T-Mobile USA is now offering its G1 Android (News - Alert)-powered mobile phone nationwide. The phone is part of the Open Handset Alliance’s open standards efforts.

 

The device comes preloaded with several Google (News - Alert) applications, including Maps (which includes satellite view, Google Street View with a built-in compass), Gmail, a dedicated YouTube (News - Alert) player, Google Calendar, and Google Talk. A GPS receiver is also built-in.

 

The G1 comes with Amazon's MP3 mobile application. Users can connect to the Amazon.com (News - Alert) online digital music store to browse and make purchases.

 

T-Mobile claims that G1 is the first phone to offer access to Android Market, which hosts unique applications and mashups of existing and new services from developers around the world.

 

The G1 runs on the Android operating system. Most Android software developers write their applications in Java, but since Android does not directly run J2ME applications, they need to be compiled first to a unique non-Java bytecode before they can be executed on an Android powered phone.

 

The home screen app provided on the G1 offers a desktop with shortcut icons similar to the one on Windows mobile devices, but gives the user three screens worth of space for storing more shortcuts. The G1 comes with ChromeLite, a stripped down version of the Google Chrome browser.

 

For a limited time, applications available on Android Market are available free to T-Mobile (News - Alert) G1 users.

 

“T-Mobile customers who have pre-ordered the phone, roughly half have traded up from a basic handset, illustrating the leap many consumers are taking to a rich, accessible mobile Web experience,” said  Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer at T-Mobile USA, in a statement. “Its design, functionality and value make the first-of-its-kind T-Mobile G1 a truly approachable device for the masses.”

 

Customers can purchase the T-Mobile G1 at T-Mobile retail stores and select third-party stores in major cities where T-Mobile’s 3G service is currently available. T-Mobile 3G service is currently available in 95 major metro areas.