T-Mobile G3 rumors heat up
Speculation has begun for the latest entry in T-Mobile's Android series. Could it arrive in time for the four-year anniversary of the G1?
T-Mobile could be readying a new model for its "G" series of Android smartphones, according to speculation hitting the Internet this week.
Unofficial T-Mobile blog TmoNews advises that an HTC Era 42 will arrive on the carrier's network in late September. There are no additional details to share yet, including pricing, form factor, or hardware, so at this point, it's all rumors and conjecture. But they're fairly logical rumors and conjecture.
As many longtime Android faithful know, a September 26 release would fall nearly two years to the day since the release of the G2. Going back even further, it's almost exactly four years removed from the debut of the first-ever Android smartphone, the G1. If T-Mobile were cooking up a successor in the G series of devices, the fall time frame would make sense.
The Era 42 codename could be considered a hint that the handset would be a 4G variant of the original Android. You'd have to go back to 2008 to recall this, but the G1 was known as the HTC Era G1 in select parts of Europe. It's not much of a stretch to consider that the Era 42 is simply code for a G1-esque device with 42Mbps HSPA+ support.
As for the design of the presumed G3, reports suggest that we could see HTC return to a physical QWERTY keyboard. It's been a while since anyone outside of Motorola has put together a high-end Android QWERTY so it's difficult to say how much veracity there is to this rumor.
What's more, some outlets are advising that this model would be a stock Android experience, likely 4.1 Jelly Bean. Considering how often this happens outside of the Nexus series of devices, I would not hold my breath on this one.
Just for giggles, I'd like to remind everyone that there are whispers that Google is working with up to five partners for the Nexus series this fall. Perhaps this might be HTC's new take on the Nexus?
How does a physical QWERTY keyboard sound to you today? Are you any more inclined to use the form factor now that Android relies less on physical buttons? Does it matter to you now that we have devices with screen in excess of 4.5 inches?