T-Mobile takes on i-mode with web 'n' walk

T-Mobile has launched its own mobile internet service, web 'n' walk, and has confirmed it will be introducing HSDPA - high speed mobile broadband - to its subscribers from next year.

Despite launching its internet service within days of O2's i-mode debut, T-Mobile is opting for an open access service, rather than the walled garden approach favoured by O2 and recently ditched by 3.

Alongside a Google homepage will be the usual suspects of email and IM, with a 'child lock' to stop kids accessing adult content. Anyone over 18 can request the lock be removed.

To accompany web 'n' walk, T-Mobile will be releasing eight new handsets by Christmas including the Paris Hilton 'hack' phone, the Sidekick, and a 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi combo, the MDA Pro.

The MDA Pro will run on the latest Redmond OS for mobiles, Windows Mobile 5.0 and other handsets will feature an Opera browser for mobiles.

According to a T-Mobile spokesman, access speeds will be around 384Kbps.

But customers should get a boost in 2006, when T-Mobile's group CTO Hamid Akhavan says the company will introduce HSDPA, which offers speeds of up to 1.8Mbps.