Hands-on with T-Mobile's myTouch 3G smartphone

Now, this is more like it. T-Mobile's successor to last year's Android-powered G1 is slimmer, lighter, and considerably sexier than the original, and its on-screen QWERTY keypad rivals the iPhone's. Read on for more first impressions.

Set to arrive in stores August 5 for $199 with a two-year service agreement, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G had its official coming-out party this morning at an event in Manhattan, and I got to take the long-awaited handset (a virtual clone of the HTC Magic in Europe and Canada) for a brief test drive.

My full review will have to wait until I can get quality time with a review unit, but so far, I like what I'm seeing.

First of all, the HTC-built myTouch (now available for pre-order if you're an existing T-Mobile subscriber) is way easier on the eyes than the clunky looking G1. At 4.6 by 2.2 by 0.58 inches, the myTouch is only a hair slimmer than its predecessor, but the revamped, curvier shell is far more appealing, and will probably make for a better fit in a jeans pocket. (The unit I checked out was tethered to a tabletop, so I couldn't try for myself.) Another big factor in the myTouch's favor: At 4.1 ounces, it's about an ounce and a half lighter than the G1.

Like the G1, the myTouch 3G runs on Google's touch-enabled Android mobile OS, and all the same interface features—including multiple home screens, live application widgets, a status and notifications bar along the top of the screen, and a "window shade" of application icons—are present and accounted for.

Of course, one of the biggest differences between the myTouch and the G1 is that the new handset jettisons the G1's slide out (and somewhat slippery, if you ask me) QWERTY keypad for an on-screen keyboard, and I'm happy to report that the virtual keypad (new with Android OS version 1.5) works quite nicely. Usable in both portrait and landscape orientations, the keypad registered my taps with little or no lag, complete with on-the-fly error correction.

Other (previously announced) features on the myTouch 3G include a 3.2-megapixel camera (same as on the original G1), GPS, Wi-FI, support for T-Mobile's 3G data network, stereo Bluetooth, and a microSD memory slot (with a 4GB memory card included in the box).

In any case, so far, so good—although as I mentioned earlier, I'll be holding off on any definitive judgments until I get a full-fledged review unit from T-Mobile.

Oh, one last thing: If you were hoping that the just-announced HTC Hero (another new Android phone) might make its way onto T-Mobile soon, don't hold your breath; T-Mobile officials at today's press event made it clear that they have no plans (for now, anyway) to add the Hero to their lineup.

So, anyone thinking of coughing up the case for the myTouch 3G? How do you think it compares to the G1—or the iPhone, Palm Pre, or BlackBerry Storm, for that matter?