• June 22, 2009

The smartphones just keep coming. T-Mobile USA announced plans Monday to release its second Google Android-powered phone, the myTouch 3G, in August. The follow-up to the T-Mobile G1 will sell for $199 with a two-year contract, and customers will be able to pre-order the phone starting July 8.

Like the G1, the touchscreen myTouch is made by HTC and features a 3.2-megapixel camera, WiFi capability, video playback and a music player. It also has no physical keyboard. The myTouch is essentially the same design as the HTC Magic, announced in February at the GSM Conference in Barcelona and being sold in various markets outside the U.S. by Vodafone.

T-Mobile highlights how the new phone will let users personalize their mobile experience with customize menus, wallpapers and icons as well as the more than 5,000 apps in the Android Market. The key technology allowing users to personalize the sleek device is called Sherpa, a "learning engine" that automatically customizes itself to its owner's preferences.

T-Mobile says that more than 1 million G1 phones have been sold since it was introduced last fall. Certainly, the carrier, HTC and Google would like to see the myTouch replicate those results, although the increasingly crowded smartphone market will make it harder than ever. --Mark Walsh