Samsung Prepping a QWERTY Slider for T-Mobile

T-Mobile may be introducing a QWERTY-slider smartphone by Samsung in the coming months.

The upcoming Samsung handset (SIGH-T699) has been talked about before, with speculation being that this would be the Galaxy Nexus. However, an image has been leaked showing off a QWERTY-slider smartphone bearing T-Mobile's logo.

Specs for this device are still extremely bare. The only things known about the SGH-T699 are that the prototype appears to be running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), and it will supposedly use a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It is allegedly going to sport a 5MP rear-facing camera, a front-facing one, and feature an LED notification light.

Keyboards in Decline

Keyboard-based smartphones were the biggest things in the market in previous years. Motorola continues to produce a variety of handsets with hardware keyboards, while others have decided to produce more touchscreen-based models, and some companies -- such as HTC and Apple -- have decided to forgo keyboards entirely.

Generally speaking, customers today are looking for the sleekest and design-appealing models, which means more touchscreen-oriented products and fewer keyboards, as they add extra bulk.

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