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A recently leaked road map indicates that T-Mobile has plenty up its sleeve as it pertains to Android over the rest of this year. And really, it’s about time Android’s first carrier gives us something new.
According to a document obtained by AndroidSpin, the carrier has at least five more handsets on tap for 2010. In a departure from the norm, familiar names Motorola and HTC will be joined by phone maker LG. As you may know, LG has been rather quiet here in the United States as it pertains to Android handsets. Aside from the Ally on Verizon, we’ve yet to see anything locally.
AndroidSpin
Each of the upcoming phones is tagged with appears to be “project” names or code names. For instance, there are two HTC phones on the horizon, the Vanguard and the Emerald. While this is the first time we’ve heard anything relating to a Vanguard device, the Emerald has been seeing its share of speculation. Recent rumors peg the phone with a dual-core processor, a 4.3-inch screen, and the Gingerbread version of Android. It’s also possible that later this year T-Mobile plans to relaunch its Sidekick brand with the HTC phone as some are suggesting.
Motorola also has two devices lined up for the second half of the year, one of which might be the high-end MB710. Spotted with FCC approval papers earlier today, this Motorola handset was found with multiple mentions of T-Mobile in the paperwork. Although we don’t know the code name of the device, we do know it bears a striking resemblance to the Motorola MotoRoi. Released earlier in China earlier this year, the XT720 MotoRoi features a 3.7-inch touch screen, an 8-megapixel camera with Xenon flash, and HDMI-output. The XT720 is powered by a 600MHz processor and runs a stock Android 2.0 experience. The FCC documents don’t tell us about the full hardware picture, but I don’t expect the MB710 to be much different aside from maybe launching with Android 2.1 under the hood.
Turning our attention to current events, the newly announced Motorola Charm looks like it may end up with a July 21 release, alongside the Samsung Vibrant. Also, it appears that the Motorola Cliq and Cliq XT may see an Android 2.1 update some time in August. That is assuming the testing goes well and the update isn’t delayed again.
We’re glad to see that T-Mobile is showing no signs of waning Android support. The next few months could put its current and prospective customers in a real pickle. I don’t recall the carrier ever offering such a robust lineup of smart phones. This must be what it is like to be a Verizon customer this summer.
