T-Mobile has teamed up with Chinese tech company Huawei to offer the first Android-powered handset to Europe.
The T-Mobile Pulse, which will be available from October, will also be the first pre-pay Android device, claimed Rhys Saunders Huawei's account director for terminals.
The new phone had a 3.5inch screen, the same as the iPhone, and offered satnav, 3G(HSDPA and HSUPA), Wi-Fi and a range of Google applications. The phone also offers users a full range of third-party applications, although Saunders wouldn't be drawn on speculating how many. "It's something that's changing all the time," he said.
He said that the new phone could also be used within enterprises. The Pulse comes with access to Office Outlook and syncs email using POP3 or IMAP. "The Pulse comes bundled with Roadsync mail which gives a full Exchange client, which can be used to set upsync details every five or 10 minutes or whatever the user wants," he added.
There are several other new features offered by Pulse. "We bring the canvas desktop, that's an unlimited area to expand on the screen. We also have a new feature that we call the widget card - this enables users to bring up things like photos direct to the screen without the need to delve deep into the applications," he said.
Pulse also offers users a choice of keyboards, ranging from predictive dialing or Blackberry-type interace to full QWERTY.
"The reason we went with Android," he said "is that Android is customisable to the user's own requirements - that's what android's all about."