Google mobile is coming soon

Google and T-Mobile will later today unveil the G1 handset, the first mobile device to run on the Internet giant’s Android open-platform system.

The G1, manufactured by Taiwan-based company HTC, will feature a touchscreen, similar to an iPhone, but will include a slide-out Qwerty keyboard.

The handset is expected to go on sale in the US next month and to be available in the UK around Christmas, costing just over £100.

The Android operating system is an open-platform system, which is free to use within devices or for developers to write applications, such as games, word processing or maps.

The system is expected to propagate a developer community, similar to that of the iPhone, though unlike Apple, which controls all iPhone applications through its iTunes store, applications for the Android system can be downloaded from anywhere.

Google unveiled its Android platform prototype in conjunction with UK chip designer ARM, at the GSMA annual Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain earlier this year.