'Phones start shipping this week!!!' The long-promised Trump Mobile Phone is slated to arrive in consumers' hands this week — and we'll believe it when we see it | Tech Radar
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'Phones start shipping this week!!!' The long-promised Trump Mobile Phone is slated to arrive in consumers' hands this week — and we'll believe it when we see it
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Trump Mobile announces it's shipping phones this week
A new video gives a glimpse of the retro-looking device
The Trump Mobile T1 Gold phone will arrive in consumers' hands this week. That's right, the long-promised yet never-delivered gold Android handset, prominently featuring an American Flag and the Trump name is a real product, and now the company is promising, in a Facebook post, delivery to customers who started pre-ordering almost a year ago.
The actual wording on the post was a bit less tempered: "'Phones start shipping this week!!!'
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A deposit on the phone "is not a purchase, does not constitute acceptance of an order, does not create a contract for sale, does not transfer ownership or title interest, does not allocate or reserve specific inventory, and does not guarantee that a device will be produced or made available for purchase.”
That, though, turns out to be just some cover-the-bases language from Trump Mobile lawyers. If, for some reason, the T1 Gold never shipped, Trump Mobile would not be held liable. Of course, that wouldn't protect the cellular upstart from angry customers.
Now, though, perhaps those who paid a $100 deposit for the aurum-hued device are smiling. Their long-awaited handset, which will run on Trump Mobile's MVNO, "has arrived!!" according to the Facebook post.
Assuming that Trump Mobile delivers (a sizable assumption, to be sure), it's been quite a journey for the T1, which started out almost a year ago with a different look and the promise that it would be made in America. Trump Mobile, however, quickly realized the realities or limits of American mobile technology manufacturing, and updated the site to say that the Android phone would be "American Proud Design."
In April of this year, the site quietly unveiled a new Trump Mobile T1 Gold design. Gone was the i Phone-aping look and feel, replaced with an aesthetic that would have been right at home in 2012.
Even today, Trump Mobile remains short (at least on the surface) on specifics. Here's how it lists the specs on the main pages:
50 MP Main + 8MP Wide + 50MP (2X Tele) Camera + 50MP Front Camera
Details, though, reveal that it's inexplicably an Android 15 phone running a last-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 7. It also still has a 3.5 mm headphone jack, which, depending on your perspective, may or may not be one of the few positive specs on offer.
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It's remarkable that, given all this time, Trump Mobile still can't deliver a fully modern handset. Of course, that's not why thousands plunked down a deposit for the $499 phone. They're buying the Trump name and other intangibles. As the video notes, the phone is "designed for performance, reliability, and real American value." And even though this supposedly has no affiliation with the US's 47th president, it does feature his favorite material (gold), and the mobile plan on offer is called "47".
At least the Facebook video gives us our first, clear, and full look at the phone. We can see details like the SIM slot (we're betting e SIM support is not included), USB-C port, speakers, and the Trump Mobile Camera bump.
This is, by the way, one of the rare new phones to still ship with a charging brick (and cable, of course), and even its own clear case. Score a few points for actual value.
It's Wednesday, May 13, as I write this, which gives Trump Mobile a few days to deliver on its promise — and who knows, some customers may have the phones right now.
Let us know in the comments if you got yours and, if so, describe the unboxing and early experiences. We're all ears.
A 38-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and “on line” meant “waiting.” He’s a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade.
Lance Ulanoff makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Mark, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC.
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