Coming soon: The Next Google phone and more

This is turning into a hot summer for smart phones. On the heels of the iPhone 3G S and Palm Pre comes the HTC myTouch, the second generation of so-called “Google phone,” along with the Samsung Jack and the first true smart phone from Nokia.

The $200 HTC myTouch, available in August from T-Mobile with a 2-year-contract, is the second phone to use Google's recently updated Android operating system, which adds support for a virtual keyboard and video recording. Incidentally, the myTouch drops the physical QWERTY keyboard of the recommended T-Mobile G1 it succeeds, though the virtual keyboard on its 3.2-inch touch-screen display automatically expands from portrait to landscape when you tilt the phone.

Other features include a 3.2-megapixel camera, a pre-installed 4GB microSD memory card, and Wi-Fi. I’ll be trying out the phone at a press preview tomorrow, and will blog on my impressions on these and other attributes.

Also hot this summer it the Samsung Jack, $100 from AT&T, which replaces Blackjack II. We like the Blackjack family (which includes the $180 Epix, which scores well in our Ratings) for their combination scroll wheel and jog dial, which provides quick, easy access to the phone's applications and home-screen icons. The Jack retains that advantage and adds Wi-Fi access. It also upgrades the 1.9 megapixel camera of the Blackjack II to 3.2 megapixels, and adds a 2X zoom.

Also anticipated is Nokia's E71x, the company’s first smart phone—at least from a U.S. carrier. Finally, there's a Nokia with a keyboard. Priced at $100 with a two-year contract and rebates from AT&T, the phone is one of the thinnest smart phones on the market: measuring just 10mm. The E71X has voice-guided GPS navigation application as well as Wi-Fi and corporate e-mail, the latter via Microsoft’s Exchange server. It has a 3.1-megapixel camera. Both the Jack and E71x are now in our labs, and we'll post them—along with some other new smart phones and cell phones—later this month to our Ratings (available to subscribers). —Mike Gikas