T-Mobile Announces Its Second Android Phone

T-Mobile has made no secret of the fact that it plans to launch a second Google Android-based smartphone this summer, but details on the phone itself have been scarce. Not anymore, though. T-Mobile today made it official: Its second Android phone will be the T-Mobile myTouch 3G.

Existing T-Mobile customers will be able to pre-order the myTouch starting July 8, and it will be available in early August. The myTouch will cost $199.99 when signing a two-year service agreement. That's $20 more than the T-Mobile G1, the company's first Android-based smartphone, cost at launch.

Like the T-Mobile G1, the myTouch is made by HTC. The myTouch is essentially a renamed version of the HTC Magic, an Android-based smartphone that's already available in Europe. The touch-screen phone lacks the hardware-based QWERTY keyboard found on the G1, which may turn off some users who don't like having to rely only on software-based keyboards. But the tradeoff is a sleeker, more attractive design, which could attract some shoppers who were turned off by the G1's boxy, bulky look.

The myTouch also will feature a 3.2-megapixel camera, support for T-Mobile's 3G network, and the ability to customize the interior and exterior of the phone through a variety of themes and skins (something the iPhone, for one, lacks). For a full overview of all the features available in the myTouch 3G, read my profile of the HTC Magic.

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