Australian company Kogan announced pre-order availability this morning of the Kogan Agora and Kogan Agora Pro smartphones with a shipping date of January 29, 2009. Both the Agora and the Agora Pro, like the T-Mobile G1, run Google's Android OS and will arrive as the world's second Google phone. The Agora features a 624MHz processor, 128MB of RAM, a 2.5-inch touch screen, an integrated QWERTY keyboard, 3G connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0, and a microSD expansion slot for additional media storage. For slightly more money, the Agora Pro includes Wi-Fi, GPS, and a 2.0 megapixel camera.

If you're eager to get your hands on one of these new Google phones with a form factor that is more akin to a BlackBerry device, international shipping will raise the price a bit. The Kogan Agora costs AU$199 which is about $223 U.S. dollars after international shipping. The Kogan Agora Pro costs AU$299 which is about $297 U.S. dollars after international shipping. However, both phones are available unlocked and without contract, so if you've been thinking about giving the Android platform a try, you could purchase one of these phones to replace your current phone or as a secondary phone for exploring the Android OS. Kogan is expecting demand to outweigh availability, so if you want to ensure your unit ships on that January 29th date, you should probably order sooner rather than later.

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