Google begins its ride in the smartphone business. Today, the giant company launched G1, a HTC-manufactured, Android platform-powered smartphone which is supposed to be a iPhone 3G killer or at least give Apple and the other players of this segment of the mobile phone industry a run for their money.

The G1, or “the Dream” as HTC would have named it, is available starting today for the price of $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile and mail-in rebate. The phone costs $400 at full retail, without a service plan.

The phone comes with a 1GB microSD card but supports up to 16GB microSDHC cards.

The G1 is the first phone powered by Google's Android operating system. The next Android-powered phones will probably be the G2 and the phone Motorola plans to launch sometime next year. The G1 is being produced by Taiwan's High-Tech Computer (HTC), a well known smartphone producer.

The G1 Android features a 3.2-inch touch screen display that slides out from the main body of the phone to reveal a QWERTY keyboard. For smooth Web navigation, the G1 features a trackball. Besides a full HTML web browser, the G1 also integrates Google's contact and e-mail services and several Google-developed services.

The G1 also works as a simple music player and a YouTube client. It has a built-in Amazon MP3 access that allows users to purchase songs and albums on Wi-Fi.

The current color offer for the G1 is black and bronze with white to appear soon.