Huawei to release T-mobile Android G3 in late 2009... probably

This is all starting to sound semi-official, but still a little vague. Huawei's mysterious Android device -- first spotted at MWC -- is apparently headed out on T-Mobile in late 2009, as reportedly confirmed by a Huawei spokesperson. The same details we've previously heard, including the 5 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headphone jack and WiFi -- are still on the list, though nothing new is emerging thus far. It also seems to be called the G3, but again, it's hard to say if that name is official or not. We'll let you know when we hear something more concrete, but until then... just keep marvelling at the buttonless wonder you see above.

[jackson @ Apr 7th 2009 2:31PM]

No multitouch? no thanks.

[xtole @ Apr 7th 2009 3:33PM]

Finally a phone that will pwn the iphone

[Sean @ Apr 7th 2009 4:31PM]

look like the iphone or not, that phone is sexy enough to make me switch.

[comments4cheap @ Apr 7th 2009 4:34PM]

@zak

So the Prada was made overnight? It took apple 3yrs to make a touchscreen phone. Damn. 3yrs?

[Quantumphysics @ Apr 7th 2009 5:29PM]

If no one else will say it, I will.

I DON'T WANT TO CHEAP ASS KIRF IPHONE RIPOFF RUNNING A PATHETIC OPERATING SYSTEM THAT WANTS TO BE AS DESIREABLE AS IPHONE OS.

KEEP IT.

[TareX @ Apr 7th 2009 5:58PM]

@ jackson

you're right. If this is a super hi-res touchscreen phone with Android goodness. but NO multitouch, the iPhone would trump it.

I really wanted the G3 to have a physical qwerty...

[Sam @ Apr 7th 2009 7:38PM]

Blame Apple for that one; Apple is violently enforcing their patents on multi-touch displays, so much so that it's quelling reasonable competition in the marketplace. Just one more example of how intellectual property HINDERS, not helps, innovation and progress.

[hkzion @ Apr 7th 2009 2:33PM]

why does this resemble the iphone?

[Deeznuts420 @ Apr 7th 2009 2:36PM]

why do u resemble a human?

[joe23521 @ Apr 7th 2009 2:47PM]

He does?

[andy @ Apr 7th 2009 2:50PM]

another iphone design rip off...

[haX0r @ Apr 7th 2009 3:27PM]

I guess Apple ripped of Prada then? http://www.lge.com/about/press_release/detail/20328.jhtml

[TheSuburbanWhiteBoy @ Apr 7th 2009 3:35PM]

Because the iphone is the pinnacle of awesomeness, nothing can beat it, you can only come close

[fistpittingnork @ Apr 7th 2009 3:47PM]

Design a touchscreen phone that doesn't resemble an iPhone, go ahead.

[Serryl @ Apr 7th 2009 3:54PM]

While the iPhone is attractive, it's also pretty basic. There aren't many ways you could design a touchscreen phone with a speaker and single button that didn't resemble an iPhone to a degree. For that reason, I don't mind similar hardware as long as the software distinguishes itself, i.e. not copying Apple's icons.

[Zak @ Apr 7th 2009 3:55PM]

haX0r - don't be stupid. The iPhone was in development for a full three years before the Prada was released. But please tell me how Steve Jobs has a psychic link with the design team at LG, because that would be the only possible way the iPhone could have "copied" the Prada.

[Jonathan @ Apr 7th 2009 4:16PM]

Zak, then did the Prada copy iPhone? It just proves that an all touch screen phone is going to look like any other all touchscreen phone.

The LG Dare is called an iPhone clone when LG did the touch screen before the iPhone. "All phones are copying off of the iPhone" as if Apple invented the all touchscreen phone.

You just proved his point. It's hard for phones not to look similar when they're touchscreen phones.

[Jonathan @ Apr 7th 2009 4:26PM]

I found what I thought of. Go here, Zak. Just look at the picture.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/11/iphone-and-lg-ke850-separated-at-birth/

It's rarely said that the iPhone copied the Prada, you yourself call it ridiculous, even though you can't deny all the similarities and that the LG phone won awards, and came out, first. But any phone with even less similarities after the iPhone is infact a copy of the iPhone, or so people like to say. It's a complete double standard. So this Huawei phone is all black and a big screen...so what? If you can't see the multiple iPhone/LG coincidences, then there's nothing to see here, either.

[comments4cheap @ Apr 7th 2009 4:36PM]

@zak

So the Prada was made overnight? It took apple 3yrs to make a touchscreen phone. Damn. 3yrs?



Sorry for double post.

[who? @ Apr 7th 2009 7:48PM]

Guys, the PRADA and iPhone are not nearly this similar, the PRADA's buttons are completely different, the size differs a reasonable amount, and the edges are formed much differently.

This phone has the same approximate size, the one button is the iPhone's + a silver rim, and the edges appear to curve in the same fashion.

I'm just laying down the facts here, low rank me if it makes you feel better, but I'll eat my own foot if this is an original design.

[Deeznuts420 @ Apr 8th 2009 9:40AM]

@Zak: dont be a moron, if it took apple 3 years to develop the iphone what makes u think LG didnt think of it before when they came out earlier? and even if they didnt thought of it before they officially came out before the iphone.

[7egend @ Apr 7th 2009 2:37PM]

yea, looks like an iPhone...sorry.

[FoxHoundADAM @ Apr 7th 2009 2:38PM]

Hey look an iPhone.

[KilgoreTrout @ Apr 7th 2009 3:36PM]

So does my GPS rec.
And the slice of bread I'm eating right now.
And my ashtray too.

[suprkewlguy @ Apr 7th 2009 2:41PM]

but it looks soo pretty!!! lmao!

[christopher @ Apr 7th 2009 3:07PM]

I see a button.

(smirk)

[Jonathan @ Apr 7th 2009 2:58PM]

At least it doesn't have a chin!

[The Truthbringer @ Apr 7th 2009 2:43PM]

Can We please look at upcoming gadgets without chanting about the IPhone. Please?

PS2 Price Cut. Blah Blah Blah IPhone.
Segway PUMA. Blah Blah Blah IPhone Dock.
Gynocologist. Blah Blah Blah IPhone Connectors.

[frankieSuave @ Apr 7th 2009 2:58PM]

thank you why does everything have to be compared to the iphone. all the iphone is... PEOPLE... is simple and sleek. why not call it that.

[Christian Martin @ Apr 7th 2009 2:50PM]

Please note that the stirrup and height controls on the gyno chair are proprietary. If you lose them, you must buy a new chair.

[Soulquarian @ Apr 7th 2009 2:52PM]

Well... If Microsoft released a system that looked almost IDENTICAL to the PS3, I'd call them on it too...

[Josh @ Apr 7th 2009 2:50PM]

When a company comes out with a brand new phone to compete with its competitors, it shouldn't look exactly like the top competitor. If it does, people are gonna point it out. Oh no!

[joe23521 @ Apr 7th 2009 2:51PM]

I'd love to see how an electronic gynecologist works.
Or a human one, for that matter.

[The Truthbringer @ Apr 7th 2009 3:02PM]

@Soulquarian
Flawed Comparison.
VG Market. 3 Brands. Handful of platforms. Microsoft is a direct competitor of PS3.
Mobile Market. 10 or so Brands. Thousands of device platforms. Who The Heck is Huawei...


@ Josh
Time and time again we've seen Apple make the lowest common denomator design choices and try to trademark, copyright, and enforce the idea that these design trends belong to Apple alone. Case in point. The color white. San serif fonts. The "look and feel" lawsuits. I'm not saying that Apple doesnt have the right to compete and protect its R&D. I'm just saying that making a device large enough for a touch screen and black with no buttons is not R&D and should not be enforced.

[BlurMagic @ Apr 7th 2009 3:10PM]

@The Truthbringer

Apple has a patent on simple rectangles.

/sarcasm.

[TheAngryGamer @ Apr 7th 2009 3:32PM]

@Christian Martin:

outfuckingstanding. +1 to my internet hero of the day.

[Look_Around_You @ Apr 7th 2009 3:43PM]

Tried to make the same point on another thread only to be called Apple haters, and saying that Apple has the right to adopt things from other devices into their own.

As if that was something up for debate. They totally missed the point for the most part.


But go a couple of hours later, here are the Apple fans attacking a device because it's a thin rectangle with few buttons, that can make phone calls.....RIPOFF OF AN APPLE PRODUCT!!!!!!!

[Saad Rabies @ Apr 7th 2009 2:45PM]

What are you talking about, this doesn't look like the iPhone. Just because it has a rectangular screen it doesn't mean it looks like the iPhone.

...

[7egend @ Apr 7th 2009 2:54PM]

First, we'll start with the tapered back which looks nearly identical tot he iPhone, saving grace is the blue-ish bezel ring on the outside of the phone's screen. Secondly is the Ear piece which is shaped identical to that of the iPhone, and thirdly is the home button which is shaped identical as well.

If the average user were to look at this straight on with the screen off, they would automatically assume it were an iPhone no matter what your argument is. It's obvious that it looks like one or the first several posts wouldn't have pointed it out.

[BlurMagic @ Apr 7th 2009 3:07PM]

I agree with Saad.

I guess in order to be original and not iPhone like someone is going to have to develop a circular phone with triangle buttons because clearly Apple has patented the "rectangle".

What sets this phone apart from the iPhone is the OS and the fact that it's BLUE. I don't remember seeing any blue iPhones. But I suppose if Apple releases iPhones in color next, they will have a patent on colors too (just like rectangles). And then I will have to hear, "That blue looks exactly like iPhone blue! They are copying Apple! Lawsuit!"

Fanboy bias continues...

[Zak @ Apr 7th 2009 3:59PM]

How far in denial are you people? Are you seriously going to sit there and try to tell us how that phone does NOT look like an iPhone? Do you need glasses or something? It's not because it's "vaguely rectangle-like", it's because it's the same shape as the iPhone, the dimensions are the same, the colors are the same, the materials at least look the same, it has the same single circular button in the same location as the iPhone, it has the same size and shape speaker slit at the top.

Honestly, how dumb do you have to be to try to say that phone is not a copy of the iPhone?

[The Truthbringer @ Apr 7th 2009 4:22PM]

@Zak,
Oh Zak, I love when you come on and illustrate the demeanor of the most dubious of fanboys Apple has in its legions. Did you win Fanboy of the Year Engadget Award? If not, you got robbed.

Here the same foolishness that I was talking about earlier.

"How far in denial are you people? Are you seriously going to sit there and try to tell us how that phone does NOT look like an iPhone?"

No, I'll agree it looks like a IPhone, but however the IPhone's form factor is quite possible the best implementation we've seen for a touchscreen phone. However. This implementation does not warrant any unspoken trademark on black rectangular phones with no buttons, no matter how much it burns your Apple lovin' bottom. It's a touchscreen phone. It needs a big rectangular screen. It's black. So what? It has a button at the bottom center of the phone. So What?

"Do you need glasses or something? It's not because it's "vaguely rectangle-like", It's because it's the same shape as the iPhone,..."
Uh, yeah it is because it's rectangular that people are sprouting this BS around.

"the dimensions are the same,"
You have access to a reputable comparison that I dont know about, or is that your inner Jobs speaking again?

"the materials at least look the same,"
Unless you designed/ manufactured the phone, or have both phones, you cant possible know this....

"it has the same single circular button in the same location as the iPhone,"
Wrong again. The Iphone has a groove with a rounded rectangular button. This phone. no groove, circular button.

"it has the same size and shape speaker slit at the top."
Where else would it be?

Seriously, What Zak want's this company to do is to make a Circular phone that are satisfactorily bigger or smaller than an IPhone, build of glass, stone and wood, that is the color brown, and a star shaped button on the back with speakers placed at the side of the device. All because you arent comfortable with a little competition. Pfft Please.

[comments4cheap @ Apr 7th 2009 5:04PM]

@zak

I'm sure your mom has leg and arms and all but I don;t see her suing beyonce for have said features. Even tho you and I both know who has the best OS.

[Look_Around_You @ Apr 7th 2009 5:09PM]

Zak was on an older thread yelling at people (calling them apple haters) because they were pointing out how Apple "ripped off" features from other phones for the iPhone.

Now he wants to point this out, like we should all care now.

Why are you such a Huawei hater, Zak?

[BlurMagic @ Apr 7th 2009 5:42PM]

And alas @ Zak

"Honestly, how dumb do you have to be to try to say that phone is not a copy of the iPhone?"

Honeslty, how dumb do you have to be to try to say that phone is a copy of the iPhone?

[Zak @ Apr 7th 2009 7:32PM]

The denial is astounding. Truthbringer (lol), nobody said anything about trademarks. However, if you can't see how this phone looks *exactly* like an iPhone, you're either blind, stupid, or possibly a bit of both. Note that I'm not calling other touchscreen phones iPhone copies. The G1 is not a copy of the iPhone, the Pre is not a copy of the iPhone. This phone is a copy of the iPhone. See the difference?

Contrary to what you apparently believe, a rectangular phone with a touchscreen is not a de facto copy of the iPhone. This one is though, for the simple reason that it looks exactly like an iPhone. I'm not sure if that concept is just too complex for you or what your problem is, but anybody who isn't already biased against Apple will tell you this phone looks like an iPhone. And that is my point.

"The Iphone has a groove with a rounded rectangular button. This phone. no groove, circular button."

HAHAHAHA. Well thanks for proving that you've never actually seen an iPhone. That would certainly explain your moronic opposition to the idea that this phone looks like an iPhone. A rectangular button, REALLY? HAHAHAHAHA, oh man. Thanks for the laugh.

And yes, the speaker slit is exactly the same size, shape and location as the iPhone's. Do you just believe that it's not possible to make a speaker slit in any other shape, size or location? Every other phone seems to manage it, why not this one?

And it's like I said. Just about everybody else is capable of making phones that don't look exactly like an iPhone. This one, however, does look exactly like an iPhone. Not that you would know what an iPhone looks like, apparently. Haha.

[Ike Skelton @ Apr 7th 2009 2:48PM]

Looks slick, but I like having a physical keyboard on my android device.

[Cragmonkey @ Apr 7th 2009 2:49PM]

Just because it has a big screen and a limited amount of hardware buttons it doesn't make it an iPhone. I agree that it looks like the iPhone but there is no harm in that. Everybody can benefit from a nice, big touchscreen. I agree with Jackson though,... no multiotuch, no thanks.

[Icello @ Apr 7th 2009 2:50PM]

I want one of those. Can someone remind me if they've gotten external keyboards working with android? And who intheworld is Huawei?

[Sektor @ Apr 7th 2009 4:37PM]

Huawei is China's largest telecom provider. It happens to be in bed with CISCO, spend a lot on R&D, and be last year's top patent applicant.