Handsets

T-Mobile Shows the G2 Off Themselves

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t-mobile-g2-scorpion

We can put the rumor stick down now as those “unofficially official” press shots of the T-Mobile G2 have been used by T-Mobile in their latest T-Mobile Scoop article. “The wait is just about to end” they say, and we’d believe them. Leaks, rumors, and information are pouring in faster than we can process it all, and September has long been dubbed “the month” for their first HSPA+ device.

The phone is wrapped by a nice, red scorpion confirming everyone’s suspicion that this will have an 800MHz Scorpion processor instead of the 1GHz Snapdragon we were expecting (it’s possible that the chip is actually as fast as a 1GHz Snapdragon – if not faster. Qualcomm’s boasting improved performance efficiency alongside improved battery usage for the line of chipsets it’s based on, and we also know the Scorpion’s using a more capable GPU than we’ve seen coupled with Snapdragons.)

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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44 Comments

  1. Man, the confusion and misdirection around this is spectacular.

    Scorpion is the Qualcomm name for their ARM core. Scorpion is the core of both the Snapdragon system on a chip (SoC) as well as the MSM7x30 used in the new G2.

    The only efficiency improvement, as far as the CPU goes, is that the 7×30 is built with a 45nm process, rather than the 65nm process used in the QSD8250 from the Nexus One. This should translate into lower power requirements, and thus improved battery life.

    The 7×30 also uses the new Adreno 205 GPU, rather than the Adreno 200, which means better 3D performance.

    If you look at pure CPU benchmarks, though, the 7×30 is going to be slower than every 1GHz Snapdragon we’ve seen so far.

    The revolution continues… to disappoint.

  2. That may be so Ian but I think the device will be more responsive in day to day usage, which is really what matters.

    The core is still overclockable to 1Ghz I think. So if it bothers the user, there is always that option. I for one will probably be leaving it right where it is.

  3. I’m just simply glad to see that another Vanilla Android phone is out there besides Droid 1, Nexus one. Getting sort of tired of all these Motorola, Samsung, HTC skins on top of it.

  4. That’s bullshit!!! I don’t think any android phone should come with anything less than a 1ghz processor, its such a disapointment to see tmobile not stepping up there lineup of phones!!!!!!!!

  5. Does anyone know how to spell?

  6. @Steve, I thought you have an iPhone.

  7. With all the rumors, this new info and correct me if I’m wrong is starting to match the original rumors of this phone being 800mhz with a dual processor clocked at about 1.5ghz…

  8. Does this have a keyboard? if not its more like the nexus 1.5 right?

  9. Also a 45 nm process being incorperated into the chip will improove the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the cpu. It should perform better if not on par with snapdragon 1 ghz chip. But accell in graphic abuility. Like a higher fps and general gaming abuility will be superb compared to its predecessors equipment. It will perform more like a droid x but with lower power needs. (All opinion. No real facts) but it wont stop me from sharing lol

  10. Also people need to smarten up and catch on to the fwvga format (854×480) that additional 54 =26000 pixels. Which equals a better rez. And improved visual experience.

  11. 16:10 aspect ratio is baaaad. N!aughty penny pinching designer

  12. MyTouch HD gets my vote.

  13. dom,

    The 45nm process doesn’t inherently improve processor performance. A smaller process a) reduces power consumption and b) in theory, allows higher clock speeds.

    But hey, don’t believe me. Let’s look at the benchmarks! http://goo.gl/VyP1 Much higher 3D performance, significantly lower CPU performance.

  14. @Android_FTW … Why you think that? I’ve got a Droid 1. So I’m partial to the Vanilla android guys.

  15. right now I can’t see myself dropping 500 for this phone, unless the reviews come back exceptional. If I’m going to drop that kind of cash I need to know that my phone will be cutting edge for at least a month or two but right now there are much more appealing phones aesthetically and arguably specification-wise. Really the only appealing thing to me on this phone is stock android…

  16. @ Ian Peters. Your statment is just false the adreno 205 is suppose to be several times faster than any snapdragon processor even at 800mhz. Look it up at smartphonebenchmarks.com. It should be just slightly slower than the 1ghz hummingbird processor. Any bench mark sight will support that as well as qualcom. Get your facts straight

  17. 800MHz isn’t slow and it can be overclocked. Don’t see why so many people are making a big deal out of nothing.

  18. I personally like the 950×540 because its 1/4 the pixels of a full hdtv. Making scaling perfectly seemless. I admitt that this is not a resolution used by anything right now. But that’s a lack of adoption. Not usefulness.

  19. Vanilla Froyo, awesome specs, HSPA+, T-Mobile, looks NOTHING like an iPhone, physical keyboard….this phone is full of win. Those of you complaining about the GHz show you know absolutely nothing about technology. A few years back they compared an Intel Celeron chip running at 3.2GHz and a PowerPC G5 chip running at 1.8GHz. Guess which one was not only more efficient, but faster? There’s a LOT more to a CPU chip than the labeled speed. By that line of thinking, if I look at a ’67 Shelby Mustang with a speedometer that goes to 120 and a ’10 Honda Fit with a speedometer that goes to 140, obviously the “higher GHz guys” would say the Honda Fit is faster, right?

  20. #1, you are correct on all points except factoring in that the jump from 65nm to 45nm adds enough efficiencies that it pretty much guarantees the phone will perform better than another 800mhz processor, but I’m not sure about snapdragon. 45nm should allow room for more instruction sets if needed too.

  21. Based on the early benchmark results, Adreno 205 is expected to be about 4 times faster than Adreno 200. Samsung’s Hummingbird with PowerVR SGX540 is expected to beat Adreno 205 by a small margin, however. Still, given that nothing touches the performance of SGX540 today (that’s right, iPhone 4 is not even close!),

  22. Adreno 205
    Now everyone knows that HTC G2 (also known as HTC Vision, HTC Vanguard, HTC G1 Blaze and HTC Desire Z) will feature Snapdragon MSM7230 chipset which uses Adreno 205

    Adreno 205 features Hardware-accelerated SVG and Adobe Flash® Significant improvements in shader performance over Adreno 200 GPU Streaming textures that can combine video, camera, SVG and other image surfaces with 3D graphics Based on the early benchmark results, Adreno 205 is expected to be about four times faster than Adreno 200. Samsung’s Hummingbird with PowerVR SGX540 is expected to beat Adreno 205 by a small margin however. Still, given that nothing touches the performance of SGX540 today (that’s right, iPhone 4 is not even close!), this is quite an improvement.

    This is all frome smartphonebenchmarks.com. its a little hard to read because of the way it coppied

  23. Ian Peters is correct.

    G2’s integer performance won’t be any better than Nexus One. The core is pretty much the same, but clocked at lower speed so that makes sense. But 45nm + 800MHz means significantly better battery life. By going 45nm, yes have created more room, but at least this time around, they haven’t focused on improving “instructions per clock” aspect of this CPU.

    G2’s GPU on the other hand is much much better. Adreno 205 is claimed to be up to 4 times faster than Adreno 200. It should in theory beat everything on the market except Galaxy S’s GPU. This GPU is also supposed to have hardware accelerated Flash support!

    I think Moses is referring to this link:

    http://smartphonebenchmarks.com/forum/index.php?/topic/61-what-is-adreno-205-and-how-does-it-compare-to-other-gpus/page__pid__65#entry65

  24. Its nothing like the dual core processors coming out but I think it will be a sick little phone

  25. @Sam I Am
    That’s the best way of explaining this situation I’ve heard yet!!

    Although I am still skeptical on this phone, I want to see it do well in the Android community. I’m a G1 user and hearing about the G2 made me a bit excited, maybe because I just want a new phone. The specs on this phone seem to be able to compete with the Droid X and the like. The GPU will be the fastest on the market and that will improve the overall speed of the phone. I notice a lot of users wanting betters games on Android phones than “Solitare” and “That generic brick breaking game” and I’m one of them. Regardless if the benchmarks are SLOWER than the snapdragons 1GHz, it’ll play these new games much better. I’m just hoping the rumor about ginberbread being min. 1GHz is false or at least doesn’t apply to this phone.

  26. I’m with Ian. So far, Tmo has lead the way in being behind the curve regarding phones. So in effect, for them to debut a phone that is behind every other one that will debut at the same time (for them) *is* a re-volution.

    That being said, why compromise and pay $500 for a phone that you will have to *improve* (overclock, root etc.)in order for it to be on par with other Android phones of its kind? Why not take that same $500 ($499 plus tax etc) and get a great phone from gate??? If 1ghz Snapdragon is the standard why buy less? The only way to force their hand is not to purchase substandard phones and instead do the unthinkable: Wait! (Or change phone companies).

    Tmo knows one thing for sure. Psychologically, they have us. Some people will buy a new phone no matter *how* substandard it is, just because its “new.” Recent events have made me a more conscientious or wary buyer. It’s tough at first because you want the shiny new thing.

    But we have to understand “the game” and the mindset of the phone carrier. They play hardball. They *know* we’re salivating for something so they throw us a bone. Putting lipstick on a pig doesn’t change the fact that its a pig. Giving us a vanilla Android 2.2 and saddling it with less than a 1ghz processor is still substandard.

    As I see it, I have two options this Christmas – wait for a cutting edge phone for which I am willing to pay, or opt out of Tmo altogether. Since my family has in excess of 15 lines with them, that would be something that they wouldn’t want to happen. I am the ONLY person in my family under contract. It would be worth the $200 ETF (actually less due to exhausting a year’s length of contract) to get satisfaction. No matter how I look at it, its going to be a Merry Christmas!

  27. Sorry, but this phone does not even meet the minimum requirements to run Gingerbread, Android 3.0. I’ll pass on this one.

  28. Crappy keyboard (4 rows only), no front facing camera and only 800MHz?! WTF?! If it comes only with 256MB RAM, I’m going to buy this old crap!

  29. If it doesn’t print money, I’m not buying it!

    Way to go T Mobile…..You lost a customer!

  30. Reading the comments here and very interesting. I think im going to hold off on the rumor mill and wait for the offical specs on this phone. It does appear to be a phone i would be interested in purchasing.

  31. If it’s super smooth… would anyone care what the clock speed is?

  32. if its only 800Mhz does that mean it cant go to 3.0 as that requires a min of 1Ghz? Or was all that a load of poo?

  33. Jesus people. The rumored specs for gingerbread were shot down by Google. You really think Google is willing to put their name on the phone if its not able to upgrade past 2.2? It’s pointless arguing with you people. It has a keyboard and is better than my G1 that i have been using. I will take this phone and its 800 clock speed and use the hell out of it. As much as some of you are complaining i have to assume you are being funny and making jokes. Good job because you made me laugh!

  34. @Bobbin

    I’m pretty sure the 3.0 requirements were recommended requirements not minimum requirements. Regardless, if Cyanogen can get his hands on the codes, he’ll make a better port of gingerbread to the G2 (assuming he decides to add G2 support to his roms)

  35. People can sure freak out over 200MHz. Somehow I doubt that alone will exclude the device from OS updates, GPU capability be damned. The #1 thing I’m looking for in a G1 upgrade is superior battery life and this is looking as good news. What good are high clock speeds, full theatrical features and FFCs if I have to turn all of those off along with GPS and Syncing just so I know I’ll have enough power to answer the next phone call? *ahem*

  36. Google puts their name on every Android Device case and point, My Behold 2 has the with google label.

  37. I believe this phone will be pretty good, and since I’m a G1 user it’ll be a nice upgrade. The only two things I wonder about now is the G1/G2 special deal and the Rumored G2 touch. When the G2 rumor 1st started it was said that G1 users would have some sort of special deal. I still have no idea what that deal is or could be, id really like to know if anyone has any idea. Also someone I know spoke to a Tmo rep and the rep said there will be 2 diff G2 types released, the G2 and the G2 touch which is minus theb keyboard but for some reason has better specs(rumor of course). So anyone with any info on either of these questions??

  38. If everyone here is looking for a rediculous sick phone…you’ll be waiting forever, dual core processors aren’t making there way to wild till the end of this yr wich means you won’t be seeing any android phones with it till mid to early next yr, unless you want a windows based HD3

  39. @Starr – That would be the MyTouch HD, coming in November.

  40. I hope it isnt a plastic piece of shxt like the MyTouch phones are. I like the fact that Motorola made my Cliq out of metal and it has a pretty peral color on it. I hope this has a great texture or I hope it metal. Im gettin this if the MyTouch HD is a piece of shxt.

  41. But why didnt T-Mobile jus ask Google to make a special OS of Android for this particular phone. Maybe Android 2.5. You know like how the Droid was the first phone to come out the box and i think it was the first phone to have Android 2.0

  42. Still not “Project Emerald”, correct? I hope it’s not. I’m holding out.

  43. Bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch. If you don’t like it, wait some more and get something else. Jesus Christ people shut up about 200mhz and no front facing camera. ALL OF THE FRONT FACING CAMERAS HAVE SHITTY QUALITY. This phone is a great upgrade for people of the fist G1 and MyTouch 3g. It is at the higher end of smart phones and should be welcomed with open arms. It’s also minimalistic in design and doesn’t have gaudy black plastic that collects fingerprints like a hooker does STD’s. Am I a fanboy of G1/G2? No, I prefer phones without keyboards as they add weight and do the same thing as the touch but weight less. Either get it or shut up and wait.

  44. Oh yeah, isn’t it the FIRST phone with HSPA+ on T-mobile? I’m glad it’s finally happening. This winter will bring a slew of better phones. Get pumped!

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