Confirmed!! Motorola Sholes “MotoRoi” will arrive soon with T-Mobile 3G bands
Yes T-Mobile users, we had confirmed that the new Motorola device that just passed FCC few weeks ago carrying WCDMA AWS T-Mobile 3G bands (1700/2100) bands is the Motorola Sholes.
Context & Ripple Effects
This closes out a leak cycle that has run since mid-2009: Motorola Morrison specs surfaced as the next T-Mobile Android phone back in August, followed in September by revealed specs for the Motorola MB200 and MB300, painting a picture of Motorola rebuilding on Android across every US carrier at once.
The FCC filing carrying WCDMA AWS 1700/2100 bands was the tell — those are T-Mobile's 3G frequencies, not Verizon's — so today's confirmation that the Sholes (dubbed MotoRoi) is bound for T-Mobile turns a hardware rumor into a launch-track fact, with Engadget picking up the same FCC-based read within a day. For T-Mobile it means a second major Motorola Android handset in its pipeline rather than a one-off.
First-order effects
- T-Mobile gains a confirmed Motorola flagship tuned to its AWS 3G network, addressing the carrier's chronic shortage of top-tier Android hardware from manufacturers that default to Verizon and AT&T variants.
- Motorola extends its multi-carrier Android strategy: the Sholes line now spans at least two US carriers, meaning shared R&D and component costs across CDMA/EVDO and WCDMA/AWS builds.
Second-order effects
- HTC and Samsung face pressure to match Motorola's per-carrier cadence on T-Mobile, since the Morrison and MB200/MB300 leaks show Motorola committing multiple devices where rivals have offered fewer.
- FCC filings become an even stronger pre-announcement signal for carrier launches — band configurations in filings effectively leak carrier partnerships before either company confirms them, as this story demonstrates.
Third-order effects
- If Motorola sustains the pattern of near-simultaneous flagship variants per carrier, US Android distribution consolidates around carrier-exclusive SKUs rather than universal handsets, deepening the fragmentation carriers already profit from.
- The FCC's certification pipeline hardens into de facto launch journalism — band data in filings substitutes for corporate announcements, which raises the stakes in ongoing FCC proceedings over disclosure and network openness.
The trend: Motorola's Android comeback rests on shipping the same flagship silicon retuned per carrier, with FCC band filings telegraphing each partnership weeks before confirmation.