NEW YORK (AP):

The first cellphone running Google Inc's mobile software looks something like Apple Inc's iPhone and has a large touch screen, but it also packs a trackball, a slide-out keyboard and easy access to Google's email and mapping programmes.

Google made its debut as a cellphone software provider Tuesday at an event where wireless carrier T-Mobile said it will begin selling the G1 phone for US$179 with a two-year contract. The device hits stores in the United States on October 22 and heads to Britain in November and other European countries early next year.

The phone will be sold in T-Mobile stores only in the US cities where the company has rolled out its faster, third-generation wireless data network. By launch, that will be 21 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Miami.

In other areas, people will be able to buy the phone from T-Mobile's website. The phone does work on T-Mobile's slower data network, but it's optimised for the faster networks. It can also connect at Wi-Fi hot spots.

High-resolution screen

Like the iPhone, the G1 has a high-resolution screen, making it easier to browse websites that haven't been specifically adapted for a cellphone. Unlike the iPhone, Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerrys and most other high-end smart phones sold in the US, the G1 has a very limited ability to connect to corporate email servers. That means the device's initial market is likely to be consumers.

Google is giving away Android, the software that underlies the G1, for free, and opening the operating system to third-party developers who can create their own programmes. The software has been seen as Google's way of getting a foothold on the mobile Internet, which industry watchers see as a big growth area, and to make advertising on cellphone screens a viable business.

On the face of it, the G1 doesn't do much that other high-end phones don't already do. But Google is counting on the device to unleash the creativity of software developers, who are free to write applications for it.

"There aren't a lot of 'wow' features on it. I think what we can expect from it is that it's going to be a good Internet phone," said Lance Ulanoff, editor-in-chief of PC Magazine.