T-Mobile has launched an online emulator that lets potential G1 users get down the feel of the device. The emulator presents the device open and ready for action. Users can get a virtual feel for the full QWERTY keyboard, the touch screen and a host of other features and functions. The emulator lets users simulate calls, e-mails, Web browsing, messaging and navigate music libraries all in a virtual online environment.

Since its debut two weeks ago, the T-Mobile G1, formerly known as the HTC Dream, has taken the market by storm. It's earned comparisons to the Apple iPhone, its main touch screen rival, mainly for its multimedia focus and its use of T-Mobile's high-speed 3G network.

And the T-Mobile, Google and HTC camps are confident the G1 will take off. Last week, HTC, which makes the hardware for the T-Mobile G1, said it expects to sell between 400,000 and 500,000 of the handsets in the fourth quarter. Taiwanese news site CENS also estimated that T-Mobile is planning to order between 1.5 and 2 million G1s through 2009. It remains unclear, however, if the T-Mobile G1 will be able to unseat Apple for touch-screen smartphone supremacy. Apple sold 1 million first-generation iPhones during its first quarter of release and 1 million iPhone 3G models through its first release weekend.

Along with its 3G support and full QWERTY keyboard, the T-Mobile G1 offers Wi-Fi, GPS and several other features. It also gives users access to Google's Android Market, the open-source Linux mobile operating system's application platform where third-party developers can create and offer applications to be downloaded to the device. The market offers a similar experience to the iPhone's AppStore, but Google has maintained that it will take a hands-off approach and enable developers to offer applications without fees, review or Google approval.