T-Mobile is expected to launch the first Google Android phone on Tuesday at an event in New York. The mobile, already dubbed the “G-phone,” will run on Android, Google’s new software for mobile phones. It will be launched in New York tomorrow afternoon, and will be available in the US next month. It is anticipated that the phone will be available in British stores by November.
“The phone, a somewhat chunky model called Dream built by HTC, is expected to cost about $200 from T-Mobile and go on sale in October,” writes CNET’s Stephen Shankland. “Until other partners in the Google-spawned, 34-member Open Handset Alliance bring their Android products to market, this small piece of electronics will shoulder a lot of ambitions.”
Android has been in development since last year and though it is Google’s mobile operating system, a group called the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) has been instrumental in the project. The OHA consists of more than 30 technology companies including eBay, Samsung, T-Mobile and Intel as well as Google. The launch of the handset will spark a fierce mobile phone war ahead of the lucrative Christmas shopping season. Google’s device will be pitted directly against Apple’s hugely popular iPhone 3G and other forthcoming phones, such as the Nokia N96 and Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1, as well as businessman’s favourite the BlackBerry. Google is expected to have its newest web browser, Chrome, installed on the G1, along with Google Docs and Google Maps. Other applications that are to come with the phone are “BreadCrumbz,” a GPS navigation system that will also allow users to view real-world photos of the area in which they’re situated, as well as its surroundings, and “TuneWiki,” a karaoke player for mobiles that synchronizes lyrics to YouTube songs.
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