The name of the phone, myTouch, goes with the big ethos of this phone: Customizability. Users will be able to customize the menus, wallpapers, icon and a range of other things on the device with the use of themes and skins. The handset will come in 3 colors, black, white, and merlot, and there will also be options to customize the shell of the unit also.

The phone will also get to know you and your search habits over time, how very Google of them:

“The other key point T-Mobile is touting for the myTouch is something called Sherpa, which T-Mobile worked with startup Geodelic to create. Basically, Sherpa is an application that claims to learn from a user’s actions. So, for example, if you’re searching a lot of Thai food, Sherpa should recognize that as something that you like in the future. And it uses your location information to give you tailored results for what it believes you will want based on what you’re around.”

The Hardware

While the myTouch keeps it’s 528 MHz processor, it has doubled it’s internal memory to 512 MB which bumps up the loading of apps and also makes the apps run more smoothly than on the G1. The screen size and resolution is the same as the G1, and unfortunately, is still not multi-touch. The camera is 3.2 megapixel with autofocus, comes with a 4-GB microSD card.

The big difference is that they did away with the physical keyboard. It’s running the Cupcake OS build, and the myTouch will now have a virtual keyboard. This makes for a slimmer, sleeker, and lighter handset.

While these some of these specs are admittedly, slightly meh, there is one big improvement. They did improve the battery life, which was the biggest complaint that users had with the G1. According to TechCrunch, “Well just in everyday use with a couple applications running in the background, my G1 battery would be gone in a few hours. The myTouch battery easily lasts all day in the same environment.”

Existing T-Mobile customers can pre-order the myTouch starting July 8. The device will be $199 with a 2-year agreement, and availability is set for early August.

via TechCrunch

Not to be left out of the smartphone fleet week, T-Mobile releases the Dash 3G today. It’s a new version of their smartphone, the Dash. It’s similar to Sprint and Verizon’s HTC Snap and the first 3G phone to run the WinMo 6.1 platform. It has some marked design changes, mainly a trackball and more spaced out, round navigation keys instead of the cluster design. It still has the full QWERTY keyboard and it is has an overall sleeker shape.

No price point announced yet, but we do have some  deets: QVGA (320 by 240 pixel resolution) display, integrated GPS, Exchange server support, microSDHC card slot, Bluetooth 2.0, and a 2-megapixel camera. It’s aiight, not quite as hardcore as the front runners, but it seems like it is a solid phone for someone who wants a smartphone of average intelligence. Hopefully, the price point will be as reasonable. The handset wil hit sometime in July. If you are looking for an entry level or gateway smartphone, this would be a good start. Unless you get swayed by the launch of the second T-Mobile phone with Android. Which is slated to happen next week!

via-PC World

In the spirit of the upcoming Earth Day, let’s peep the Motorola Renew, available from TMo.
A cute little bar phone, in green and white of course. Can’t have a “green” phone without it being colored green, can you?
The hook is that it has ecologically responsible retail packaging, includes a postage paid recycling envelope. The phone itself is made from recycled water bottles, and the plastic housing is 100% recyclable. Also, the battery life is upwards of 9hrs, so there is less charging time needed for this phone.

This phone also claims to be certified carbonfree through carbonfund.org. Through this Alliance, they will be used to offset the energy to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone by investing in renewable energy sources and reforestation.

The Deets? Meh. Very basic, no camera, no headset jack, but hey, it’s green and it’s cute.

image from www.phonedog.com

Ok, we all know that I’m the biggest cheerleader for Google’s Android and I’m always in wait for news and updates about it. Well, the world’s cutest OS update build, Cupcake is almost done.

The Android Developers Blog announced today the availability of an “early look” Android 1.5 SDK. This release seems like a mostly complete version of the final release, though Google warns that some of the APIs are bound to change.

Beyond the features that v1.5 brings to the end user (see below), the new SDK carries a few key changes:

* The SDK now supports multiple versions of the platform, so developers can continue to work on applications for the current release (v1.1) while preparing their apps for the next one.
* Developers can now install SDK add-ons. This allows carriers, OEMs, and other third-parties to easily expand the SDK for their needs.

The Deets:
* On-screen keyboard support, with support for auto-correct, text prediction, user dictionaries, and third-party keyboard layouts
* Live folders (Auto-updating folder shortcuts for things such as YouTube favorites, Starred Contacts, and, with the API now available, whatever else developers conjure up)
* Video Recording
* MPEG4 and 3GP Video Playback
* Stereo Bluetooth
* Browser enhancements: New ultrafast “Squirrelfish” javascript engine, search within a page, copy and paste, UI changes
* New Linux Kernel
* Google Application enhancements: View Google Talk friend statuses in contacts, SMS, MMS, Gmail, and Email
* New frameworks for developers to build upon: Widget creation, Live Folder creation, Raw audio recording/playback, Video recording, Speech recognition
* Faster GPS, Faster camera startup, faster Gmail scrolling, and smoother browser scrolling
Peep the whole list here,

more news at mobilecrunch.