Fianlly, the wait is over and what a day, it was? The first Google powered-phone is officially now known as the T-Mobile G1. When closed it looks a lot like the iPhone. But that screen actually swivels out to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard, something that iPhone doesn’t have.
The phone will cost $179, and existing T-Mobile customers can preorder the phone right from today and have it shipped to their places by the official commercial launch date of October 22.
The G1 is 3G-enabled, so it’ll work on T-Mobile’s newly rolled out 3G network. It also has Wi-Fi.
It’ll read Word, Excel, and other Office documents, but so far isn’t compatible with Microsoft Exchange, so no work e-mail compatibility, yet.
Some other cool features are, music purchases available through a special Amazon.com music store, drag and drop functionality for images (which can be dragged right onto your screen saver) and applications, Google Street View with directions for getting around town while you drive or walk (plus the ability to get directions instantly by clicking on any address), and ShopSavvy (an app that lets you scan the barcode on any product with the phone and immediately get the best prices via the Internet).
