An AT&T Facebook account confirmed the existence of an upcoming Motorola handset yesterday, outing the Olympus for all to see.
A Boy Genius Report reader asked the AT&T Share team whether he would be wise to wait on the Tegra-2-powered smartphone as he is eligible for an upgrade. The carrier’s response, which was quickly pulled, was that the phone will be available in either December or January.
Previous rumors suggested that the Olympus would arrive in early 2011, possibly in time for CES at the top of the year. I doubt that the phone will be readied by year’s end, however, so expect to see it in January where it could make a bigger impact.
Regardless of actual release date, it’s refreshing to know that AT&T may be one of the first providers out of the gate with a next-generation Android handset. With a rumored screen size of around 4 inches and its dual cameras, the Motorola phone could easily be the carrier’s top smartphone.
Thus far, Motorola seems to be reserving its best Android handsets for Verizon’s Droid lineup, leaving AT&T with devices like the Flipside and Flipout.
And since we’re on the subject, it’s worth pointing out that Motorola is purported to be working on a very similar handset for Verizon. The Etna is expected to debut in February or March and is said to be 100 percent LTE compatible with Verizon’s new network.