Finally, after a long series of rumors and speculations, T-Mobile USA have officially announced their second Android-powered handset. Initially, it was referred to as the HTC Magic, as well as the T-Mobile G2, but at the beginning of the month, a leaked box art revealed its final name – the myTouch 3G, which is now officially confirmed with the announcement.

As a whole, the myTouch 3G is identical to the HTC Magic, which is offered by Vodafone in Europe, in both design and specifications. Of course, this version of the handset is designed to work on T-Mobile’s 3G network. In terms of specs, the phone packs a 3.2-inch HVGA touch-sensitive screen, 3.2-megapixel camera (although its FCC profile mentioned a 5MP sensor), microSD slot, GPS, Wi-Fi and the must-have features of Android 1.5.

Current T-Mobile customers will be able to submit their pre-orders, starting July 8, at a price of $199.99 with a two-year service agreement. Afterwards, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G will be available in early August.

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The HTC Hero has a great-looking Android ROM with gorgeous skins, and if you are rolling with your G1 and wish it were the HTC Hero, there’s a way to make it happen. We are by no means encouraging you to hack your G1 and we take no responsibility whatsoever if you end up bricking your phone, but the clever folks at xda-developers got their mitts on the HTC Hero’sAndroid ROM and have successfully ported it to a G1, complete with all kinds of customizations and enhancements not before found on the G1.  Accomplishing this feat requires flashing your device and a myriad of other steps, so be EXTREMELY careful that you get it right, or get someone more tech savvy that can get it right for you. When it’s all said and done, you could very well have a G1 with a new lease on life.

Source: Engadget Mobile

phoneArena has published a preview of the first Samsung Android phone, the Samsung Galaxy I7500. The handset looks really nice, although a bit similar to the HTC Magic. However, the beautiful AMOLED display and the 5-megapixel camera seem to be really good additions to the otherwise identical Android phone. Unfortunately, at least in the prototype unit, Samsung didn’t change anything in the OS and it is just another Cupcake we all know. Check out the preview here!

There has been lots of Android news lately, particularly news of new Android-based phones that are on the way.  General Mobile’s DSTL1 Android phone, first uncovered a few months ago at MWC, is rumored to launch next month in both the U.S. and Turkey.  It’s a dual-SIM phone on EDGE only, which is a bit of a disappointment, and will sport Android 1.5, Wi-Fi, and cost approximately $550 to $750.  Does a dual-SIM Android phone appeal to you, even if it’s EDGE only?

source: EngadgetMobile

After a few false starts, the Android 1.5 OS upgrade has finally made it to the 100,000 G1 owners in the U.K. using T-Mobile. For most of them, they will receive the cupcake upgrade automatically OTA. The G1 owners in the U.S. will get their cupcake upgrade at the end of next week. It will be sent OTA in a random order.

Among the new features is a camcorder that can be activated by touching a film icon in the bottom right corner. With the new video player, you can play back whatever you just recorded as well as uploading it directly to YouTube. Still photos can now be sent to the Google owned Picasa photo sharing web site and a caption can be added to the picture. We have all by now seen the leaked picture of the virtual keyboard for the upgrade. The QWERTY board will work in conjunction with an overhauled texting platform with predictive text options.

The second Android handset, the HTC Magic, is available through Vodafone in some markets overseas and has the 1.5 upgrade on the phone right out of the box. The U.S. version of the handset is expected to be named My Touch 3G and will have the cupcake upgrade installed before being launched.

source: T-Mobile, T3 via EngadgetMobile

Engadget and BGR are reporting that they have received calls on Wednesday evening from G1 owners claiming to have received the updated Android 1.5 OS, the Cupcake. As we reported, among the changes you will find is the virtual QWERTY keyboard, the ability to take videos and play them back, stereo Bluetooth and an accelerometer among other things. Details remain sketchy and we’re not sure if there is a certain order to the upgrade being sent out.

EngadgetMobile also reported that a person who works for the carrier said that T-Mobile would confirm the availability of the Cupcake upgrade for its G1 customers in the near future. Sounds like some of these cell reps have a future in politics. Here is the best way to find out if the G1 upgrade has dropped: Look for it!

If you are a G1 user on T-Mobile, let us know if you received Android OS 1.5 or not.

source: BGR, EngadgetMobile, more