We were finally allowed to get our paws on a T-Mobile G1 Android last night, though sadly not for long enough to give it a sensible review. First off, it has to be said that its importance (if any) is more as a new platform rather than as a new device.

The G1 is not as funky as Apple's iPhone, and if it were not for the involvement of Google, and the interest in Android, I am not sure that it would have got any more attention than some of the other phones in T-Mobile's range.

This is not because the design is bad; quite the contrary. It is because the fuss over the iPhone has obscured how good rival mobiles have got.

That said, the G1 is a useful, well designed little device offering some of the gesture navigation of the iPhone. Below the screen are four buttons for answer, home page, go back, and hang-up, plus a rather sensuous little trackball that doubles as Enter and facilitates navigation very well. In addition, a central menu button brings up an on-screen choice of applications: dialler, contacts, browser, and maps.

The screen slides across and back to reveal a five-line qwerty keyboard - one feature it has over the iPhone.

The 3.2in TFT 320x480 touchscreen is bright and responsive and a microSD slot at the side allows you to expand storage to a (theoretical) 32GB from the on-board  256MB of ROM and 192MB of Ram.

T-Mobile confirmed pricing as free with a £40-a-month contract for a minimum 18-months, but it will be offered at an unspecified price on cheaper pre-pay deals. There will be a "soft cap" of 3GB downloads a month, which means you will be hassled to upgrade your contract if your exceed it regularly. 

Incidentally, T-Mobile also demonstrated this little docking station that allows you to share a 3g data connection in the home. You link to it using Wifi and it links to the web. It doubles as a router but there is just one hard ethernet port at the rear. Presumably the reasoning is that if you are relying on a 3G connection for your internet needs you are not ablout to hook in a lot of devices. The share dock is free with a £20-a-month contract.