box at the top of the screen that lists
recently used apps. This interface change is ostensibly designed to the
make the phones easier to use, but because the phones’ screen
resolution is so low (just 800×480), the icons and the recent
applications box look cramped.
It gets worse: The 4-inch touchscreens on both phones failed to pick
up all of my touch, tap and swipe inputs. Yes, the MyTouch and MyTouch
Q are entry-level phones, but rivals are selling much better products
in the same price bracket. Take, for example, the Motorola Atrix HD,
which AT&T is selling for $100. The Atrix HD is an entry-level
phone at a entry-level price, but it features a 1280×720 display that
rivals the best screens in higher-priced smartphones.
As for internal components, the specs don’t get much better for the
MyTouch and MyTouch Q. The duo features just 4GB of internal storage
(although there is a microSD expansion slot), a single-core 1.4GHz
Qualcomm processor, a 5MP rear camera and a 0.3MP front-facing camera.
These specs may have been competitive a year ago, but they’re not good
enough today. That said, on the plus side, the MyTouch phones do offer
a healthy 1GB of RAM, and run on T-Mobile’s speedy HSPA+ network.
Another plus is the MyTouch Genius Button. It’s included on both
handsets and offers voice-activated search and app launching. The
Genius Button uses voice recognition technology from Nuance, which is
one of the pieces that powers Apple’s Siri voice assistant.
Still, despite a snazzy voice feature, the option of a slide-out
keyboard for QWERTY fans, and a low price, the MyTouch and MyTouch Q
simply don’t add up to intelligent buys. If you’re loyal to T-Mobile
and are looking for a low-priced handset, spend the extra dough and
pick up the $150 HTC One S
instead.
Source: Wired
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