T-Mobile USA has taken the veil off the HTC G2, its first smartphone set up to run on T-Mobile’s upgraded HSPA+ network.
The G2 is the successor to T-Mobile’s G1 device, the first smartphone to use Google’s hugely popular Android operating system.
“With today’s announcement of the G2, HTC and T-Mobile are once again bringing a breakthrough Android product to market,” said HTC CEO Peter Chou in a statement.
The device comes equipped with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and features a 3.7-inch touchscreen, a full qwerty keyboard with Swype and an 800 MHz Snapdragon processor. The Qualcomm MSM7230 processor in the G2 is slower that the 1 GHz version found in several other high-end Android devices.
The device is outfitted with an HD video camera that can shoot 720p videos, a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and a pre-installed 8 GB microSD memory card.
The G2 also has dedicated keys for one-touch access to Google shortcuts and applications and offers integrated access to Google Voice. T-Mobile subscribers using the G2 will be able to create a new Google Voice account using their current mobile number right from the home screen of the device.
The smartphone supports Flash and comes pre-loaded with a variety of Google services, including Gmail, Google Maps with Places and Navigation, YouTube and Google Earth.
T-Mobile didn’t list specific pricing or availability of the G2, but current T-Mobile customers will be able to pre-order the G2 in limited quantities later this month.
T-Mobile Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Cole Brodman said in a statement that the G1 was an “important milestone” for both the carrier and the Android operating system.
“Now, with the launch of the T-Mobile G2, we are re-teaming with our partners at Google and HTC to provide T-Mobile customers with another first — the first Android smartphone designed to deliver 4G speeds on our new network,” he said.
T-Mobile says its HSPA+ upgrades will cover more than 200 million people by the end of the year.
Filed Under: Carriers, Devices
