With the raging desirability of the T-Mobile G1 in the states, the powers that be have let it loose to T-Mobile UK and it’s due out October 30. The big bonus is that the device will be free for those who sign up for a £40 Combi or Flext plan. Both plans have unlimited data and some combination of minutes and texts to accompany what the device is really intended to do - be a data powerhouse. Unlike the iPhone which took quite some time after its initial US release to hit other countries, it doesn’t look like T-Mobile, Google or anyone else is shying away from getting this thing global ASAP. Good news for our British pals wanting the first device to feature Google’s highly anticipated Android!

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Fresh on the heels of last week’s announcement that they lost confidential data for 17 million customers, T-Mobile on Saturday confirmed that an error in their system exposed the confidential data for 30 million customers. The data breach which included bank account information was easy to access and manipulate online. T-Mobile quietly introduced a new security system on Friday that immediately closed the security hole and assured customers that no theft of the exposed data had occurred. After last week’s revelation and now this security breach, sounds like T-Mobile should spend more time shoring up their customer database and less time pushing phones out the door .

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Known to all of you by it’s codename of Javelin, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 has cropped up on the website of T-Mobile Germany. The EDGE-only device which features GPS, Wi-Fi, 480×360 HVGA+ screen and a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus is listed as coming soon with a targeted release date of November. A lot of you probably remember how T-Mobile Germany was continuously changing the launch month of the Bold, but don’t count on any other month to see the launch of the Curve 8900 - RIM is an old pro with EDGE devices.

Thanks, Joe!

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“According to our information, even though these details have been put up for sale on the black market, there has not been a buyer.”

Yikes! T-Mobile added that current customers should not be concerned as security procedures have been increased since the theft occurred. We sure hope so. The theft is now part of a judicial inquiry with the German Police and T-Mobile working together “for weeks” to protect the customers affected by the theft. Two years later and now you’re trying to contain the damage? Sounds like that is a little too little and little too late for 17 million of T-Mobile’s customers.

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Woot! The 3G roll out took damn long enough and it’s slowly making its way to a city near you, and now you can find out if your city has ample coverage on T-Mobile’s website. There’s a lot going on with T-Mobile these days with the HTC G1 coming out soon, and now 3G is spreading like the plague. All we have to do is cross our fingers and hope that T-Mobile doesn’t charge an arm and a leg for 3G data plans like all the other carriers do. That would certainly tarnish T-Mobile’s reputation for having the most affordable and reasonable voice and data plans.

Thanks, Jeff!

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Yeah, we don’t think so either. According to some 3rd party T-Mobile retailer in Germany, the image above is a real, honest-to-goodness rendering of what the new Apple MacBook Pro’s will look like. The company claims to have some of the machines in stock already, sporting specs that link up identically to the current crop of MBPs. Seems a little fishy, right? Why Apple would release an entirely revamped line of machines without so much as a minor spec bump is beyond us, and the images look a little too similar to the rumored descriptions that have been floating around for months now. Furthermore, would T-Mobile Germany really be the ones to break the news? Yeah, we didn’t think so. Still, we suppose these could represent Apple’s next move, but something must have been lost in the translation if that’s the case. Any thoughts?

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Since RIM completely screwed the pooch on this one (you know, like, delays for seven years?), we’re going to try and make it up to you! We’re giving away 5 BlackBerry Bolds for your local service provider. The 5 we are giving away are: AT&T, T-Mobile Germany, Rogers, Orange UK, and PCCW HK. The winner of the AT&T Bold won’t get their unit until launch since all devices we’re giving away are purchased from the respective carriers. You’ve got to play to win they say. Not so much when you’re dealing with a BGR giveaway, though. To enter, just email us a photo of your current BlackBerry. The more damaged the BlackBerry is, the higher chance you have of winning. Get it? Also drop in a comment from the same email with what carrier you’d like. RIM made you mad by making you wait, they might have even had you think impure thoughts. Now you can lay back and relax, ’cause your good friend Boy Geezie and the rest of the folks at BGR are going to hook you up!

• Send pictures to blackberrycontest at boygeniusreport dot com
• Make sure you comment here in addition to sending in the picture. Also specify what carrier you want!
  
• You can enter as many times are you like, just make sure they are different BlackBerrys
• *Highly damaged BlackBerrys are a plus*
• We’re going to add all pictures to our world-famous gallery. If you don’t want your picture included (freak) don’t enter.
• We’ll run this until this Sunday, August 24th at 11:59PM ET
• The BlackBerry Bolds in the photo are not the units you will be receiving. You will be receiving a brand new Bold in box that is locked to the requested carrier.

UPDATE: Wow, we’ve got almost 200 entries already! But! You need to comment also, people.

Enamored with the HTC Touch Diamond but think that the lack of a physical keyboard is a deal-breaker? We might be one step closer to your perfect handset. Shots of the HTC Raphael were revealed to the world leading up to this month’s Touch Diamond press event, but when the 6th of May came and went without a QWERTY version of HTC’s next generation handset, many left a bit disappointed. Thankfully, help is on the way. The HTC Raphael will be branded in Europe as the T-Mobile MDA Vario IV, and should hit the ground running sometime during Q2 of this year. The handset will sport WiFi, Bluetooth, Tri-Band GSM with HSDPA, GPS, 460×640 screen, 3.2 MP camera, 528 mhz processor, and a slew of other features. No word on whether TouchFLO 3D will be integrated, but the impression we got from HTC in London was that their impressive new Touch interface would be offered on a variety of devices, and we see no reason why the Raphael shouldn’t be one of them. No word on pricing or specific drop date, but given the tri-band GSM status we’re not holding our breath for an imminent stateside release. Seriously though, when has HTC ever offered tri-band devices in recent years? What happened to all high-end devices having quad-band EDGE and tri-band UMTS? 

[Via Engadget]

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There’s been a flood of news over the past couple weeks regarding the iPhone and carrier partnerships. Almost every single major carrier across the globe has chimed in, telling us what markets they’re going to bring the iPhone to. It’s actually gotten to the point we’re we feel we should list the announced markets up to today. Remember asking your best friend to pickup 10 iPhones during his trip to the U.S.? No more, people. No more. Here’s the complete list as of 05/16/08:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Czech Republic
• Dominican Republic
• Egypt
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Ireland
• India
• Italy
• Jordan
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• Philippines
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• South Africa
• Switzerland
• Turkey
• United Kingdom
• United States of America
• Various countries in Latin America

Who’s planning to buy an iPhone when it’s finally released in your country?

Right on schedule, T-Mobile has gone ahead and made the BlackBerry 8120 available to the general public. This model is the second ‘Berry compatible with T-Mo’s Hotspot@Home UMA calling service, joining the stable alongside the BlackBerry Curve 8320. Nothing crazy to report on the feature side, with the 8120 sporting Wi-Fi, a 2 megapixel camera, externally accessible microSD slot, and an "improved" SureType keypad. That said, it is the newest BlackBerry currently available in the States, so if cutting edge technology is your thing, you might want to hit the local T-Mobile store and swoop one up. Expect to pay $150 with a two-year agreement.

UPDATE: As a couple of you have pointed out, this is in fact T-Mobile’s 3rd Hotspot@Home device, not its 2nd as noted in the post. Thanks for the heads up!

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According to an article this morning in the Kansas City Star, Deutsche Telekom is now an analyst-favorite to swoop in and save the day for sinking US carrier Sprint. It’s no mystery that Sprint would be an ideal target for a takeover; Sprint shares are dirt cheap, down almost 50% since the start of 2008. The dollar is dirt cheap as well of course and that is one of the many reasons analysts for Merrill Lynch are pointing their divining rods at T-Mobile owner, Deutsche Telekom. The Wall Street firm is speculating that continued woes may result in further price reductions at Sprint. Because T-Mobile is generally considered the best carrier option in terms of plan pricing amongst major US carriers, Merrill Lynch analysts believe further price slashing at Sprint would put unwanted pressure on T-Mobile to compete. As Sprint continues to lose subscribers and value, an acqusition may come sooner rather than later. No comment yet from Deutsche Telekom, currently the sixth largest telephone company with over 120 million customers globally.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Feeling a little behind across the pond because you can’t get your GPS rockin’? TeleNav has just launched their GPS Navigator program directly with T-Mobile UK. It runs £49.99/year and includes the usual goodies like 3D maps, voice and on-screen turn-by-turn directions, and access to millions of business listings. And heck, if that’s not enough, I guess you could always ask them to sponsor your party…

T-Mobz just hit us with the official statement regarding what we published late yesterday evening. We said that their main data center was down due to flooding, and that T-Mobile call centers were also affected, in addition to the main www.t-mobile.com website being offline. Here’s the official statement:

"Severe flooding stemming from a powerful storm has affected a facility in Western Washington that houses some T-Mobile business systems.  Our wireless network is operating at normal service levels.  Various other T-Mobile operations may be temporarily offline or otherwise impacted.  T-Mobile is working around-the-clock to restore the impacted systems.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our valued customers."

There you have it! And the site is back up, but looks like account information is temporarily unavailable for the moment.

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This could get interesting pretty quickly. It’s common knowledge that T-Mobile Germany has been legally forced to sell an unlocked version of the previously locked iPhone. What hasn’t been clear until now, however, is just how the 999 Euro handsets will be freed from their SIM-locked shackles. Thankfully, the fog has lifted. Anyone trying to purchase an unlocked iPhone is given a regular "locked handset from the retailer. The IMEI of that phone is sent to Apple, who subsequently approves your handset for remote unlocking. Within 24 hours, you’ll get an email from Apple giving you the thumbs up. You then connect your handset to iTunes, and the software does the rest. Minutes later, you’ll have a fully unlocked iPhone running firmware version 1.1.2. Does this mean that iTunes has a built-in unlocking feature? Well, yes, but whether or not that feature is dependent upon Apple’s activation magic is unclear…we suppose the iPhone Dev Team is hard at work again.

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This could get ugly, folks. A German court has ordered T-Mobile Germany to sell the newly released European iPhone free from the shackles of the current mandatory 2-year service contract. This could create serious problems for T-Mobile, who has presumably shelled out some serious coin for the honor of being the exclusive German carrier of Apple’s "Jesus Phone." The court has issued a temporary injunction against iPhone sales, effectively halting German access to the handset. Not tight for consumers who have been chomping at the bit to get their hands on the device. Not surprisingly, the injunction comes as a result of a complaint filed by rival carrier Vodafone. Though they’re clearly motivated by fear, Vodafone made the move under the guise of a desire to keep Germany’s cell market free from locked handsets and further contract restriction, which is a cause we can wholeheartedly support. No word yet from Apple or T-Mobile Germany. The other twist to this article, however, is another piece from the Financial Times who said this won’t "disrupt sales for the Christmas season. Stay tuned, folks.

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That didn’t take long, did it? After Apple and O2 announced a UK partnership yesterday to bring the iPhone to the United Kingdom, it only makes sense that we’d see more European launch plans. Announced this morning, the iPhone will exclusively be available through T-Mobile Germany, with  availibility on the same day as the UK, November 9th. “We are convinced that we can get our customers excited about experiencing the mobile internet with the iPhone,” said  Hamid Akhavan, CEO, T-Mobile International. “I am proud that Apple and T-Mobile have become partners. The best mobile device currently on the market will soon be operating on the best network in the country.”  iPhone will debut for €399 including V.A.T., and requires a new 2-year tariff. Visual Voicemail, and the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store will all be available at launch. I guess we can expect Orange in France to announce their partnership tomorrow?

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T-Mobile’s UK site sure seems to think so. The Sidekick Slide teaser picture just went live with an October launch date. We couldn’t imagine it being released overseas before we get it here, but at this point, anything’s possible.

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HTC announced this morning that the TyTN II, aka Kaiser, aka Tilt, aka 8925, will be available in Europe starting in September from Orange, and T-Mobile will follow suit in October. This is great news for everyone that has been patiently waiting for AT&T’s American lauch. The phone itself hasn’t changed a bit. It still sports that nifty slide out keyboard design, Wi-Fi, GPS, HSDPA, Bluetooth, and much, much more. The Orange-branded device will come with that carrier’s Signature Series homescreen, with special one click access to various applications. The device will also be available direct from HTC, though the press release doesn’t specify a time frame for the direct release. Hit the link for the full run down, and keep your fingers crossed for a timely US drop.

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It looks as if T-Mobile in Germany, Orange in France, and O2 in the U.K. are going to be future iPhone resellers. The operators are set officially to announce the partnerships at the IFA trade fair in Berlin at the end of August, but not without a caveat: the carriers must hand over 10 percent of the revenues from the voice and data on the devices directly to Apple: a strong switch from the current phone subsidy used by most companies today. Each carrier appears to be signing the exclusivity agreement in hopes of attracting voice and data hungry users to their networks; one can be sure that Apple won’t be complaining, either. Now let’s see if the lucky Europeans get 3G in their iPhones…

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Either someone is minutes away from losing their job, or T-Mobile has just jumped on the viral marketing bandwagon. Call us old-fashioned, but we’re more inclined towards the former conclusion. Whatever the case, it seems that the venerable iPhone appeared briefly on T-Mobile Germany’s website. The carrier’s iPhone page popped up, albeit with little actual info, sometime yesterday. It was taken down almost immediately, but not before some clever surfer managed to snap a screen shot. Does this mean that the handset’s German launch is imminent? We’ll keep our fingers crossed for all of our German friends.

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UPDATE: As a couple of our faithful readers have pointed out, MyFaves does not, in fact, include unlimited messaging. Thanks guys!

It’s a fact. Germans have all the fun. This notoriously joy-filled country seems to be raking in the hot new toys. First comes word of the first HTC Kaiser launch, and now this! The Bluetooth Freisprecheinrichtung Mirror III is a marvel of modern technology, seamlessly interfacing with your Bluetooth-enabled phone to provide you with a exceptionally unique hands-free experience. The mirror features a 12 digit display for incoming Caller ID, as well as a mic and speaker for true "keep both hands on the wheel, son" use. No word on just how well it actually reflects things, but for 149.95 Euros, we’d hope that it does a decent job. Call away, you crazy Germans!

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As if we didn’t know already, that the best phones always drop first elsewhere. (Except that phone, of course) T-Mobile Germany has just announced the HTC Kaiser, cleverly nicknamed the MDA Vario III. The phone will be available sometime in late August for an unknown number of Euros. The Kaiser’s specs are virtually unchanged, with the Vario III still sporting the 3 megapixel camera, HSUPA, Wi-Fi, and that fantastic sliding, tilting keyboard. Could an American AT&T launch be on the horizon? Who knows, but at least we’ll be able to import them for a hefty fee. Sorry BG, but your "cool kid on the block" status is rapidly expiring.

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T-Mobile UK has just released their version of a USB HSDPA 3G modem. While Vodaphone is offering the same device, it’s much more expensive. T-Mobile UK is giving it away free with an 18-month contract and only £30 for a 12-month contract with £29 in monthly fees. The Vodaphone version is £49 plus £52.86 for unlimited data. T-Mobile isn’t in as many areas of the UK, but promises to cover 85% of households by the end of the year with 3G coverage. Although they doesn’t say the coverage is unlimited, but gives more of a three strikes rule, with plenty of warning before they turn you off or start charging overages if you you’re using too much bandwidth. This modem works with both PC’s and Mac’s, and is available now.

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HTC Europe has joined on board to sponsor the 2007 Gumball 3000 Rally. What does this mean? Every car in the race will be fitted with a T-Mobile MDA Compact III as a dedicated navigation PDA. Since all the T-Mobile MDA Compact III’s have embedded GPS receivers, this makes the route a lot easier on the drivers. The rally starts from London on April 29th, going through France, and Belgium to Amsterdam, and then on to Frankfurt and Istanbul. After Frankfurt the drivers will carry on to Athens, and the final leg of the rally brings the drivers back to London through Prague, and Berlin. Damn. HTC is also giving away some HTC devices for the normal casual drivers as well. They have a HTC Gumball Rally Challenge game, and a prize drawing to win a PDA used by Jay Kay of Jamiroquai. Noice!

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