G1 phone announced by HTC and T-mobile

This morning at a special event, representatives from T-Mobile, Google, and the Open Handset Alliance held a special event in New York to unveil the long awaited first handset to run Android.

The device features quadband GSM/quintuple band UMTS/HSDPA access, Wi-Fi radio, a built-in GPS tranceiver with compass, 3.17 inch touch screen display running at HVGA resolution (480 x 320, same as the BlackBerry Bold), microSDHC expansion slot with support for 8GB cards, and a hidden QWERTY keyboard.

In terms of software the device will be preloaded with Google Maps featuring StreetView support, Amazon MP3 Store (though the client is preinstalled, downloads can only be done over Wi-Fi, while previews can be handled by the 3G connection presumably to ease network load), Android Market, YouTube, and other third party apps.

Pricing for the device is set at $179.99 after new 2 year agreement and the addition of a specific set of data plans, one with unlimited data access and a bucket of messages for $25 or unlimited messaging and data for $35 on top of a required voice plan for purchase with no prepaid option at this time.

The device is slated to launch on October 22nd in White, Black or Brown

Lot of tech enthuciasts are waiting for oct 22nd to try out their hands on G1 and also to develop more games on G1.