U.S. cell phone provider T-Mobile commenced retail sales of its new G1 touch phone yesterday in cities where the company’s G3 digital mobile services are available. Users in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and Seattle were in on that party.

While tech reviewers generally agreed that the G1 offered little, design-wise, to distinguish it from other large-screen touch phones, they did enthuse over the Google Android cell phone operating system, which also made its debut on store shelves with the launch of the G1.

While acknowledging Android’s potential to revolutionize the “mobile data experience”, reviewers also agreed that the system is not quite there yet. How quickly the new OS develops and matures will depend, in large measure, on how quickly consumer business users embrace it en masse.

Earlier this week, Motorola announced that it was developing an Android-based touch phone (not yet named), which is expected to arrive at Motorola dealers of record in major markets across North America sometime in the fist quarter of next year.