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The T1 is here. Don’t know the T1? Why, it’s the first smartphone based on a president. The Trump Organization announced a new venture today: The Trump Mobile T1 8002, a gold-plated Android-powered phone that retails for $499. Under Trump Mobile’s “The 47 Plan,” subscribers get unlimited talk, text, and data, and, in a clear indicator of a deteriorating society, Telehealth services, including virtual medical and mental health care and prescriptions services, all for the low, low price of [sigh] $47.45 a month. It’s not a bad deal for one of the grimmest statements about our country since, we don’t know, six minutes ago. There is no bottom. But unsurprisingly, ordering the phone is going about as well as, well, every other Trump-branded venture.
A writer at 404 Media attempted to pre-order the phone for review and found doing so basically impossible because the website, which features images of a businessman happily using the phone, doesn’t work. 404 Media’s Joseph Cox tried to put a $100 down payment on the device, so they can review it when (and if) this phone ever becomes a reality. Ultimately, “The website failed, went to an error page, and then charged my credit card the wrong amount of $64.70.” Thankfully, he still received a confirmation email saying he’ll receive an alert when his device ships, despite him never inputting his shipping information. All in all, Cox, an award-winning tech journalist, called it “the worst experience I’ve ever faced buying a consumer electronic product and I have no idea whether or how I’ll receive the phone.”
He’s not the only one. The Verge called the phone “both bad and impossible.” The site continues: “The whole ‘made in the USA’ bit that is the most unlikely thing about the T1. Trump certainly believes that iPhones, as well as other smartphones, could be made in the US, but as Apple CEO Tim Cook and many others have said, there’s virtually no evidence that’s the case.” The Verge notes that the phone looks like vaporware because it “seems utterly unfathomable that you could build a phone with this set of specs, at this price, to be delivered in September.” Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. They’ll take your money whether the phone exists or not. They just need to get the website working and watch the money start rolling in.
