As it turns out, the HTC Maple, now cooperatively known as the “Snap,” isn’t going to be for T-mobile after all. Sascha Segan over at PCMag points out that after the HTC unveiling of this device, the Dash successor, isn’t going to hit T-mobile after all. At least not if the 3G bands announced have anything to do with it:
“…HTC’s two Snap models have their 3G on the 850/1,900-MHz and 900/2,100-MHz bands, neither of which are compatible with T-Mobile (which runs its 3G on the 1,700-MHz band.) “
As Segan further points out, this gives the phone a launching position on AT&T where it will just be another qwerty face in the crowd. T-mobile on the other hand, could really use another 3G device (especially the full keyboard kind), where the heaviest competition would come from the Blackberry 8900. We had thoughts a T-mobile announcement was in store for this device at CTIA, but I suppose HTC has other plans.
I hate to say that I am truly not disappointed that T-mobile didn’t score this device (that keyboard is FUGLY), yet it would of course, been nice to have the device in the lineup, it’ll never make the top of my shopping. Still, if you’re truly in love with it, all hope is not lost, a T-mobile branded variant could still be waiting quietly in the wings somewhere, but I wouldn’t lose sleep over that.