T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide Review - Photographers Wanted

The software design, like the industrial design, is one of the most infuriating things about the Slide, not because it’s bad, but because it’s impossible to use it without thinking how it could have been better if there had been less design involved. The implementation of Sense in the MyTouch devices doesn’t actually add too much in the way of functionality, and it serves to slow down the system a fair amount. It doesn’t come across in benchmarks, but it feels sluggish. The asynchronous core clocking and performance-state stepping of dual-core Snapdragon plays a role compared to the dual-core Cortex A9-based SoCs, but the skin definitely isn’t helping. This is true for the Sensation too, which is why I prefer the G2x (as long as it isn’t crashing), but Sense 3.0 at least adds some significant functionality and value there that just isn’t there in the MyTouch. 

And that’s really my takeaway from this device. It’s not a bad phone by any means - it’s powerful, it’s got a long list of features, a great hardware keyboard, and quite possibly the best camera on an Android smartphone at present. But it’s not a very enjoyable device to use - there’s a lot you have put up with, like the somewhat overdone hardware design or rather the intrusive UI skin. Maybe I notice these things more acutely, because I deal with so many different phones on a week-to-week basis, but it’s the same kind of thing that bugged me about the MyTouch line in the past as well. 

The MyTouch 4G Slide could have been something like the GSM answer to the Motorola Droid, the same way the G2 was, but it ends up being something much less polished. It probably should have been closer to a landscape slider variant of the Sensation. There was a lot of potential here to create a more competent phone, starting with the industrial design. The thickness was probably inevitable, given the necessary camera hardware, but it didn’t need to feel so bulky. And there’s not much of an excuse to have such a competent imaging device hamstrung with such a mediocre display, especially not when the size of the device would have easily allowed for it. 

But ultimately, I’m not sure that any of these complaints actually affect the Slide’s target market. For anyone on T-Mobile that’s looking for a high-end phone with a hardware keyboard, this is literally the only option. And for those people, the Slide is great, a powerful and well-built smartphone with a great camera and a long list of features. If you don’t need the keyboard, you might as well get the Sensation, which has the same hardware and a more complete version of the same software to go with the higher quality design and larger qHD display.

The only other reason I can see to get the Slide is if having the best possible cameraphone is important to you, for whatever reason (and you don’t want to deal with Symbian - sorry, Nokia.) It’s seriously one of the best smartphone cameras out there, but I’d like to see a shooter of this quality on a device like the Sensation - the Slide occupies a much smaller niche in the market due to the added bulk of the slider. 

The Slide’s only true competition across any of the carriers comes in the form of the Droid 3, at least until the follow-up to the Samsung Epic 4G arrives at Sprint later this year. But the Slide isn’t one of those headline, flagship devices for a carrier the way the Droid 3 and Droid Bionic are for Verizon, the EVO 3D is for Sprint, and the Sensation is for T-Mobile. Those are all phones that are either pushing technological boundaries (Droid Bionic and EVO 3D) or phones that are just so thoroughly competent (Droid 3 and Sensation), probably some of the most well-rounded devices on the market. The Slide could have easily been in the latter category, but some of the more head-scratching decisions in hardware and software design mean it ultimately comes well short of delivering on that promise.