I’ve just come back from the launch of the second Google Android phone to be released, and I must say I’m impressed. Its sleek profile and solid build quality are a world away from the dumpy and disappointing T-Mobile G1, which we reviewed at the back end of last year.

UPDATE: Read the full review here

It’s been manufactured by the same company as the G1 – HTC – the firm also behind the Touch Diamond2 we reviewed last week, and it’s available for free on a £35 per month tariff, which gets you 600 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data.

And while I’m none too keen on the fact that it’s only going to be available in white, I did warm immediately to the solid and sleek feel of this new Android phone. It weighs 118.5g and its dimensions  - 55mm wide, 113mm tall and just 13.65mm thick – make it extremely pocket friendly. The gloss finish, sculpted lines and oversized trackball all contribute to a sophisticated look that the G1 could only dream of.

Apart from the looks, though, the key difference is the on-screen touch keyboard and I was keen to try this out…

It’s a full-screen Qwerty affair that gets larger keys in landscape than in portrait mode; the Magic’s accelerometer ensures that the switch happens automatically depending on which way around you hold the phone. And there’s feedback, too – whenever you hit a key, the Magic trembles lightly in your hands. Disappointingly, there aren’t any alternative key layouts, unlike the BlackBerry Storm, which switches between Qwerty and two-letter-per-key mode.

But while it’s difficult to assess fully after a five minute play, first impressions are good. I made a few typos initially, but it didn’t seem over fiddly and the combination of the capacitive touchscreen (a la iPhone) with the feedback seemed to work effectively.

The phone’s Google Maps boasts the new Street View mode, a feature that Vodafone was keen to push during my introduction to the phone. And I can see why: in tandem with the phone’s built-in digital compass, it’s quite something to pick a location, and physically sweep the phone around left to right, even up and down to take a look at your surroundings. Among other new features, there’s now also instant uploads to Picasa, video recording and YouTube uploads.

But the hardware remains largely the same. The screen is still 3.2in in size and boasts a resolution of 320 x 480; it has a HSDPA data connection, GPS, an accelerometer and digital compass (as already mentioned), plus Bluetooth 2.0 and a 3.2-megapixel camera.

But what will make or break this phone is battery life – the G1 was appalling in this respect. This phone has a larger capacity battery, which should give longer life between charges.

We’ll post a full review when we get our hands on the phone, which will be in the next week.