By We have just received word from a reliable source that could shed some light on what the mysterious “Project Emerald” at T-Mobile really is. Many speculated it might be a re-launch of the Sidekick brand, but according to our anonymous tipster, Emerald actually entails the release of two “3.5G” devices. What are the two new devices that will be the first HSPA+ handsets for T-Mobile? You may recognize them as the HTC Desire HD and the HTC Vision (which features a front-facing camera), but when they launch on the magenta carrier they will be known as the MyTouch HD and the G1 Blaze respectively.
The two handsets are coming as a “secret launch” with one landing September 22nd and the other landing the 29th. Each store is electing an Android specialist to coordinate with the release of the two devices, with reps being sent out for special training. According to our source the dates corresponding to the launches are blacked out on the TMo calander, further corroborating the secrecy of these handsets.
Now take this as a big rumor as we only have the word of our source (who has been dead-on in the past) to go off of. If it does prove to be true expect the leaks to slowly start to build up as we near the end of September. Oh, TMo can try to keep it a secret all they want, but that is becoming awfully difficult these days (Droid 2, anyone?).
[NOTE]: Our source also says the above pictured HTC Vision/G1 Blaze isn’t quite the same as the one he has spied coming to T-Mobile. We’re not sure in what ways it differs, but he confirms the phone will have a front-facing camera and optical trackpad.
Come on already! I thought we were supposed to have this in the summer. My wife’s phone is dying and I’m ready to upgrade…
So gonna be a 4.3″ Desire and a Desire w/ keyboard?
any word on whether it will be stock android? sense? that godawful skin on the mytouch slide?
Looks like I may be giving up my N1 in September for the Desire HD.
How can a phone with a 4.3 inch screen only have 4 rows. Didn’t htc make the touch pro2. That is by far the best keyboard with a lousy phone. All physical keyboards htc puts out should have that keyboard. Makes no sense to me why they are so stupid and use all these other lame keyboards. Jumping ship to get the epic closest thing. I was going to get the vibrant but remembered I wanted a physical keyboard and t-mobile does not have a good one. Adios amigos
@david the one with the keyboard wont be 4.3, its looking more like 3.7-4
keyboard!! g1blaze its mine!!
good bye little g1 you service will be remembered.
i hope the the Desire HD has a ffc so we can video chat when the skype app comes out.
Slcd or Amoled??? and i can care less if it has sense ui because im gonna root it and put Cyanogen on it. I love one click root!!!
Does this mean the mytouch HD will have a dual core? because early rumors said project emerald would have a dual core.
And more importantly that would mean the Desire HD would have a dual core processor which would make me the happiest guy on the planet right now.
Yes!¡! Can’t wait to upgrade my awesome G1 :) Contract ends on October…
if those phones don’t come out in the uk…
So I’m assuming neither of these phones are the glacier?
Well are this 4.0 or 4.3
@beaver the HSPA+ means it will be a dual core from what I gather.
Yeah, there’s a phone missing here. The MyTouch branded phone that leaked a few weeks ago isn’t pictured anywhere, and that’s obviously coming to TMO. And I thought it was this MyTouch HD that had the front facing camera, not the Vision aka G1 Blaze.
come on someone get into sprint and do some leaking!
Just late enough to miss back to school.
Just to add fuel to the fire, I’ve set up a Web site with matching Facebook and Twitter feeds about the myTouch HD:
http://www.mytouchhd.info
About the screen, there is a spec sheet on the Web, though I’d stay very skeptical as to its accuracy:
http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=2514&c=t-mobile_mytouch_hd__desire_hd_htc_ace
If this is true this will be a big disappointment. Neither of these phones are rumored to be the “Glacier” nor the dual-core “Project Emerald”. 1Ghz Snapdragon is so last year. Might as well stick with the Vibrant if you are with Tmobile.
@TStrangeloeve, doesn’t HSPA refer to the speed of the network? Either way i hope ur right.
@SiLow, dont’t give up on it yet. Early rumors suggested the Desire HD (Ace) would have a dual core processor. I would just wait for official comments on this. We might still be in for a surprise.
please let this be true. I’d punch a baby for those phones to come to Tmo.
they are the same phone; both with have opticial trackpads, front facing cameras, and 4.3 screens. no mention of specs are given other than they will be 3.5g devices. at the event where this came out of only the g1 baze was there. it turned on but got nothing but force cloeses so it could be several things such as the software isn’t done yet, they purposely blocked it so no one could get a dump or maybe it will have gingerbread. so it is unknown if sense will be on these devices or not.
thank you
I am ready to upgrade from my Nexus One to this as well. However, only if it has a normal stock Android skin and not some crap HTC Sense or Motoblur stuff going on.
@Beaver yes it does, but the only chips which support it currently are the 1.2 ghz dual core apparently.
@slick, then you probably will not be upgrading your phone for a while. Is Sense really that bad? there’s always rooting.
That HTC Vision there sure does look like that Verizon world phone, and the pics of the MyTouch HD seems like a Tmobile/Espresso branded Nexus One…Lets see!
If you notice the picture of the top phone was taken with an iphone
Ill def get that Desire HD though, and still hang on to the best phone ever…THE NEXUS ONE!
@SiLow You forget about the second-gen Snapdragons, the MSM 8×55 and the QSD8X650. They’re single core, 45nm and have improved GPUs (Adreno 205). The MSM 8×55 is 1Ghz, so it could be the “1Ghz Snapdragon” which the Vision/Desire HD supposedly have. Not as good as a dual core, but better battery life and graphics performance closer to Galaxy S is nothing to sneeze at.
what a let down… was hoping for the glacier, but a mytouch hd and g1 blaze would make perfect sense. (no pun intended) hopefully one of these is the glacier in disguise
so basically desire hd is for europe and vision is for north america?
Lol… if you look at the picture of the MyTouch HD, the reflection on it, it has a reversed apple… meaning the photo was taken with an iPhone… :p… just sayin
Didn’t the touch pro have a 3.6 inch screen. 3.7 is too small anyway. Whatever happened to the 4.3 inch dual 800 ghz processor. That was what I was waiting for and of course t-mobile once again dissapoints.
I love how people get so amped up over rumors like this…and then turn it into ‘T-Mobile Disappoints’. How can an unconfirmed rumor disappoint someone? Just saying
the mytouch hd does not look like that but yes a keyboard version and a keyboardless one mytouch hd here i come :)
@david yeah i think thats slated for november its called htc glacier
So why is the HTC Emerald slated for Nov 5th? Is it their intention to deceive everyone by using a codename for the 2 phones for sept’s launch as the name for the Glacier’s launch day codename??
Funny how these are “3.5G” capable phones. Regular 3G doesn’t even work half the time where I live and I’m in a decent sized city/capital(Topeka, KS). It took awhile for it to get here in the first place and its wild inconsistant. I don’t care how great these phones are, I can still get a beast of a phone with way better coverage.
Sprin…Evo or Epic…Here I come.
It’s nearly upgrade time! No buyers remorse (Vibrant) for this TMO customer.
i think this is actually how the g1 blaze a.k.a desire blaze will look like http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=2476&c=t-mobile_g1_blaze__desire_z_htc_vision
What happened to the Emerald launching on November 5th like the leaked roadmap said? And the Vanguard launching September 9th? If that information was correct we just need to know if the Desire HD is the Vanguard or the Emerald, ’cause that seems to be the nicest phone of the two.
All good possibilities…really looking forward to this next set of devices from TMo. I’ve been on Blackberry for years, and while it’s been great for email / messaging and general use, services like gmail are rendering BB mail less critical, and Android devices like this are looking sweet. Almost jumped the bb ship for the Vibrant, but these new devices with hspa+ will be a big step up in connectivity. Only thing I’m NOT hearing, but wish was coming, is about UMA for devices like this — I SO wish TMo would arrange for UMA in this next gen of Android superphones along with hspa+….
I think these 2 phones will do well, and be tempting.. I have a feeling though that there is a 3rd phone coming that will have the dual core processor, and Android 3 (I still don’t like that jump, and unless it’s a mind blowing revamp I think they should have gone with “2.3”).. Android 3 was scheduled for that time frame (November), so that is plausible.. I imagine these two will come with 2.2 with the promise of an upgrade.. I have my doubts that the “glacier” name will stick,, at the rate these phones and their successors keep coming, the “Glacier 2” should be out by the time I am due for an official upgrade.
Hspa+ means it will take advantage of the 3g service to the uitmost, hspa tops out at 7.2 mb while Hspa+ is seeing 20 mb and may eventually hit 80+ mb
The Lady from tmobile customer service convinced me not to get the vibrant, she did conclude its a good phone but she told me to a wait a good month or two, she mentioned better phones will be out by that time. Im guessing these are it, they sure do look better than the vibrant.
Like it said…the Desire HD is the My Touch HD.
I just wish Samsung would make a super AMOLED 4.3 inch phone.
And-
Project emerald, the dual band processor, etc. was only RUMORED- meaning that phone may NEVER come out.