T-Mobile Launches Samsung Blast

T-Mobile made it official today: it launches the Samsung Blast, a pretty black and crimson slider otherwise unromantically known as the T729. We heard rumblings about this MotoRIZR-like cellie a couple of months ago, and as promised, here are the details on its big launch date. Its $99 price (with a 2-year contract) isn’t bad considering that it’s complete with Blackberry connect, and when you slide up that smallish 1.31 x 1.64 inch 176×220 screen it reveals a SureType keyboard similar to the Blackberry Pearl. Jump to the next page to see it lived up to its shirt to reveal that keyboard, and we’ll talk about a few of its other wonders as well.

Cue the music for this keyboard reveal, because its built-in music player supports MP3 and AAC files, and you can enhance the musical variety by sliding in 2GB of your favorite tunes via its microSD slot. Plus, pick out your favorite stereo Bluetooth headphones for the listening experience, and oh yeah, it does make phone calls with quad band world phone technology, along with the usual GSM/GPRS/EDGE network connectivity. T-Mobile says it will be available in early August at select T-Mobile retail stores and online, too. Not too shabby for 99 bucks, T-Mo. [T-Mobile]