Xperia X1 to Come to T-Mobile? Where is it, Anyway?

By WC Staff
last updated

The Xperia X1a (aka the version with the North American bands) has been wicked difficult to get. Rumor has it that it was being held back for some reason after an initial shipment. Maybe it's the just-mentioned cracks, maybe it's the ROM, maybe it's that any association with Best Buy is a curse. With regard to that last point, Best Buy is cancelling the preorders they took earlier this year (ours included) because they “cannot get stock.”

So yeah, a lot of bad news. Here's some potentially good news, though. We already knew that Canadian carrier Rogers is picking up the Xperia X1 next year, but check out what pocketnow noticed: the bands listed for the X1 are “HSPA 850/1700/1900/2100.” That, friends, is the kind of 3G that T-Mobile users can get jiggy with -- and if any carrier is so retro as to 'get jiggy' with anything, it's T-Mobile.

Anyway, tell us: are you still holding out for the X1a or have you relented and gone for a Touch Pro/Fuze?

WC Staff
WC Staff
1 Comment
  • There's already a lot of "proof" that the X1 "may" be coming to T-mobile. But this could be just another "typo" that later gets corrected, just as SE removed UMTS 1700 from the X1 spec sheet and has not confirmed 1700mhz compatability at all, and there's no evidence to suggest this is any different.
    There are even some people who have received pre-production X1 units that have a "UMTS (1700)" option listed in the WinMo bands selection config, but the hardware simply isn't there.
    One critical thing a lot of people are missing is that T-mobile US is not the only carrier that operates UMTS 1700. Carrier e-Mobile in Japan also runs UMTS 1700, and has already released a handful of "UMTS 1700" WinMo handsets. However their band is specifically the UMTS band IX which is not compatible with T-mobile's UMTS band IV. If Sony Ericsson looses a UMTS-IX Xperia, there will indeed be a "UMTS 1700" X1, but there is absolutely no guarantee it will work on T-mobile's UMTS-IV.
    Moreover, e-Mobile runs exclusively a UMTS 1700 network (no 2100mhz, and no GSM), which corroborates the "UMTS (1700)" band config option. For a Tmo-compatible release, I would expect a "UMTS (1700/2100) & GSM (850/1900)" option.
    With all the confusion and press release errors, the only way to know for sure if there will be an Xperia with hardware that works on Tmo 3G is to see official "UMTS IV" compatability. Seeing only "UMTS 1700" could be just an oversight/error and still doesn't guarantee compatability with Tmo 3G even if it's true.