You know how you get a free CD or some sample to try out with a purchase of many printed magazines. That’s cool, but check this out – today’s Entertainment Weekly edition comes with a real smartphone. You got that right, it’s an Android-based device which is kinda “rough of the edges” but it can connect you to the Internet and allow you to fire-up few apps.
One page of the magazine shows digital ads with video and latest tweets from the CW Network. Mashable decided to investigate this and found out it’s actually an Android phone that makes this possible. This device comes with a partially built QWERTY keyboard, camera, USB port and a T-Mobile SIM that communicates with the carrier’s 3G network (to show the ads and tweets).
Of course, it’s a low-end phone which seems made for the Chinese market (menu and options are in Chinese), and although it doesn’t come in the real phone box, you do get something to play with.
Entertainment Weekly is only producing 1,000 of these digital advertising-enhanced issues, so if you want a nearly free smartphone you better run to your nearest newsstand.