Let's get this over with: the new T-Mobile G1 Google phone is no Apple iPhone killer. In case you were wondering, the iPhone has better applications (and a better app store), provides a more enjoyable entertainment experience for movies and music, and supports a true multitouch screen with gesture controls.

But that's nowhere near the whole story. There's still an awful lot of reasons to get excited about the G1. In fact, we'd say it is easily in the top-five of all mobile phones ever made and showcases why Google Android was worth the long wait. A truly 'open' device, the G1 is locked as a T-Mobile device only for three months, after which you can use any service.

The G1 is available for free on T-Mobile Combi and Flext price plans from £40 a month, including unlimited mobile internet, says the company. Combi 35 offers 800 minutes and unlimited texts while Flext 40 gives up to 1,250 minutes or up to 2,500 texts, or any mix of the two.

Android Market, which is the most compelling feature on the phone, is also wide open: any developer can create any sort of app and make it available for all G1 users. (Apple is more restrictive about how they run their app store.) Overall, the G1 is a stellar phone and points to a future when a phone is as flexible and useful as the PC on your desk.

Out-of-the-box experience

Like the Sidekick phones from T-Mobile, the G1 will impress right out of the box. It comes with a standard pair of headphones. (Sadly, they use a proprietary HTC connection called ExtUSB, but you can get an adapter to use regular headphones.) The device feels slightly hefty at 158g, but it also seems more durable than some phones, especially the recently released HTC Touch Pro.

There's a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that is functional and sturdy, but too small unless you have dainty fingers. We actually prefer typing on the soft keyboard of the iPhone, surprisingly enough. Yet, typing on the G1's slide-out means you can see your email, web browser, and any other app in full-screen mode.

The G1's 3.2-inch TFT-LCD display runs in 320x480 resolution - a hair smaller than the 3.5-inch 480x320 resolution screen on the iPhone. At first glance, the G1 looks crisp and bright, but in a side-by-side comparison to the iPhone, it's obvious that the G1 screen is not really meant for watching movies - it's just slightly too small and the colour contrast doesn't pop that much. No matter: it is intended as a powerful application-centric phone for business use and for entertainment.

On further inspection, you'll find the G1 has a menu button, a home button, and a back button. To place a call, you click the phone icon and dial a number, or choose one of your contacts (thankfully imported automatically from your Gmail account). There are volume controls on the side and a camera button.

There's also a very small trackball that you may rarely - if ever - use. The G1 supports HSDPA for high-speed browsing and email, among other things. Voice calls sounded crisp and clear, a testament to the fact that HTC has figured out how to make smartphones, and that T-Mobile generally sounds clear.
Standard specs, for a smartphone

The G1 has built-in GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, a 3.2 megapixel camera, a microSD expansion slot that's SD 2.0 compatible, and 256MB of internal storage. Okay, those are becoming fairly standard specs for a next-gen smartphone, but let's cover them in detail anyway.