Update: T-Mobile is completely denying the new features described in this story. See after the gallery for their statement.
A user at xda-developers discovered a new T-Mobile G2 software update delivered over the air. Given that the G2 has been selling for all of a week and change, this is a fairly fast schedule to push a system update out. Not many users have seen the update yet, but what a treasure trove this one is!
The new software release adds WiFi calling and a mobile hotspot to the new QWERTY device. Yes, that means tethering! Another user has shared photos showing this update is for real. This is certainly a welcome surprise for G2 purchasers, as T-Mobile had only promised WiFi calling to the T-Mobile mytouch (another exclusive Android smartphone built by HTC). Also T-Mobile has not announced an additional charge for the mobile hotspot feature, so that may be some of the best news of all.
Don’t be surprised if you have a G2 but haven’t seen this update yet. T-Mobile is rolling it out slowly, and unlike many other smartphones, there is no way in initiate a system update manually on the G2. There are some performance improvements and some minor bug fixes included with the new update as well. The radio was updated, which hopefully fixes reception problem complaints.
Have a look at the photos to confirm this nice surprise for G2 owners. Has anyone gotten the update yet?
Update: T-Mobile is denying both WiFi calling and Mobile Hotspot features on the T-Mobile G-2. Here is their statement:
“Wi-Fi Calling and tethering/Wi-Fi sharing are not currently supported on the T-Mobile G2. T-Mobile knows these features are important to consumers and we’re working to deliver them to G2 users in the future. We have nothing further to announce at this time.”
The G2 was released with code supporting mobile hotspot sharing, but T-Mobile had disabled it. Perhaps the OTA update was a limited testing rollout, with the real update coming later. T-Mobile has not announced a rollout date for WiFi calling or activating the Mobile Hotspot feature. That would also make the feature being free a lot less likely, as delaying the rollout gives Magenta plenty of time to come up with a pricing plan.