HTC Hero launches as T-Mobile G1 Touch

New Android handset goes black for operator exclusive

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24 June 2009 13:54 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Following the launch of the HTC Hero, and Orange's subsequent announcement it will be offering the handset in "graphite", T-Mobile has revealed it too will be get the new phone, exclusively in black.

Launching as the T-Mobile "G1 Touch", Richard Warmsley, head of internet and entertainment services at T-Mobile, says: "We were proud to be the first network in the world to launch an Android mobile... Now if you’re looking for a different model, with a sharp new image, you can snap-up the T-Mobile G1 Touch, with a focus on the new two-finger zoom and 5-megapixel camera with quick touch upload to the web".

The operator will still offer the original G1 and estimates that one in five T-Mobile mobile internet users will have Android-powered devices by the end of the year.

The T-Mobile G1 Touch will be available mid July for free on T-Mobile's Flext tariff from £40 per month. T-Mo claims this option gives customers £225 to spend on UK and international calls and texts, picture messages, 08 numbers, voicemail and includes unlimited (not actually unlimited) high speed internet browsing.