The ToyBox

Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin

HTC to launch touchscreen iPhone, Palm Pre competitor

By | January 12, 2009, 9:10am PST

Summary: HTC, manufacturer of the T-Mobile G1 smartphone, is set to launch a brand new phone touchscreen phone targeting the Apple iPhone and Palm’s new Pre, according to a senior executive of Telstra via an exclusive report by Smarthouse. According to the report, the new smartphone has been developed using a combination of the Google Android operating [...]

HTC, manufacturer of the T-Mobile G1 smartphone, is set to launch a brand new phone touchscreen phone targeting the Apple iPhone and Palm’s new Pre, according to a senior executive of Telstra via an exclusive report by Smarthouse.

According to the report, the new smartphone has been developed using a combination of the Google Android operating system and Linux-based software written by HTC itself.

The screen will likely be bigger than any of HTC’s current offerings.

The Telestra executives also reportedly called the device “better and more functional” than the just-announced Palm Pre, which uses Palm’s new webOS platform:

“We have seen both and we believe that the new HTC phone will be a real competitor to the iPhone and the Pre which at this stage looks nice but is still not delivered to market,” Smarthouse reports the unnamed executives saying.

The organizers of the Consumer Electronics Show awarded Palm the best product award in the mobile phone and smartphone category as well as “Best in Show.”

HTC’s new phone is expected in the second quarter of 2009.

Will this be the rumored G2? It’s unclear. but with a serious lack of Android presence at this year’s CES, expect more news of Android implementation as the year progresses.

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Andrew J. Nusca is editor of ZDNet and SmartPlanet.

Disclosure

Andrew Nusca

Andrew J. Nusca does not hold any investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Andrew Nusca

Editor

Andrew J. Nusca is an editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet. As a journalist based in New York City, he has written for Popular Mechanics and Men's Vogue and his byline has appeared in New York magazine, The Huffington Post, New York Daily News, Editor & Publisher, New York Press and many others. He also writes The Editorialiste, a media criticism blog.

He is a New York University graduate and former news editor and columnist of the Washington Square News. He is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has been named "Howard Kurtz, Jr." by film critic John Lichman despite having no relation to him. He lives in his native Philadelphia with his wife, cat and Boston Terrier.

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The OS is what will hold it back...
dcoaster 16th Jan 2009
WM needs a dire upgrade and soon. Apple and Palm are full steam ahead.
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I doubt it would be called G2.
storm14k 12th Jan 2009
From what I'm reading HTC plans to put out 10 phones this year all based on WinMo and Android.
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Not the G2. G2 is going to T-Mobile.
UncleBubba 13th Jan 2009
The G2 is supposedly HTC's Sapphire, coming to T-MO this year. Also the new Rhodium is to be the Wing II.
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The OS is what will hold it back...
dcoaster 16th Jan 2009
WM needs a dire upgrade and soon. Apple and Palm are full steam ahead.

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