The next version of Google’s Android-based cell phone sold by T-Mobile opts to drop the keyboard in favor of a virtual version to better chase after iPhone fans, a report suggested Wednesday.
The G2, built by Taiwan’s HTC for U.S. carrier T-Mobile, will appear this Spring without a physical keyboard, according to gadget blog Gizmodo. Removing the keyboard in favor of a touch-screen version will better align the Android phone with handsets such as Apple’s iPhone.
The new phone, alleged pictures of which Gizmodo published, provides a “slimmer, rounded design,” wrote Macnn.
The report follows a note from Morgan Stanley that Apple’s iPhone outsold T-Mobile’s G1 by almost 6-to-1. T-Mobile sold nearly 300,000 of the handsets from October through Dec. 31. Meanwhile, Apple and carrier AT&T likely sold 1.75 million iPhones during the period, according to the investment firm.
