150 Ampere

Last week, AT&T introduced a 3G entry for the US market. The device, called the Tilt, is interesting for the number of devices and capabilities it combines. AT&T haven’t given any indication of when or whether the Tilt will make it across the pond, but it’s worth a look anyway.

The Tilt’s candy-bar package takes a deceptively unique approach to the display. It features a spring-loaded tilt-up 2.8-inch touch screen display with a slide-out keyboard, making it look something like a tiny desktop computer when the whole thing is unfolded. It weighs slightly less than 200 grams, so it’s no lightweight, and it provides nearly 4.4 hours of talk time and up to 350 hours of stand-by.

The EDGE-based Tilt runs Windows Mobile 6, and is the first AT&T product to do so. The phone supports Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi and has 3G cellular radios that provide push-to-talk capabilities and broadband download speeds. The Tilt can make up to six simultaneous Bluetooth connections. The GSM phone operates in the 850/900/1800/1900 bands and is served in the US through Cingular and T-Mobile.

The phone features two cameras - a 3.0 megapixel camera, which is somewhat higher quality than the smartphones we’ve been looking at lately, and a VGA camera for video sharing. It has all of the standard applications - document readers for Office products, a Web browser, PDF reader and so on. It also has a slot for a memory card, which can add up to 2 GB of onboard storage.

The Tilt, which is manufactured by HTC, combines a built-in satellite navigator with the expected turn-by-turn, on-screen and walking directions, plus 3-D TeleAtlas maps and real-time traffic alerts.

The Tilt has an MSRP of USD$700, but AT&T is selling it for USD$500. Looks like AT&T may be getting serious about smartphones.