The T-Mobile myTouch 3G Fender Limited Edition smartphone, from HTC, became available Jan. 20 for $179.99, with a new two-year service contract, the carrier announced earlier this month.
Featuring a “Fender guitar sunburst-finish inspired design,” the handset ships preloaded with classics from Eric Clapton, including “Layla,” “Rock -n’ Roll Heart” and “Wonderful Tonight,” as well as singles from Wyclef Jean, Avril Lavigne and Brad Paisley.
The smartphone also comes with a 16GB microSD card, for storing music and videos, a 3.5mm headset jack, the Android Market application Guitar: Solo and Musical Light, and a user interface that allows toggling between different views, to change songs or albums by touching the album art.
T-Mobile has also teamed with start-up doubleTwist, which offers a free software application for managing and syncing music, videos and images between the handset and a user’s PC or Mac. An exclusive version comes pre-loaded on the Fender phone, though T-Mobile customers with other smartphones running the Google Android operating system – such as the Nexus One – will also be offered the doubleTwist software.
“The myTouch 3G, which runs on Android, gives us an open, highly customizable platform to create truly unique experience that go beyond what’s possible on proprietary platforms,” said Andrew Sherrand, T-Mobile vice president of product development, in a statement.
T-Mobile is a sponsor of Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, and on Jan. 20, a commercial with Clapton promoting the 3G Fender Limited Edition began airing.