Android Apps and News

While T-Mobile’s days as T-Mobile may be limited, they are still working on building their own brand of Android devices. Verizon has the Droid series, Sprint seems to be working on the Evo series, and T-Mobile has the G series, starting with the G1, the G2, and soon the G-Slate tablet and G2X phone (formerly the LG Optimus 2X).  What I really like about T-Mobile’s G series is that the G really does stand for Google as all of these devices feature a stock Android experience, and the G2X is no different in that respect.

Since the G2X isn’t the first Tegra 2 device, or even phone, on the market, T-Mobile is spinning the marketing to say it is the first dual-core phone featuring stock Android. That could be a pretty big feature, even with it being stock Froyo and not Gingerbread, as stock Android phones historically perform better on benchmark testing and in real world usage than comparable devices that have custom UIs. Although, unfortunately, stock doesn’t mean clean in this case. While there is no custom UI, there are some extra apps and features baked-in including:

• Need for Speed™ SHIFT HD
• DTS Ultra Mobile™ – for a premium surround sound experience.
• A demo of N.O.V.A.
• T-Mobile TV, offering live and on-demand TV including news, sports and full-length entertainment, plus full episodes of your favorite shows.
• Zinio eReader
• T-Mobile Video Chat powered by Qik™, enabling video conversations with friends and family through T-Mobile’s network and Wi-Fi.
• Swype gesture keyboard

The G2X is a beast of a phone with a Tegra 2 dual-core processor, 4″ display, “4G connectivity”, 8 GB internal storage, 8 MP rear camera capable of HD video capture, and 1.3 MP front camera. It is expected in the Spring, and while no official date has been set, rumors have the release in about a month from now.

[BusinessWire] via T-Mobile