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Apple’s deal with AT&T was: “We’ll design what we like. We won’t even tell you what the thing looks like. In return, you get an exclusive.”

Maybe that departure from the usual phone maker/carrier situation was part of the inspiration behind the new T-Mobile Shadow smartphone, which went on sale last week for $150 (with a two-year service commitment).

This phone wasn’t designed by a cellphone maker at all; according to the company, it was designed by T-Mobile’s own chief executive, Robert Dotson, working with a former Apple employee. And if you believe the news release, the result is “designed to significantly reduce the complexity often associated with many feature-rich devices, while maintaining all the powerful calling, messaging and picture sharing capabilities people crave.”

Well, in that case, how could it miss?

The resulting phone is beautiful. Its aspirations to Appleness are evident immediately: there’s the nearly buttonless façade, the huge black expanse of screen, the iPod-like control dial that both spins through lists and clicks at the four compass points. It even lights up when you have messages waiting.

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But then you turn the thing on.