UPDATE 11:26 a.m.

Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, make a surprise appearance at the end of the event. They both talk about how the phone is a geek’s dream. Mr. Brin talks about how he wrote his own application, using the phone’s accelerometer, that allows you to throw the phone up in the air then (hopefully) catch it. The App will time how long it was in the air.

“We didn’t release it, but maybe I should put it up on the App store,” he mused. (Yes Google will run an app store for all the phones that use its Android operating system just like Apple.)

In the closest anyone got to discussing Google’s business model, Mr. Page noted that it’s hard to search the Internet when you are away from a computer.

“It’s hard to carry your laptop with you all the time, especially when you are roller blading,” he said. The Android phone will bring search (and all the money Google makes from it) to people’s pockets.

UPDATE 11:12 a.m.

Some facts from the demo videos:

My first impression is it is a lot like an iPhone, only with a pop-out keyboard. The differences that we can see are subtle. There is a different interface feature: if you hold the touchscreen down for several seconds, what Google calls a “long press,” up pops a menu of other things you can do, much like the right mouse button on a PC. When shopping on the Amazon store, it brings up related merchandise. When surfing the Web, it gives options for sharing the page. Apple, the devotee of one button mice, doesn’t have a context menu on the iPhone.

One of the crucial differences in the software is that it allows several applications to run at the same time. That means you can still receive an instant message from a friend while you surf the Internet. Apple said multi-tasking takes up too much system resource.

Not surprisingly, there is a lot of integration with Google. There is a button on the keyboard to bring up search. And Google Maps is woven through the service, including its Street View collection of photos. That means as you walk through a city, you can look at photos of where you are as well as simply looking around.

UPDATE 11:07 a.m.

Finally the key facts: In the United States, the price is $179, $20 less than the iPhone. The official launch date is October 22. But it will roll out over several weeks, and will be available in cities representing 80 percent of the population by November. Existing T-mobile customers can order them now on a special Web site.

It will be available in Britain in early November and in the rest of Europe next year.

T-Mobile has two data plans: $25 per month for limited data, e-mail and text messages. $35 a month for unlimited data and messages.

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I’m here at the Google, T-Mobile press conference.

They are definitely going for style of substance. It is in a vast space under the 59th Steet Bridge. They couldn’t have picked a less convenient place, all the way on the East Side on a day when world leaders and their limos are clogging the streets near the United Nations.

The press kit we were given has some photos of the new phone, known as the G1, and a fact sheet (without some of the important facts, like the price).

As we reported, it has a big color screen and a flip out keyboard. You can navigate by a track ball, in addition to a touch screen.

“The keyboard of the G1 will appeal to a wide variety of people,” said Peter Chou, the chief executive of HTC, which manufactures the phone. In the introductory remarks. Everyone is repeating “mobile Internet” and “open” as much as possible.

The phone will be able to watch YouTube videos, send IMs on Google and several other instant message systems, and run a few applications:

o ShopSavvy: designed to help people do comparative shopping

o Ecorio: developed to help people keep track of their daily travels and view what their carbon footprint looks like

o BreadCrumbz: enables people to create a step-by-step visual map using photos; customers can create their own routes, share them with friends or with the world

o Amazon MP3 Store (pre-installed on the device): enables people to search DRM-free, full-track MP3 music and download that music from Amazon directly to their device using a Wi-Fi connection

The hardware also has a music player, GPS navigation, Bluetooth connections, and a MicroSD slot for expansion. T-Mobile says it has five hours of talk time and 130 hours of standby time.