Google and T-Mobile USA on Tuesday finally raised the curtain on the much-anticipated G1 phone, the first commercial cell phone to support Google’s Android open-source mobile operating system.

Both the unveiling, which took place in New York City, and the phone were surprisingly unremarkable.

That was because most of the phone’s features were leaked weeks ago. Also, the phone’s list of features, from the slide-out keyboard and Wi-Fi to its touch-screen, has become almost commonplace.

The G1, made by HTC, will hit U.S. stores on October 22 and will cost $179 with a two-year T-Mobile service contract. Voice and data plans will be extra. The G1 will be SIM-locked to T-Mobile, so the race to unlock the phone will begin next month.

The phone, which will be available in the U.K. in November and later in other international markets, will come preloaded with applications such as Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, and a client for Amazon’s MP3store.

Existing T-Mobile customers can pre-order the G1 starting Tuesday.

Developers will be able to market applications for the open phone via the Android Marketplace, which is modeled on Apple’s App Store.

Choosing New York City to unveil the G1 made sense since T-Mobile’s coverage in the Big Apple is pretty strong, but T-Mobile's 3G data coverage is available in only 16 markets in the U.S. T-Mobile expects to extend that coverage to 27 markets by year's end.