First Android phone: The details

US carrier T-Mobile and Google overnight detailed the the first-ever mobile handset running Google's new Android operating system.

(Credit: T-Mobile)

Called the T-Mobile G1, it has both full touch-screen functionality, a QWERTY keyboard, a trackball for one-handed navigation, plus access to mobile Web applications like Google Maps Street View, Gmail, YouTube, and more.

The G1 is available for pre-order now in the US in limited quantities if you're an existing T-Mobile customer. It will be available in retail stores beginning October 22, for US$179 with a two-year voice and data agreement. It will be available in the UK beginning November and across Europe in early 2009, but no Australian dates have been announced.

The phone's features include: Wi-Fi, 3G (with dual-band UMTS), multimedia messaging, e-mail support (Gmail as well as other POP3 and IMAP email services), instant messaging (with Google Talk as an option of course), a full HTML browser, GPS functionality, a 3-megapixel camera, the ability to multitask, a music player with access to the Amazon MP3 store, Bluetooth, and quad-band GSM support.

Another feature is one-click contextual search, which lets you search for anything simply by typing in something with the keyboard. This is very similar to the search feature on the Helio Ocean, in that it can search your contacts as well as the Web just by tapping in a few letters.

As for Google Maps, it will support Google Maps Street View, which lets you explore cities at the street-level as if you were right there on the corner. It will also have a built-in compass on the phone and allow you to view locations and navigate 360 degrees by moving the phone around.

All of the songs on the Amazon store are DRM-free, and you can buy and download the songs directly from the store to the device (only if you have a Wi-Fi connection though; you can search, sample, and buy with a cellular connection however). A song is US$0.89, while an album is anywhere from US$5.99 to US$9.99.

Listen to reporters Stephen Shankland and Tom Krazit from ZDNet.com.au sister site CNET News discuss the new Android handset in this podcast:

Last but not least, the G1 will offer access to the Android Market, which is an application store similar to the iTunes App Store. Some of the available applications include ShopSavvy, an application that lets you scan the UPC code of a product with the phone's camera and instantly compare prices with other stores; Ecorio, an application that tracks your carbon footprint; and BreadCrumbz, an application that lets you create a step-by-step visual map using photos. Of course, you can also buy games like Namco's Pac-Man.

The T-Mobile G1 won't have Microsoft Exchange support right off the bat, though its open source infrastructure means that could be easily remedied with a third-party application (according to Google anyway).

Gmail is available as push and yes, you can use it to read Microsoft Office documents and PDFs. There is no stereo Bluetooth, and you can't use it as a tethered modem. The G1 is SIM locked to T-Mobile for the time being.