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Prepaid T-Mobile Sparq comes with QWERTY

The Alcatel-made T-Mobile Sparq is a QWERTY feature phone for those looking for the utmost in simple keybaord communication.

Jessica Dolcourt Senior Director, Commerce & Content Operations
Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).
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Even before T-Mobile moved to a contract-free model, the T-Mobile Sparq was a prepaid phone offering its slider QWERTY keyboard services to anyone looking for a feature phone for longer-term ownership.

The Sparq's slide-out keyboard is its most distinguishing feature, but the black, Alcatel-made handset also has a VGA camera, FM radio, Facebook, Twitter, and the Opera Mini browser. It also gives you 32MB internal storage and has a microSD card slot that holds up to 8GB more.

Physically, the Sparq has a 2.2-inch QVGA display (240x320-pixel resolution,) and stands 4.3 inches tall by 2 inches wide by a meaty 0.7-inch thick. It comes in at 3.9 ounces on the scale. Its tiny 670mAh battery is still capable of giving you 11 hours of rated talk time and 20.8 days of standby time.

The Sparq costs $82.00 full retail, but you can find it for less if you scour your online resources.