We knew Radio Shack would end up selling the T-Mobile G2 at some point. We even knew that they would be selling the device for $149 on a two-year contract. What we did not know is that they may be readying the G1 successor on October 3rd, three days before the it becomes available in T-Mobile stores.
Radio Shack will be offering the handset for $50 less than you’d pay at a T-Mobile store, and Costco has also joined them at that price. While we don’t know when Costco will actually have the device available for sale, we bet the Shack will beat them to it. According to a leaked document, the G2 will indeed be available for sale on the 3rd of October. So if you didn’t pre-order with T-Mobile, and you don’t want to wait any longer, then you may want to find yourself at Radio Shack to get your hands on the US version of the HTC Desire Z.
If you’ve yet to read any of our other posts on the device, the G2’s specs read pretty well. As the successor to the original Android phone, the G1, you can guess that the G2 will have a full QWERTY keyboard. The G2 comes with a nifty Z (which is where the European HTC Desire Z gets its name) hinge mechanism, so it’s not technically a slider, it lifts over and out to reveal the keyboard and provides more space for your fingers when typing on the top row. It’ll also come with the stock Android 2.2 experience, which theoretically will allow for quicker updates to the OS. The G2 also comes with the new-generation Qualcomm MSM7230 processor clocked at 800MHz, but benchmarks have proven that the new CPU is no chump.
Of course, the G2’s standout feature is that it’s the first phone to fully support T-Mobile’s new HSPA+ network, which can deliver speeds unseen in the US, and easily bests Sprint’s 4G network.
Will you be grabbing one of these bad boys from Radio Shack this coming Sunday?
[Via: Phandroid]