Android Attack: First Look At T-Mobile myTouch 3G

After weeks of speculation, T-Mobile USA on Monday pulled the curtain off of the T-Mobile myTouch 3G, the carrier's second smartphone based on the Google Android mobile operating system. The device, the successor to T-Mobile's popular T-Mobile G1, takes a few cues from its predecessor, but adds a few twists and turns to make it unique unto itself.

Here we take a first look at the Google Android-powered T-Mobile myTouch 3G.

As with the T-Mobile G1, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G was built by device-maker HTC. But the focus of the myTouch 3G is its new sleek design and contoured feel, along with a host of new features and functions that best its predecessor.



For example, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G ditches the G1's slide-out QWERTY keyboard in favor of a touch-screen-based virtual keyboard. The virtual keyboard, T-Mobile said, helps maintain the myTouch 3G's slim, smooth and lightweight design.



"The G1 was highly successful and captured the imagination of thousands of developers as the first Android-powered phone," Andy Rubin, vice president of mobile platforms at Google, said in a statement. "With myTouch, T-Mobile is poised to capture the imagination of consumers everywhere, and by expanding the availability and appeal of Android-based devices, they're giving developers a bigger market for the next wave of killer Android applications."

T-Mobile added that the myTouch 3G lets users create a unique, individualized smartphone and experience. The smartphone offers customizable menus, wallpapers, icons and more, while also offering access to thousands of mobile applications from the Google Android Market. Additionally, themes and skins let users show their style both on the inside and outside, making the myTouch 3G a virtual extension of the user.





T-Mobile said the myTouch will be available in black, white and merlot.





"T-Mobile myTouch 3G puts you first, so you can create a mobile experience that is truly your own," Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer for T-Mobile USA, said in a statement. "There's no cookie-cutter approach to myTouch. Inside and out, there are boundless possibilities for personalization so you can put your personal touch on the phone and make it uniquely yours."

Along with the customization and personalization options and integration with Google software and services, T-Mobile will launch new applications for myTouch 3G, including the new Sherpa app. Created by Geodelic, Sherpa (shown here) features GENIE (Geodelic ENgine for Interest Evaluation), a learning engine that automatically customizes itself to the user's preferences. Through behavior and user feedback, the application learns a person's likes and dislikes, prioritizing recommended retailers, restaurants and attractions. Seamlessly blending behavior recognition, a recommendation engine and location-relevant information, this combination of learning is exclusive to Sherpa and unlike any experience currently on the market.





"Now more than ever, customers are regularly accessing mobile applications that enhance their personal interests. Through the power of location and social discovery, T-Mobile is working closely with Google and developers like Geodelic to create experiences that are as unique as each person using it," said Cole Brodman, chief technology and innovation officer, T-Mobile USA. "So wherever you are and whatever your passion -- music, marathons, movies and more -- myTouch is the phone for you."

Designed by HTC, myTouch 3G features a 3.2-inch HVGA touch-screen display and virtual keyboard that orients automatically from portrait to landscape mode in most applications. It also features a 3.2-megapixel camera, a music player with a preinstalled 4-GB microSD memory card and enhanced video capabilities to make it easy for users to record and share pictures and videos via e-mail, MMS, YouTube and Picasa. The device's mobile Web experience is supported by both Wi-Fi and T-Mobile's 3G network.



"With myTouch, HTC and T-Mobile are delivering not just a new phone, but the ability to create a uniquely personal product experience on top of a remarkably strong feature set," Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America, said in a statement.



T-Mobile myTouch 3G also offers several multitasking capabilities and one-touch access to Google services such as Google Search by voice, Google Maps with Street View, YouTube and Picassa. It also offers access to both personal and corporate e-mail, including support for Microsoft Exchange, Gmail and most other POP3 and IMAP e-mail services, as well as synchronization with Google contacts and calendars.



It also offers instant messaging support for Google Talk, AOL, Yahoo Messenger and Windows Live Messenger.



Additionally, users can pull down the window shade notification bar by dragging their fingers down from the top of the screen to display message previews and other at-a-glance notifications.

T-Mobile said the HTC-built T-Mobile myTouch 3G will be available for preorder for current T-Mobile customers starting July 8. It will cost $199.99 with a two-year contract. Smartphones sold through the presale will ship in late July with national retail availability for the T-Mobile myTouch 3G starting in early August.



T-Mobile said additional features and details will be available soon.