Google unveiled the first Android-powered cell phone last week, a T-Mobile-branded device dubbed the G1. Comparisons to Apple's iPhone were immediate -- and that is a good thing for Android, when you consider what a raucous and contentious week it was for iPhone developers.

The first phone to use Google's Android platform is set to debut on Sept. 23. Will it generate the buzz that Apple's iPhone did when it first launched? Unlikely, writes Reuters' Yinka Adegoke. However, developers are looking forward to Android's openness, something iPhone sorely lacks.

Motorola posted and then removed specs for its Verizon-destined, Android-based "Droid" phone, says eWEEK. Meanwhile, Motorola "Calgary" and "Zeppelin" Android phones have been tipped, T-Mobile launched Huawei's Android-based "Pulse" phone in the UK, an HTC Desire photo has appeared, and HTC released source code for the Hero, say various reports.

It’s an odd thing for yours truly to witness the Linux community, usually somewhat measured in their praise for any one thing, collectively wet themselves over Android. This isn’t at all a knock against Google’s mobile OS (or the Linux community, necessarily), but quite the opposite — for FLOSS phone users Android is their saviour from the iPhone.

Google's decision to launch an open-source mobile platform may be key to Android phone sales overtaking the iPhone's by 2012, according to estimates by Informa.

HTC dominates the Android phone market but other mobile makers are picking up the Android pace. The majority of Android-based mobile phones released to date have been made by HTC but there are also a number of other Android phones worth considering. We look at some of the alternatives to HTC if you're determined to own an Android phone.

When Android first debuted on the HTC Dream (also known as the G1) back in October of 2008, it was deemed an "iPhone Killer." While it didn't quite slay Apple's handset, it was the first step in a revolution against the tyrannous iPhone. The initial Android platform bested the iPhone OS on several levels, but lacked some key functionalities that the iPhone could provide.

LG has launched its first Android phone, a QWERTY slider called the "Eve," on Rogers Wireless' network in Canada. In other Android news, LG is prepping a second Android phone, this time with a Snapdragon processor, for Korea, and Philips has launched a V808 oPhone handset in China.

Looking for some cool apps for your Android phone? Google's Android phone OS is just a couple of years old but has already captured users' minds. And in the less that 18 months since the launch of the Android App Market, more than 30 000 applications for the platform have been added to the marketplace. This is not nearly as many as Apple's iPhone app store but it is increasing rapidly.