Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement The first mobile telephone using Google's Android software has been unveiled. The T-Mobile G1 handset will be available in the UK in time for Christmas. The first device to run the search giant's operating system will feature a touch screen as well as a Qwerty keyboard. It will be available for free on T-Mobile tariffs of over £40 a month and includes unlimited net browsing. Other features include a three megapixel camera, a 'one click' contextual search and a browser that users can zoom in on by tapping the screen. The handset will be wi-fi and 3G enabled and has built-in support for YouTube. Users will also have access the so-called Android Market, where they will be able to download a variety of applications. Prototypes The T-Mobile G1 is the first phone to use Android Google announced its plans for the Android phone software in November 2007 with a declared aim of making it easier to get at the web while on the move. To help develop Android, Google also unveiled the Open Handset Alliance - a partnership of more than 30 firms that would work to make phone software easier to work with. The group includes operators such as Telefonica, handset makers such as HTC and Motorola as well as chip makers such as Intel and Qualcomm. Many of the partners demonstrated early prototype Android phones at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona in mid-February. The idea behind Android is to do for phone software what the open source Linux software has done for PCs. Developers of phone software can get at most of the core elements of the Android software to help them write better applications. Smartphones However, in launching Android, Google faces stiff competition from established players such as Nokia with its Symbian software and Microsoft with its Mobile operating system. More recently Apple has been gaining customers with its much hyped iPhone. The Android software is squarely aimed at the smartphone segment of the handset market which adds sophisticated functions to the basic calling and texting capabilities of most phones. Current estimates suggest that only 12-13% of the all handsets can be considered smartphones.
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The Android interface. Source: Google Software Development Kit.
The first phone that runs on Google Android was unveiled today by T-Mobile. The announcement of this new handset, named the T-Mobile G1, was made in an event run by T-Mobile USA which took place today.

The event started at 14:30 UTC (10:30 local time) when Cole Brodman, the chief technology and innovation officer of T-Mobile USA, started introducing the people who were going to be present at the launch. These people were Andy Rubin, who represents Google, and Christopher Schlaffer, who is the CTO of Deutsche Telekom.

Five minutes later Schlaffer announced that Google Android will be available for Christmas 2008 on T-Mobile for customers of Deutsche Telekom. The new phone was then revealed by Cole Brodman, who described the phone as "iconic." 

Commentators, however, dismissed claims that the phone was iconic.  Marguerite Reardon from CNET said that Android looks rather like the iPhone, and as a result she does not think the phone can be described as iconic. She also said that the Android device looks the Danger Hiptop device, which is also known as the T-Mobile Sidekick.

The new phone will be available free in the UK for users with contracts that cost over 40GB£ (Approximately 74 US$) per month. These planned tariffs are expected to include unlimited web access.

Android is completely open source, and was developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance, a partnership of over thirty companies working to develop open source software for mobile phones.