The myTouch 3G, the second Android phone in the U.S. market, is well suited for T-Mobile users who like the idea of owning a chic touchscreen phone with a good browser and plenty of apps. Designed by HTC, the $199 myTouch 3G ditches the T-Mobile G1’s physical QWERTY keyboard for a sleeker profile. With its greater emphasis on customization, search, and battery life, it’s our current Android phone of choice, but there are a few features that could be improved.
Design
Where the G1 was sometimes unfavorably compared to a brick, the myTouch 3G is a much more elegant and pocket-friendly device. Measuring 4.4 x 2.2 x 0.6 inches, it’s 0.2 inches shorter than the G1 but its edges are more rounded, making it seem even smaller. The biggest difference, however, is its weight: at 4.1 ounces, the myTouch 3G is 1.5 ounces lighter than the G1. The smart phone is available in black, white, and a deep merlot.
To help personalize your device, you can purchase customized shells from SkinIt ($14 each), and the myTouch 3G comes with a 25 percent-off coupon. T-Mobile also offers several other accessories for this handset, including the myTouch Music speaker ($39.99).
The myTouch 3G has a minimalist facade that sports a 3.2-inch, 480 x 320 resolution display, the same as on the G1. Just below the screen are four buttons for Home, Menu, Return, and Search. Below those buttons are Send/End keys, and in the middle of them all is a trackball that’s similar to the one you’d find on a BlackBerry or Sidekick.
On the left of the phone is a volume button; a proprietary USB/charging port is on the bottom of the phone. We wish there was a 3.5mm headphone jack, but appreciate that HTC includes a set of headphones with the phone as well as a 3.5mm adapter. The glossy back of the myTouch features a 3.2-MP camera, which lacks a flash.
When you purchase the phone, it comes inside a nice zippered travel case that holds the device and all of its accessories: headphones, a charging cable, and a small micro-fiber pouch for keeping the screen clean.
Keyboard
Unlike the G1, the myTouch 3G lacks a physical keyboard; users must rely on the virtual keyboard that was introduced with version 1.5 of the Android operating system (known as “Cupcake”). As was our experience on the G1, the keyboard takes some getting used to; in portrait mode, the keys are too close together, making it easy to accidentally click the wrong letter.
In landscape mode, the keyboard was much roomier and easier to type on. After a few days of use, we were able to type with a high level of accuracy. While the myTouch 3G’s auto-correction is good, it sometimes auto-corrected words that we didn’t intend it to; in Google Maps whenever we typed “East” in an address field, it auto-corrected to “Easy.”
