Culture

Photos: MyTouch 3G gets campy launch in S.F.

T-Mobile celebrates the launch of its new MyTouch 3G Android phone with Elvis impersonators, confetti, and more.

Dara Kerr

Aug. 5, 2009 5:53 p.m. PT

Dara Kerr

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Skydiver trailing smoke

Skydivers and cell phones? T-Mobile went all out to celebrate the release of its MyTouch 3G on Wednesday. With celebrity impersonators, professional BMXers, and L39 patriot jets, there was no end to the hoopla at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco.

MyTouch is T-Mobile's second Google Android phone. It has a touch screen that lets users customize the phone to be "100% You." It's filled with all sorts of applications, including Sherpa, Google Search, Google Maps, YouTube, and Picasa. It goes on sale for $199.99 in stores and online Wednesday.

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Crowds celebrate the release of the MyTouch 3G

Onlookers crowd the plaza to get T-Mobile $100 off coupons, plus MyTouch-branded chapstick and luggage tags.

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Balloons billow into the sky

Balloons poised to burst with celebratory confetti billow into the sky.

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Professional skateboarders do tricks for the crowd

Professional skateboarders slide rails and do flip tricks for the crowd.

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Celebrity impersonators ham it up

Celebrity impersonators including Elvis, Liza, and Tina do some impromptu shaking and shimmying at T-Mobile's celebration party.

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Parachuters descend into Justin Herman Plaza

As the skydivers jumped from 12,500 feet, the broadcaster yelled, "Look up, look up now!" Slowly descending, circling each other, the skydivers elicited ohhs and ahhhs from the crowd. One skydiver with a T-Mobile flag billowing out of his cowboy boots got dangerously close to the spectators as he tumbled down onto the life-size MyTouch landing pad.

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Elvis impersonator parachutes into the plaza

Wearing an all-white Elvis suit, a parachuter blazes down into the plaza as giant balloons of confetti exploded, U2's "Beautiful Day" blasted, and a broadcaster announced, "Ladies and Gentleman, T-Mobile is proud to present the MyTouch with Google."

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L39 patriot jets blaze the sky

"You are about to witness a historical event of epic proportions," announced the broadcaster as L39 patriot jets flew over the San Francisco Bay (they were flying a tad too low for people to really see them).

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Parachuter in a yellow parachute descends

"I'm just waiting for this guy to jump," said Joe Elliot, a spectator who was visiting from New Jersey. "I saw them setting up yesterday and came down to watch."