HTC 2009 Lineup Leaked, a Possible T-Mobile G2 Spotted

It seems that HTC’s 2009 product lineup was leaked on the Web a few hours ago. The pictures of no less than 25 new handsets can be found on the PPCGeeks forum, including the newly-seen Iolite, with a possible Iolite II in the form of a device called Magnet, three versions of Topaz (one of which is heading for AT&T), as well as three versions of HTC's Sapphire. The phones are stated to be on their way to different carriers such as Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T or Verizon.

From what the pictures show and according to the news over the Internet, one of the devices that have been spotted could be the successor of T-Mobile's G1, namely the Android-based T-Mobile G2. What seems to be rather more interesting is the fact that, per some voices, the possible G2, which would be HTC Sapphire 2.0, is not the G2 we would have expected until now.

The fact that the HTC Sapphire 2.0 is heading for T-Mobile could be indicated by the “TMO” placed near the Sapphire 2.0’s codename. Moreover, it looks like the phone also has the T-Mobile myFaves button, a feature known to be present on most of the T-Mobile handsets. Some people also say that the “2.0″ appended to the name of the model could also be considered an indicator of the fact that it will be rolled out as the T-Mobile G2.

In addition, the HTC Sapphire 2.0 has the same curvy lines and track-ball as the T-Mobile G1, yet there is no visible keyboard. Some say that this would point towards the fact that, if the phone proves indeed to be the G2, it will probably come with a new build of Android OS, specifically designed to feature support for virtual keyboard inputs.

It might be just a coincidence, yet the Android OS Cupcake development branch is stated to plan on releasing its virtual keyboard for the Android OS this month, almost at the same time with the expected release of the T-Mobile G2, which should be here on January 26. Given this, it is highly possible that we might see Cupcake surfacing in the very near future, followed by the HTC Sapphire 2.0’s release as the T-Mobile G2.

Take a look at the pictures bellow to see the goodies HTC has in store for us this year. As stated above, the entire lineup can be seen on the PPCGeeks forum.