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If the leaked screenshot you see above is to be believe, the T-Mobile G2, aka the HTC Vision is to be $199 with a new 2 year contract (or upgrade price) and $499 without a contract. Placing it right in line with the pricing of the Motorola Droid X, HTC EVO 4G, and other high end smartphones. The T-Mobile G2 is said to be available late September or early October and features a full QWERTY keyboard and HSPA+ 3.5G data.

[via TmoNews]

Usually reserved for entry level phones and older models, the Garminfone has just become the “Free phone”. At least on Amazon. T-Mobile is still selling it for $129. Apparently the word is true that they’re just not selling very well at all. And that doesn’t surprise me with the current choices of better Android phones from T-Mobile and other carriers.

Amazon also dropped the price of the MyTouch 3G Slide to $49, probably the cheapest you’ll find it anywhere, with or without a rebate.

You may have noticed a text message from T-Mobile in the past couple of days about an OTA update coming to you soon. A few of us got excited that it might be Android 2.2 love, but alas, it’s just a minor update with a couple of improvements. All MyTouch Slide users should receive a notification on their phone to download and install the update soon. If you don’t get the update by August 19th, you may want to call customer service.

Improvements include:

1.  Battery Life:

• Updates to the T-Mobile online contact backup connection, which will improve battery life.

2.  Wi-Fi:

• Ability to send MMS messages when connected to Wi-Fi.

3.  Genius Button improvements:

• Ability to turn GPS on and off using your voice, such as “Turn GPS on.”
• Will announce Caller ID for incoming voice calls and allow you to “Answer” or “Ignore” using your voice.
• Will announce incoming text messages and allow you to “reply” with dictation.

4.  Faves Gallery improvements:

• The Faves icon will be displayed beside notifications that appear while the device is locked to indicate that the communication is coming from one of your Faves.
• Fave photo display speed will be enhanced.

General stability will be improved, including more seamless scrolling and consistent display of photos.

[via T-Mobile Forums]

Engadget got this spy shot from a tipster clearly showing what we know as the HTC “Vision” with T-Mobile branding. No way of knowing right now if it’s headed to T-Mobile US or UK, but it is believed that this is the HSPA+ that TMO referenced on their Twitter account. Supposedly featuring a 1GHz processor and a 3.7-inch WVGA screen, it may be called the “G1 Blaze”. We’ll be watching closely for more leaked information and waiting patiently for that official announcement “in the coming weeks”.

Thanks to the hacker that rooted to original Samsung Galaxy S, it’s relatively easy to root the US versions for T-Mobile and AT&T, the Vibrant and Captivate. Why would you want to root? Well, for starters, you can remove all that bloatware that carriers love to install. You can also now use wifi tethering applications, and other root-only applications. And it opens you to the world of custom ROMs and doing pretty much anything you want to your phone.

And as always, be aware that modifying your phone like this may or may not void your warranty, and you could brick your phone. Although this procedure is fairly simple and safe, you have been warned. Let’s get started.

For the Vibrant:

1. Download the attached zip and rename to: update.zip
2. On your device, navigate to Settings > Applications > USB settings and select Mass storage
3. Plug your device into your computer, select mount USB from your device’s pull-down window
4. Copy the update.zip to the INTERNAL SD memory (~14gb on this drive, not the one w/ Avatar if you’ve still got the 2gb SD card in)
5. Turn your phone off.
6. Hold down volume up and volume down while powering on the phone, this should get you to a recovery menu, you may have to try this a few times.
7. In Recovery menu select ‘Reinstall Packages’ (use vol_down then power to select)

And for the Captivate:

1) You may need Samsung drivers if you are on a PC, which you can learn about here: ADB Drivers at the Unlockr
For 64 bit Windows, you’ll need these drivers: http://zedomax.com/blog/2010/07/14/s…iver-download/
Don’t proceed until your phone is fully installed on Windows with the drivers!

2) Download the attached zip and rename it to update or update.zip if you are on a Mac. Scroll down the notification bar and click “mount” to allow your computer to read the internal memory. Put the file on the INTERNAL SD card of the Captivate, which won’t be tough to figure out if you don’t have an SD card in the phone.

3) This step requires the Android SDK, and Android Debugging enabled. You can get the SDK here: Android SDK. Just download the zip, extract it to something like C:\Android. You won’t need the Java dev pack or anything.
You can enable Android Debugging like this: From the homescreen, press Menu, then click Settings. Navigate to Applications>Development and check USB Debugging. Now, hook the phone to the computer. Next,
On a PC, click start>run>”cmd” (in the text box) or on a Mac, spotlight “Terminal”. Linux users, you know what to do.
The command you will use is in the tools folder of wherever you extracted it to (IE: C:\android\tools), so be sure your working directory of command prompt is in that tools location!
Finally, type:

Code:

adb reboot recovery

4) Once the phone is booted into recovery, use the volume keys on the phone to scroll to “Reinstall packages.” Use power to select what you have highlighted.

5) Give yourself a pat on the back. You are now rooted. You should see a Superuser application now.

Sources: [xda-developers and xda-developers]

In in interesting promo, American Eagle is offering free smartphones in exchange for trying on some jeans. While the obvious catch is you have to sign up for a 2 year contract, it can save you some cash over the carrier’s price in most instances. With offerings from all 4 carriers, you can choose from an HTC Aria, LG Ally, Cliq XT, Motorola Devour, or Motorola Backflip. No, you won’t be able to score a Droid X or HTC Evo 4G, but offering these midrange phones for free is a great way to get more Android phones on the street. And if Android isn’t your thing, they have Blackberrys too, but who wants one of those? Oh, and they also throw in a $25 American Eagle gift card. So if you’re looking for a new phone, or some new jeans, it’s an all around good deal.

[via IntoMobile]

TmoNews got their hands on an actual photo of the Motorola Charm, which we’ve heard maybe be available on T-Mobile perhaps by the end of this month. While this isn’t going to be the killer Android handset or anything, one obvious thing that it does offer that’s unique is the monoblock QWERTY form factor, similar to many Blackberrys. Featuring a screen of “about 3 inches” and Android 2.1, the Charm has also been spotted in promo posters for back-to-school for the low low price of free with new 2 year contract.

Guess it’s a good thing I just upgraded to the MyTouch Slide and got rid of the Motorola Cliq. Looks like Motorola decided to delay the release of 2.1 for the Cliq. It was scheduled for release in Q2 of 2010, and there is no current estimated release ETA. Apparently they are “working hard to optimize it”. Sorry Cliq owners, no Eclair love for a while, I really feel for you having to rock 1.5 for so long.

[Motorola Support via Android Community]

Just shy of two weeks since it was released, the T-Mobile MyTouch Slide has been rooted. Superuser access is here, now bring on the custom ROMs and ports. A big thanks to the community on xda-developers and all members of the Android community.

Credit goes to eugene373 for posting this:

Android 2.2 has been partially released only to the Nexus One, but it’s already been hacked onto the HTC EVO 4G, and it’s all up in the air which other devices will get it and when. But like clockwork, the boys over at xda-developers have ported it onto the first and oldest Android device, the T-Mobile G1/HTC Dream as well as the MyTouch 3G. There’s still a few bugs to be worked out as with all porting, but it’s reported as being stable. And loading this ROM on your G1 is probably only for the most experienced of Android hackers.

[xda-developers]