If there’s an Android smartphone that can capably match the quality of a standalone point-and-shoot digital camera, it’s the HTC myTouch 4G Slide, which, not by coincidence, is about to become available on T-Mobile.

HTC has been flaunting the HTC myTouch 4G Slide as a smartphone providing the “most advanced camera” among any other existing smartphones. The wait for this smartphone to prove its mettle won’t have to be long because it’s coming out on T-Mobile some time in early July. (Rumors say it’s going to be on July 6–but that’s just rumor.)

As a camera phone, the HTC myTouch 4G Slide’s camera specs and features are practically comparable to–perhaps even better than–a high-end digital camera’s. The HTC myTouch 4G Slide’s 8-megapixel camera has the following features:

• Back-illuminated sensor — Perfect for capturing photos under low lighting conditions.
• Aperture focal ratio of f/2.2 — Provides bigger apperture size, thus allowing more light to come in, resulting in improved performance under low-light scenes.
• Zero shutter lag — No time is wasted between the time you trigger the shutter (i.e., take the photo) and the time the photo is actually recorded or captured. This results in sharper and more vivid images.
• SweepShot — Great for capturing panoramic shots in one–yes, a single–sweeping motion. Other cameras have an image-stitching solution for panoramic effects.
• ClearShot HDR — If this camera can take perfect photos under low light, it can take perfect photos under bright light.
• BurstShot — Fast-moving subjects can be framed with BurstShot, which captures several still images in rapid succession.

Apart from those tempting features of the HTC myTouch 4G Slide’s 8-megapixel camera, here are other great stuff that you can get for US$200 (with a 2-year contract on T-Mobile):

• Android 2.3 Gingerbread
• HTC Sense 3.0 UI
• 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon (dual-core)
• 3.7 inches Super LCD touchscreen display
• full 4-row slideout QWERTY (landscape)
• 4G data connection from T-Mobile
• native support for Netflix

Whether this phone is a true rival to standalone digicams remains to be seen. It has the potential, though. Will you forgo your next digicam purchase in favor of the HTC myTouch 4G Slide?

Image credits: Gizmodo, T-Mobile