G1: T-MOBILE LAUNCHES FIRST ANDROID PHONE

T-Mobile yesterday announced the international launch of the world’s first Android-powered mobile phone in partnership with Google. Available soon only for T-Mobile customers spanning two continents, the HTC-made "G1" combines full touch-screen functionality and a QWERTY keyboard plus trackball with a mobile Web experience.

“T-Mobile, Google and HTC share a similar vision for making the mobile Internet practical, relevant and fun,” said Peter Chou, president and CEO, of HTC (Taiwan) Corp.

A full HTML Web browser allows users to see any Web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then easily zoom in to expand any section by simply tapping on the screen. With built-in support for T-Mobile’s 3G and Edge network as well as Wi-Fi, the G1 can connect to the best available high-speed data connection for surfing the Web and downloading information quickly and effortlessly.

The T-Mobile G1 comes pre-loaded with a new application developed by Amazon.com that gives customers easy access to Amazon MP3, Amazon.com’s digital music download store with more than 6 million DRM-free MP3 tracks. Using the new application, T-Mobile G1 customers are able to search, sample, purchase and download music from Amazon MP3 directly to their device (downloading music from Amazon MP3 using the T-Mobile G1 requires a Wi-Fi connection; searching, sampling and purchasing music can be done anywhere with a cellular connection). The T-Mobile G1 will be the first device with the Amazon MP3 mobile application pre-loaded.

Now let's wait for the first cool music apps to arise and see if the G1 can become a serious iPhone alternative.

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