T-Mobile To Begin HTC G2 Preorders 132
cgriffin21 writes "T-Mobile Thursday finally confirmed what it's been hinting at for a while: The HTC G2, T-Mobile's HSPA+ successor to the HTC G1, is on the way. It'll be an Android 2.2 phone and run on T-Mobile's HSPA+ data network, which while not a 4G network offers what T-Mobile is calling 4G-like speeds up to 21 Mbps. T-Mobile hasn't confirmed pricing or exact availability but said it would open the G2 to presales for existing customers at the end of September."
IDK (Score:2)
Re:IDK (Score:5, Insightful)
Or you can wait 6 months at get one with 2x1GHz on a smaller process. You have to give up on waiting and get something eventually.
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A smaller process? Unless there are inherent advantages (price, power usage), I don't see how that would influence a buying decision. It's nice for HTC and possibly the manufacturer, but that does not concern me.
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A smaller process is inherently cheaper and uses less power for the same number of transistors.
Re:IDK (Score:5, Informative)
It should concern you. A smaller process almost always equates to lower power usage, and in the case of a mobile device, longer battery life. Also, more megahertz doesn't always mean more speed. Early leaked benchmarks show the g2 blowing the nexus one out of the water, even though its clocked at 1ghz.
Re:IDK (Score:4, Insightful)
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I'm waiting till they have a smart-phone with something like the Pixel-Qi or another high efficiency display personally.
It's both, but you save power where you can.... (Score:2)
It's definitely both, but my Droid functions much longer when I'm running the CPU at 550mhz than when I'm running it at 1.2ghz. However, the phone is noticeably much faster when overclocked. So I leave it overclocked, and have it scale down to a max of 250mhz when the screen is off and phone not in use.
My netbook was one of the first to get 7.5hrs on lowest brightness with a 6 cell battery, thanks to the Atom and GMA500 video+bus chip.
I'm going to upgrade my phone when I can get a 2x1Ghz Arm A9 on...probabl
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>>>The HTC G2, T-Mobile's HSPA+ successor to the HTC G1
Is it just me, or other people confused by these G1, G2 numbers? I thought we had already reached the level of G4 cell networks.
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>>>Or you can wait 6 months at get one with 2x1GHz on a smaller process.
>>>You have to give up on waiting and get something eventually.
You jest but that's exactly what I'm doing. I need a cellphone with web capability, but I don't need it until 2011 and I know new models of cellphones (with 3 or even
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It should concern you. A smaller process almost always equates to lower power usage, and in the case of a mobile device, longer battery life. Also, more megahertz doesn't always mean more speed. Early leaked benchmarks show the g2 blowing the nexus one out of the water, even though its clocked at 1ghz.
is it faster then the new Galaxy? I'm considering Getting this, but if It's can't beat the The galaxy I may as well switch carrier's and get an Epic. Both are 4G-ish, Both have a KB. both are about the pricing plan. only difference to me is the speed.
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Early leaked benchmarks show the g2 blowing the nexus one out of the water, even though its clocked at 1ghz.
Link to these benchmarks? Were they testing the g2 with 2.2 against the N1 in it's shipping state (2.1)? Not enough information has been provided to make a good comparison.
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Sure, fine, that's what I said. *Unless* there are inherent advantages. But you guys act like all smaller process technology will always result in better chips. I can however remember quite a few x86 chips where smaller die size did not *directly* result in better chips. And if the architecture has changed then anything can happen.
Of course, if early reviews state that the g2 blows the nexus out of the water, or if there are other indications that the new chip is better, fine, just wait for it to be release
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A smaller process? Unless there are inherent advantages (price, power usage)
A smaller process almost always means faster CPU or same speed CPU with lower power requirements and less waste heat.
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chips getting smaller is a benefit for both the manufacturer and the consumer.
that stuff should be basically cheered on, as it's not like in a normal scenario the manufacturer would pass on the benefit as opposed to pocketing it.
still no solution for the magic "$500" price for any unlocked phone.
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Or you can wait 6 months at get one with 2x1GHz on a smaller process. You have to give up on waiting and get something eventually.
You mean I can't use my 528 MHz dream forever?
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> Even if he gave up on waiting he can get Android handsets now with 1Ghz. I would think if Tmobile wants the G2 to be
> their flagship phone they would have gone at least on par with the N1.
Based on my own experience with HTC phones, a rooted G2 will run at 1GHz without breaking a sweat... it just won't get acceptable life from a stock battery. Frankly, 90% of the things people bitch about with the current crop of Android phones are due to inadequately-sized stock batteries. If you own a recent-vintag
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The Pentium 4 ("Netburst" family) was designed to excel at exactly one thing: provide cheap gigahertz, performance be damned. A 1.2GHz Pentium III Xeon could dance circles around a 3GHz Pentium 4, then blow a final fart at it before sprinting away. It's an example of the kind of disaster you end up with when you allow marketing to dictate engineering (a.k.a. "Marketecture").
The original Pentium M? In a very real sense, it's basically a die-shrink Pentium III Xeon with added power-management features.
The rea
G spot (Score:5, Funny)
G2, 4G, fuck'em all!
We're going 5G. With aloe.
Re:G spot (Score:5, Informative)
Fuck everything: we're doing five blades [theonion.com]
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The GP was commenting to the person who had modded the GGP's post as troll.
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For those without time to read the summary... (Score:5, Funny)
HTC G2 (~4G HSPA+, OS v2.2) > HTC G1
THANK YOU! (Score:2, Funny)
HTC G2 (~4G HSPA+, OS v2.2) > HTC G1
Thank god, someone put it into Big O notation. It was borderline Facebook gibberish before that!
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I'm running a company selling them with Android 2.1 and a juicy voip deal and I've noticed that their prices are actually rising on Ebay. People are buying more and more of them.
Their processor is a bit slow whi
Re:For those without time to read the summary... (Score:4, Interesting)
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Why is his Droid not running CM6?
I bet my D1, smokes your G1. At 1.3Ghz it seems like it would have to.
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To be fair it smokes Droid X's on any benchmark. Still more work truck than porsche though, I do have vpnc, ssh client and busybox installed for a reason.
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I'm interested in what you've mentioned. My g/f has a G1 and she has hit the point where she does not have enough room on the phone to load the apps that she wants to use. Can you post a link to the devices that you are selling?
medicore (Score:2)
i was hoping for this to be a "next-gen" android device, but it doesn't even meet modern specifications. 800mhz processor is a downgrade, and everything else is equivalent to what i could buy 4 months ago. the only folks this appeals to are those that are locked in to t-mobile for some reason.
unless the faster network speeds mean something to you. personally, 3g is fast enough for 99% of the things i do i would not sacrifice on other specs to have HSPA+. no information about the HSPA+ coverage yet either.
Re:medicore (Score:5, Informative)
There's a distinct lack of usable keyboards. The G2 doesn't have the 5-rows of the G1, which is a disappointment.
What good is it having ssh on your mobile device if you can't use it?
Re:medicore (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm being somewhat serious. I love the physical keyboard on a blackberry, but haven't found any others that even come close. I was reluctant to switch to an all-glass handset, but after getting used to swype it's not bad at all! The only issue is that for some reason they don't support the DEL key in any of the terminal emulators I've used.
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I don't have a device that supports swype but is there a flash demo or something I can try on my pc using my mouse?
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Just *try* editing Perl on a server with Connectbot using Swype (or any other soft keyboard). Or SQL. It'll have you in tears, rage, or both. I personally use Graffiti for almost everything, but my next phone is going to be an Epic 4G for one reason: there IS NO soft keyboard that doesn't utterly and completely SUCK with terminal emulation or when typing things that deviate from the content of "normal" text messages. When evil programmers die, they go to hell and spend eternity using Android Scripting Engin
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Ah, but it comes with Swype! There's no need for a physical keyboard.
I'm being somewhat serious. I love the physical keyboard on a blackberry, but haven't found any others that even come close. I was reluctant to switch to an all-glass handset, but after getting used to swype it's not bad at all! The only issue is that for some reason they don't support the DEL key in any of the terminal emulators I've used.
Or control. Or meta. Just try using emacs over ssh with a glass keyboard. Or vi. Or a curses interface.
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I've been having trouble with delete/backspace in ConnectBot. I'm trying out Full Keyboard now (it has dedicated dpad and control character modes). Delete works, at least, although flipping through all the modes gets old very quickly.
Swype sucks, try typing these words and see: (Score:2)
weird vs. word
out vs. it
I started making a list of the really bad ones, that was after about a day's worth of use near the end of my usage of Swype. My plan was to email the developers with these issues in hopes that I could convince them to provide an alternative keyboard layout, however I just gave up instead. As usual, I'm sure there will be many "Works for me" replies to this, maybe my fingers are huge (I'm only 6') or my screen on my phone is too small (using Motorola Droid).
At least it sucked on my Mo
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Ah, but it comes with Swype! There's no need for a physical keyboard.
I know, we're on /., but as I'm interested in this phone I broke /. rules and actually read the article and there it says:
Notable for the HTC G2 is that it has a modified hinge that opens up to a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
That sounds to me like it has a physical keyboard.
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Notable for the HTC G2 is that it has a modified hinge that opens up to a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
That sounds to me like it has a physical keyboard.
It doesn't have [, ], `, and a few other keys. Geesh, even the first Sidekick had them.
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It's a shame that keyboards are viewed only in the context of sending text messages.
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God, if we had it your way we'd still be using chisels. Adjust to the damn virtual keyboards -- evolution demands it! I know this because I've seen Star Trek: The Next Generation's episode "The Game". No keyboards.
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It will only be appealing if they are locked into T-Mobile *AND* require a physical keyboard. T-Mobile has the Vibrant, which is a Galaxy S variant. The Galaxy S is one of, if not the, fastest phone available - certainly has the best GPU of any phone.
G2 seems pointless. Even if you require a hardware keyboard, the Droid 2 has the G2 beat.
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People haven't really gotten into the whole "smartphone" revolution, it's pretty much like Pcs since the core processors even one a few years old is good enough.
Plus it's making it hard for me to keep up trying to get users VOIP service on their phones.
I like the G1 it's the Android Dev phone after all and the keyboard is awesome.
Phaistoscommunications.com is my little company.
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The D2 has a locked bootloader, meaning buying one is a stupid short sighted move.
Re:medicore (Score:4, Informative)
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If you want a GSM carrier so that you can use your phone outside the US you've got a choice between T-Mobile and AT&T and I don't know why anyone would deal with AT&T unless there was really no other option.
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i didn't mean to knock t-mo, i'm quite happy with them. decent customer service, unlimited data, free tethering, and -$10 / month for a no-contract plan.
in general they have significantly less coverage than AT&T, but 99% of the time it doesn't affect me.
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It's only 800mhz, but it does have separate 2D/3D GPU and audio. Offsetting the graphic and sound with different chips allows it to perform as well as or faster than the Vibrant. Also comes with stock android, none of that SenseUI crud. T-mobile has a HSPA+ city list on their coverage site as well. Personally I look forward to default 3D app menu with OpenGL and 5.1 sound output, but that may just be me.
Wait there are people on slashdot who don't use cyanogenmod?
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HSPA+ Is NOT 4G (Score:4, Interesting)
The claimed speeds are pure BS.
While a high bit rate might be achievable, the frame structure underlying the 3G protocols prevents fast round trip times, which slows web browsing and interactive sessions to a crawl.
Compare it back to back with 802.16 (aka WiMAX, aka 4G), which is based on 802 data network protocols instead of voice bearer protocols and there is no comparison. WiMAX, even with similar bit rates, is smoother and faster.
Re:HSPA+ Is NOT 4G (Score:4, Informative)
I've seen 3G networks with latencies of 90-100ms to the outside world. While it's not as good as regular broadband, I was even able to decently play some online shooters with that latency with acceptable performance. That's probably the case where latency is most important.
But then, I used to play Quake on a dialup connection back in 1997, so maybe I can just cope with higher latencies better than the average gamer.
Re:HSPA+ Is NOT 4G (Score:4, Informative)
Only 14.4 Mbps... (Score:3, Informative)
While T-Mobile's towers may be capable of 21 Mbps HSPA+, the G2 itself can only do 14.4 Mbps, according to the fine print on T-Mobile's teaser site. Of course, you'll get nowhere near this in real life, but if you have a 7.2 Mbps HSPA device, and you're expecting it to be 3x as fast as whatever you get in real life on that, you'll be disappointed to only get 2x that, at best.
http://g2.t-mobile.com/ [t-mobile.com]
20% of nothing means nothing... (Score:4, Interesting)
"...which while not a 4G network offers what T-Mobile is calling 4G-like speeds up to 21 Mbps."
From the ITU, on 4G mobile speed per the working group: "A nominal data rate of 100 Mbit/s"
Yes, HSPA+ is 4G-like indeed. It is nice that they are being a bit more honest and not just calling it "blazing fast 4G" or some similar hyperbole. However, I do long for the day when we can do away with terms like "up to" when referring to mobile data rates. It's pointless to say how fast it "could" go IF tower proximity is x and interference is y and in-band traffic is z...
They might as well just advertise with "We hope it's faster than the other guys!" and wait for the PC Mag test to get published.
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"T-Mobile can guarantee 0Mb/s in areas with no reception, and 0Mb/s in areas with reception unless you are connected to a tower which isn't saturated, in which case you may get greater than 0Mb/s!"
There! That's much more useful, isn't it.
HSPA+ is 4G speed, but not 4G latency. (Score:3, Interesting)
Marketability? (Score:2)
Notable for the HTC G2 is that it has a modified hinge that opens up to a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The phone also includes Swype text entry software for its touch screen, an 800MHz Snapdragon processor, support for a 32-GB microSD card, and Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth capability. It also has a 3.7-inch display, a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus, and can shoot video in 720p HD resolution.
So...the features are all less than what the newest smartphones are already capable of. I believe the newes
Re:Marketability? (Score:5, Informative)
High megapixel cameras on cell phones are pure marketing. I wouldn't dock the G2 for "only" having a 5MP camera. It's all the same crap in the end.
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My Motorola Droid's camera has better dynamic range than my 8MP Canon a590is, which used to do all my photographing.
It also is amazing at focusing on closeup shots. Don't have to tell it to change to macro or anything. I think the 5+megapixel cameras are great, thank you very much. I can't zoom, but most of the time the landscape shots I take I don't need to zoom anyways. I do wish I had 8MP though...
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Notable for the HTC G2 is that it has a modified hinge that opens up to a slide-out QWERTY keyboard . The phone also includes Swype text entry software for its touch screen, an 800MHz Snapdragon processor, support for a 32-GB microSD card, and Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth capability. It also has a 3.7-inch display, a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus, and can shoot video in 720p HD resolution.
So...the features are all less than what the newest smartphones are already capable of. I believe the newest line (EVO, Galaxy, Droid, iPhone 4) all have at least 1Ghz processors and some have much better than 5 Megapixel cameras.
The keyboard is what it is all about. There are certain individuals (like myself) who only like smart phones when they have a physical keyboard. There really aren't many options in this arena and this certainly is better than the rest when you only compare android phones with keyboards.
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Too bad it doesn't share the same keyboard as the G1 which, in my opinion, is the best keyboard out there on any smart phone. (Five rows baby!)
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True. In all fairness, the Galaxy S line has a 5 row keyboard, and some of the Verizon Droid line has physical keyboards as well. I guess I am just failing to see anything new and exciting in this phone when all the features it touts already exist in other smartphones that have been out for some time.
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This was one thing I loved about my blackberry 8330, searching the address book, calling someone, and texting people was insanely fast.
For calling someone, press A for address book, then you just typed "b j [green key] for bob johnson [call] and it called him.
For texting I got an app call QSMS, same as "A" for address book, except hitting enter brought you to a text message screen. And I finally got so good at the keyboard I was able to safely text on the highway while watching the road, driving with my kne
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I am still not sure why those chose the 800 Mhz processor. You're right, clock speed may not matter. But the Droid Incredible, EVO 4G, and Nexus One all use the 1Ghz Snapdragon. We will have to wait and see for the full hardware specs, but their press release does not sure anything compelling about this phone when compared to all the options out there. However, it is fair to say the other phones I pointed out are not on TMobile. This may be the best phone TMobile will have as I am not familiar with their ha
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Clockspeed is not everything, and no matter how high the megapixel count with such a small lens it is pointless.
T-Mobile released the G2 Touch last year. (Score:2)
I wish they wouldn't re-use the names. T-Mobile released the HTC Hero as the 'G2 Touch' in the UK over a year ago.
Still no UMA (Score:4, Interesting)
All current BlackBerry handsets on T-Mobile's network can make calls, text, etc, over WiFi using a technology called UMA. This means, for example, if you have a server room in the basement that gets zero cell reception, as long as you have a WiFi hotspot available you can still make calls. And yes, this is included with your regular plan at no cost.
But not Android phones. And apparently not this one, either. I really wish T-Mobile would get on this.
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The calls via Google Voice are all routed via the voice network of your mobile phone, no Wifi, no 3G.
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I know. I used to have a Blackberry Curve with T-Mobile. I used the UMA functionality in Japan to make free calls back to the US. It was awesome. I'm on a Nexus One now, and while VoIP isn't quite there yet (Sipdroid is ok, but not great), it's getting better all the time. LTE is going to fix a lot of this though (if/when it gets here).
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I used the UMA functionality in Japan to make free calls back to the US.
This. I did it while on vacation in Mexico, too. T-Mobile's servers don't try to figure out where you are geographically when you're on WiFi, so it's free calls back home.
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To get technical, T-Mobile's infrastructure simply doesn't care where you are whenever you connect via WiFi/UMA. You get routed over an encrypted VPN connection to what appears to T-Mobile's internal network as a cell tower, which is just a dedicated cluster handling the UMA connectivity.
http://www.umatechnology.org/overview/ [umatechnology.org]
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I just saw this feature today while looking for G2 info. Man, I wish the Android phones had it because it would solve my one gripe with T-Mobile: no coverage in a few rural areas I occasionally find myself in. However, I always have wi-fi out there.
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There is still no way to use a BB on T-Mobile functionally without paying for a data plan (except making calls, but who does that?).
BlackBerry data services are distinct from regular TCP/IP on other phones. The mail, BB messenger, and other push services are carried over RIM's proprietary network. You need to subscribe to a BlackBerry-specific data plan for that. Most people do it, because a BlackBerry isn't much use without the things that make it a BlackBerry. I have voice, unlimited text messaging, and unlimited data for my BlackBerry on T-Mobile for $60/month. You might just be a little too miserly for your own good.
Re: Its coming? (Score:2)
About the 4G-ish claim (Score:2)
This is not a 4G network, it is not even a 4G-ish network. This is just 3G with high data speed turned on. As the fact or matter is that most 3G network are not using maximum speed that can be utilized on them.
There is a lot of 3.9G (4G-ish) out there at the moment. But no true 4G mobile system appears to exist at the moment that I know of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G [wikipedia.org]
all five towers upgraded? (Score:2)
if not i'm not interested since when i do get a signal via ionosphere bounce i would like to be sure i will have a chance to try out this "4G-like speed"
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I bought the G1 because it was the first Android phone... and that came with T-mobile.
Now there are tons of Android phones, available on all networks. I'll say this, paying for a data plan is useless when you can't get a G3 signal.
Not only am I switching to Verizon. But I'm breaking my contract to do it.