T-Mobile's newest set was officially announced today at a press conference in New York. Set to launch on October 22nd for $179 on T-Mobile in the US on a two-year stint, or $399 contract-free. Starting in early November all you folks in United Kingdom will have access and Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and the Netherlands can expect their release in the first quarter of 2009. The G1 features WiFi and 3G radios, a 3-megapixel camera, and support for the Android Market and Amazon's mobile MP3 store, giving owners apps and tunes on the go. Existing T-Mobile subscribers get first dibs, with orders being accepted starting today. Here's a rundown of the specs:

• HSDPA 1700 / 2100 plus quadband EDGE
• WiFi
• 3D graphics acceleration
• 3-megapixel camera
• 256 MB integrated storage, 1GB microSD card included
  
• Android Market for on-device app purchases
• Amazon MP3 app for on-device music purchases
• Push Gmail support with full HTML client
• Bluetooth (but no A2DP)
• Google Maps with Street View
• No Microsoft Exchange support
• No desktop synchronization -- it all happens over the air
• 350 minutes talk time over 3G, 406 minutes over GSM
• 402 hours standby over 3G, 319 hours over GSM

We just happened to be in Sao Paulo, Brazil, this week and when the news popped up that a group of Brazilians had unlocked the iPhone 3G, we just had to pop in to say hi. Like the Turbo SIM unlock for the original iPhone, this system uses a wafer-thin card that piggybacks on your SIM while in the phone. Of course, Turbo SIM needed some tools installed on the iPhone -- so Jailbreak was key -- this solution does not, just DesbloqueioBr's chip and your SIM. Paulo and Breno of DesbloqueioBr explained that the magic lies in the programming of the SIM adapter itself, by tricking the iPhone into believing a test SIM has been inserted, the iPhone allows service and then functionality is handed back to your SIM. We tested the unlock in our own FIDO locked handset with a local TIM SIM card, then in their AT&T set, and it worked perfectly in both. How much will this cost average Joe iPhone user? They were pretty tight lipped as to what the final pricing will be and how exactly they'll deliver the service, but we should hear more in the next few days. Check the vid of it all in action after the break.

AT&T has announced plans to cut 1.5 percent of its workforce of 309,000. Sad times ahead for the company? Not quite. Apparently the 4600 jobs will be harvested from managerial spots in its flagging wired home phone business, so no worries, wireless types. Now here's where it gets interesting: word has it that AT&T also expects to hire back that same number of employees into the fold -- the wireless fold, that is -- keeping the total headcount nice and steady. We'd wager that we'll see more cuts like this in the coming months and years, so if you were pondering that job as a switchboard operator, time to retrain. So yeah, turns out it's business as usual for the number one carrier after all -- unless you happen to be in the 4600-strong group of obsoleted folks, that is.

[Via mocoNews]