The first Android mobile phone, called the Dream, is scheduled to be announced on September 23. Until then, we’ll have to settle for every small bit of information that the search giant deems us worthy of.

After development advocate for Android Mike Jennings offered a sneak preview of the gadget during a presentation at Google Developer Day, the „Wall Street Journal” has recently revealed that the Dream will be priced at $199 on a two-year contract with T-Mobile.

This puts Google’s product in line with Apple Incorporated’s iPhone 3G, which, along with smartphones from Research in Motion, Motorola and Samsung, represent the new mobile’s competition on the market.

Google’s Android software includes an operating system, middleware and key applications, featuring app framework that enables replacement of components, a Dalvik virtual machine, an integrated browser, a custom 2D graphics library, 3D graphics based on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification, which is a subset of OpenGL3D graphics API designed for mobile phones, PDAs and video game consoles and media support for video and audio files.

The platform was released on November 5, 2007, two years after Google purchased the Palo Alto-based Android Incorporated.

The Dream is the first mobile phone to run on the Android operating system, the gadget being expected to begin shipping this October. High Tech Computer Corporation will be the one to make the Android phone available to consumers, a company that is a member of the Open Handset Alliance, a business alliance between Google, Intel, Motorola, Qualcom, Samsung, LG, T-Mobile, Nvidia and Wind River Systems that was established on November 5, 2007. The OHA is aimed at developing open standards for mobile devices.

Although wireless analyst at investment bank Rutberg Rajeev Chand, among others, states that the Dream will not manage to give rise to the same craze as Apple’s iPhone did when it was first released, everyone agrees that Google’s product will offer operators more control over the Android phones, which the competition has failed to do. The iPhone, which is deemed by many as being held in a too tight grip by Apple, is a multimedia smartphone fitted with a multi-touch screen and a virtual keyboard. It was introduced in the United States on June 29, 2007, after the company had announced it six months before. „Time” magazine named it Invention of the Year. The 3G version of the mobile phone was released on July 11 this year. The device’s features include support for third party apps, 300 hours of standby, 8 to 10 hours of 2G talk, 5 hours of 3G talk, 7 hours of video and 24 hours of audio.

Until the official release of the Android mobile phone, what Google has in store in order to dazzle consumers and achieve ascendency over Apple’s products is anybody’s guess, since the company have been extremely stingy with details on the gadget so far.