First official look at T-Mobile's G2

It appears that the first official images of the forthcoming T-Mobile G2 have found their way online. And I like what I see so far. Besides looking very polished in its T-Mobile branding, the phone features a spacious four-row slideout QWERTY keyboard and an optical trackpad, in addition to the four soft buttons across the bottom.

Given the rumored 1GHz processor, 3.7-inch display, and 5-megapixel camera, the G2 will have hardware that puts it in the same pack as the Motorola Droid 2 and Samsung Epic 4G. Toss in a stock Android 2.2 experience and support for T-Mobile's ever-expanding HSPA+ network and the carrier has its strongest smartphone to date.

Interestingly, this will mark the first phone since the Nexus One to run a stock Android experience. Many heavy users and early adopters typically eschew the custom UI's that come with phones, opting to root their handsets and load a different experience. One might safely assume that the standard flavor of Android will lead to a fast rollout of future builds, such as Gingerbread and Honeycomb.

Recent chatter puts the G2 on track for a September 29 launch. Incidentally, this comes a month short of the two-year anniversary of the G1. What better time to drop its successor on folks looking to extend their contracts? With no official word on pricing, my gut tells me that this phone will arrive with a $200 price tag when it debuts.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this phone. Do you think T-Mobile has a winner on its hands with the G2?