T-Mobile G1 Blaze May Be the First with HSPA+

A high-end Android OS model reportedly headed for T-Mobile could be this carrier's first with HSPA+ service, giving it some of the fastest data transfer speeds available.

T-Mobile has posted a teaser page for its first device with HSPA+, which it promises will be out "later this year". This has attracted interest among business users and consumers, as this service is fast enough to rival or surpass current 4G networks.

A careful look at the code for this page turns up a reference to Vanguard, which is the internal HTC code-name for the HTC Vision, a smartphone that's supposedly going to be released in the U.S. as the T-Mobile G1 Blaze.

Preliminary Overview of the HTC Vision
This smartphone will supposedly will be a slider, with landscape-oriented keyboard that can be hidden behind its 3.7-inch, WVGA touchscreen. An optical touchpad is going to be set next to the screen.

According to unconfirmed reports, the Vision is going to run Google's Android OS 2.1 operating system on a 1 GHz processor.

Many details remain a mystery. It's not clear yet if this device will have an AMOLED display, for instance, and the leaked image doesn't show it running HTC Sense, this company's user interface that enhances Google's standard one. Most of HTC's other models with screens this size have had both these features.

All the other specifications are equally unknown, like storage capacity, wireless features, etc.

When the G1 Blaze is going to be released, or what it will cost, is not yet known.

End of an Era
The T-Mobile G1 Blaze is apparently going to replace the original T-Mobile G1, which was discontinued yesterday.

When this model was released back in 2008, it was the world's first smartphone running Google's new Android OS operating system.

More about HSPA+
T-Mobile USA has been upgrading its 3G network with HSPA+, significantly increasing its data transfer speeds.

In real-word testing, this HSPA+ network offers an average download speed of nearly 3 Mbps and an upload speed of almost 1.3 Mbps. That makes it faster than Sprint's WiMAX network, which is advertised as being 4G.

T-Mobile is now offering HSPA+ to 85 million Americans in close to 50 metropolitan areas. It is on track to deliver HSPA+ in 100 major metropolitan areas, covering 185 million people in the U.S., by the end of this year.

T-Mobile's current smartphones get some benefit from this faster network, but not the full data transfer speeds.