14 DAY TRIAL // Mobilicity, one of the second tier carriers in Canada is preparing to add a new device to its Android lineup, the HTC Emerald.
Also known as MyTouch 4G, HTC Glacier or MyTouch HD, the smartphone is expected to be officially introduced in mid-May.
The information coming from MobileSyrup suggests that the Mobilicity version of the device will be redesigned to make it stand out from other branded MyTouch 4G units.
The Canadian carrier surprised customers recently by picking several popular Android smartphone before more important carriers could get their hands on them, or at least soon after they became available.
MyTouch 4G is currently available for purchase from T-Mobile who recently offered the smartphone for free with a new two-year agreement.
Unfortunately, the deal is not available for customers who wish to upgrade, as they are still required to pay the phone's $199.99 price after the usual mail-in-rebate discount.
Spec-wise, Mobilicity's HTC Emerald should have the same hardware as T-Mobile's MyTouch 4G, but it seems that the Emerald will be delivered with Android 2.3 Gingerbread on board.
Powered by a single core Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8255 1 GHz processor, the phone comes with a large 3.8-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with 16 million colors support, 480 x 800 pixels resolution, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate and Swype input method.
The device embeds HTC's custom Sense UI and sports a 5-megapixel photo snapper with autofocus and LED flash, as well as secondary VGA front facing camera for video calling.
The 4G-enabled handset is fully packed with connectivity features such as HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP support, GPS with A-GPS support.
There's no information regarding the phone's price yet, but rumors suggest that the HTC Emerald should be available for around $450 - $500 without contract.
