It’s not often that I write a speculative article, but recent news about an upcoming HTC device for T-Mobile has managed to catch my attention and ignite a flicker of hope that we may see a QWERTY equipped T-Mobile G3 in the next few months.
The news
According to TmoNews, the HTC Era 42 will be heading to T-Mobile this fall. The handset name was spotted in an image of a T-Mobile computer system with a date of September 26th. No additional details regarding form factor, price or specifications are currently available.
The speculation
Based on what I have heard from several HTC and T-Mobile sources, the HTC Era 42 may in fact launch as the T-Mobile G3 – featuring a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, stock Android and specifications which will rival the HTC One series.
The evidence
As stated above, the T-Mobile G3 is pure speculation at this point, but there are a few pieces of evidence that can be used to stitch a more cohesive picture together. As David from TmoNews pointed out, the original T-Mobile G1 has a connection with the Era moniker. While most of us came to know the phone as the G1 or HTC Dream, it was known as the HTC Era G1 in Poland and several other eastern European countries.
Since launch dates are a moving target, it’s impossible to know if the September 26th date associated with the HTC Era 42 is when T-Mobile plans on releasing the phone. One thing we do know is that a late September or early October launch will line up closely with the two year anniversary of the T-Mobile G2′s October 6th launch date.
Final thoughts
If you think this post is lacking any hard evidence, you are right. Based on hard evidence, all we really know is that T-Mobile may be planning to launch an HTC handset this fall. There are plenty of Android fans out there who would love to get their hands on a QWERTY equipped G series device which runs on stock Android, but it’s up to T-Mobile to decide if a handset that fits that bill is worth an investment. HTC announced that QWERTY devices were not going to be a main focus for the company in the future, but they do realize that “the [QWERTY] market’s there, the sort of the die hard community, they keep wanting it, there’s definitely still a market for it.”
What are your thoughts on the current evidence and the possibility of a T-Mobile G3 for this fall? Would you be interested in buying a QWERTY equipped Android device running an unskinned version of Jelly Bean?
