Coming hot on the heels of the ultra-impressive G2, T-Mobile has returned to its myTouch series with the myTouch 4G. While the G2 is the natural enthusiast flagship, the 4G represents a flagship in its own right of a skinned, curated Android experience. If the G2 is the Droid 2 killer, T-Mobile probably sees the myTouch as the iPhone 4 killer (even the name has a similarity to the popular "iTouch" misnomer, and the 4G / 4 mirrors T-Mobile's matchy matchy naming sense with the myTouch 3G / iPhone 3G... we're just saying, is all). So, what does that mean in practice? Some impressive functionality inside and out, including a front facing camera for video calls, HSPA+ network speeds, and WiFi Calling. How does it all play out in the real world? Let's find out.

View Gallery:T-Mobile myTouch 4G hands-on

Hardware

The myTouch 4G is very "premium." Unfortunately, it's "premium" in the worst way. It screams over effort, has an incomprehensible jumble of design languages and materials, feels simultaneously heavy and cheap in the hand, and manages to bear a too-striking resemblance to the iPhone 3G to boot (at least in the white edition of this phone we have, the handset also comes in red, plum, and black flavors). Lest you think we just have iPhone on the brain, a non-techy family member actually made the look-alike comment offhand, unprompted. What's sad is that there are actually a lot of redeeming qualities to the external hardware that, when taken one at a time, would be pretty welcome in a phone.

Take the brushed metal battery cover, for instance. It has an ultramodern look and feel, and HTC (responsible for the hardware, though they clearly departed from their traditional design language) heightens this impression with a slightly darker