Gadget Of The Week: T-Mobile G1

Now that T-Mobile, Google, and HTC have come together to launch the new T-Mobile G1 - the very first phone to run Google's Android OS - the Google v Apple beatdown can finally begin in earnest. With a solid QWERTY keyboard and a reportedy decent trackball, the G1 aims for the biggest chink in iPhone's armor: buttons. Buttons and the enterprise users who love/need them.

But the interface and its virtual desktop are no slouch, and the G1 seems to do a good job of not only distinguishing itself from the iPhone, but holding its own with an accessible, customizable desktop presentation. Features like a combined compass and accelerometer mesh with Google's Street View to give you real-time virtual navigation that makes my iPhone 3G's admittedly excellent map features green with envy.

While the application store and its contents will need a more thorough vetting, it's fantastic to have the prospect of loading apps onto the phone in other ways, like sideloading from a PC. Likewise, T-Mobile's brand new HSDPA network sounds fantastic but will need some serious street testing.

With Exchange missing at launch, the G1 won't be all things to all people, but we're eager to hear how the push support works with Gmail - we're also eager to see how the phone will manage without a desktop client. But for $180 and a $35 unlimited data plan, look for the G1 to be pretty popular when it begins selling on October 22.