1st Android phone for T-Mo

T-Mobile USA expects to carry at least one phone based on Google's Android platform by the end of the year -- and may start with the HTC Dream, according to sources. Company broadband head Joe Sims says he has seen a prototype of one of the Linux-based phones and was "impressed" by the device. He notes that the phone is poised to ship in the fourth quarter of the year and that it will be part of a larger shift at T-Mobile towards open devices that should include more than one Android device.

"We will have more than one product," Sims says. "[There] will be innovation across the board, not just one device."

The senior staffer hasn't named the device, but a new leak suggests that it may be the HTC Dream. The Taiwanese company is understood to be using the Dream as its flagship smartphone and will pitch it equally as both a business and media phone. The large touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard are said to be complemented by direct access to YouTube and a document editor.

HTC has previously explained that it will be one of the earliest adopters of Android and would launch its first phone at the same time as T-Mobile expects to debut its own device; the handset maker hasn't revealed any official Android devices but is rumored to do so at an upcoming press event on May 6th, though claims would alternately have HTC announce sequels to the Touch and 6800 (known as the Mogul or XV6800) at the gathering.

By Electronista Staff