T-Mobile US Confirms That Google's Android Smartphone is Coming Next Week

It is official, T-Mobile, Google's long-time mobile partner, will announce the first Android Smartphone, the HTC Dream, next week during a press conference in NYC and possibly during a Google Developer's day held in Munich, Germany on the same day.

Techcrunch is saying that the device will cost USD 200 -on a two-year contract with T-Mobile - although some say it could go down to USD 149 - with the smartphone costing USD 400 when purchased alone; the blog also carries the screenshot of a T-mobile US page which puts time of launch at 10:30am.

A device that looked lilke a HTC Dream was also on display yesterday to a Google Developer Audience in Wembley, London.

The phone will almost certainly come with a tactile screen, complete with a trackball (just like the Blackberry), a QWERTY keyboard, a digital camera, a full array of Google applications including Chrome and assisted GPS functionality.

The Android platform will be another ecosystem in the crowded world of mobile phones and will compete with Nokia's Symbian, Apple, Microsoft Windows Mobile (and CE) and RIM's range of Blackberry Smartphones with other lesser known opensource and proprietary platforms vying to grab a piece of the marketshare as well.