T-Mobile has announced the MyTouch, the company’s second Googlephone, and on paper it is smaller, lighter and just plain better.

The MyTouch is essentially the same phone as the Google Ion, also known as the HTC Magic. The biggest change between the MyTouch and the original Android handset – the G1, also manufactured by HTC – is the physical QWERTY keyboard. It’s gone, replaced by an-onscreen soft keyboard. It was ironic that the old G1 keyboard, the major differentiator between the iPhone and the first Google phone, was one of its biggest problems, featuring a large “chin” which would trip up all but the longest of thumbs.

The soft keyboard one-ups the Palm Pre, too, with predictive text (the Pre has neither prediction nor correction to help you use its tiny buttons), and it vibrates when you touch a button to let you know you’ve, well, touched a button.

The other physical change is the size. It’s slimmer (early reports compare it to the iPhone) and lighter, at 4.1 ounces against 5.6 ounces (116g vs. 160g). It’s also colorful-er: Along with white and black the phone will come in “merlot”, a shade of burgundy sure to join Zune-brown in the history books of bad taste.

Memory is provided by microSD cards which augment the internal 512MB. The $200 MyTouch will come with a pathetic 4GB card in the box, a move which looks even worse now that the old 8GB iPhone 3G can be had for just $100. On the other hand, SD is certainly handy for upgrades.

The biggest problem with the G1 was the terrible battery life. The multi-tasking applications meant that the power would be sucked dry in a matter of hours. A new 1340mAh battery should give a claimed six hours of talk time versus the five hours of the old 1150mAh battery. In the real world, of course, it will be much less.

T-Mobile hasn’t revealed all of the hardware details of the new handset, but as it is essentially a rebadged HTC Magic, it’s not to hard to anticipate the other internals. The camera is the same 3.2MP camera found in the G1, the headphone socket still requires a stupid adapter (why no standard 3.5mm jack, T-Mobile? C’mon already).

What the handset does have, though, is Android. The Google OS was roundly considered to be the best part of the G1, despite the fact that the hardware wasn’t really up to the task of running it properly. Sure, Apple has hit yet another home run with the iPhone 3GS, but we fully expect to see a slew of very good Android phones take their rightful place in the market. T-Mobile itself has said it will launch “a few more” android devices this year. One thing is certain. Right now is probably the best time ever to be buying a cellphone.

T-Mobile is even treating its customers right. They will be able to get the MyTouch on July 8. New customers will have to wait until August to sign up for their two-year contract.

Product page [T-Mobile]

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