T-Mobile To Begin Selling New Smartphones From LG, Samsung This Month

T-Mobile informed customers via Twitter that the LG-built, T-Mobile-operated G2X smartphone is scheduled to be available in the carrier’s retail stores on April 20 for a starting price of $199.99, with a two-year contract. T-Mobile, in a separate Twitter post, said it will begin selling the Sidekick 4G smartphone from Samsung on the same date.

LG showcased its Optimus G2X at CES 2011 in Las Vegas in January. The phone will be available for pre-order starting next Friday, April 15.

The Optimus G2X runs on Google’s Android 2.2 operating system and a 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor that includes built-in GPU capability, and comes with a 4-inch WVGA display, an 8-megapixel camera facing the back of the phone, and a 1.3-megapixel camera facing the front. LG’s Optimus G2X is 4G-capable and runs at up to 14.4Mbps, according to T-Mobile. It features 8GB of internal memory, an HDMI port, and full 1080p HD video playback and recording capabilities.

According to a report from ComputerWorld on Friday, T-Mobile’s G2X smartphone will receive an Android 2.3 update some time this summer. Codenamed Gingerbread, Google’s operating system for mobile handhelds is available on other devices, however G2 users have had to modify their units in order to run the Android 2.3 platform.

T-Mobile says its Sidekick 4G device runs on Samsung’s own 1-GHz Hummingbird processor and features a 3.5-inch touchscreen with a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera. According to T-Mobile, the Sidekick 4G device achieves download speeds of up to 21 Mbps on the carrier’s 4G network.