While many hoped that February's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona would be a sort of debutante ball for Google's Android mobile operating system, in reality Android's showing was more like a small wine and cheese affair. To those hungry for more Android-flavored handsets and an end to food-related cell phone metaphors, take heart — in addition to the one major announcement that did land at MWC confirming the upcoming launch of the HTC Magic (aka T-Mobile G2), HTC this week indicated it has at least two more Android phones slated to launch this year. CEO Peter Chou confirmed "at least three" including the Magic but declined to comment on outside reports that as many as five new Android handsets are in the works for 2009.

Not to be outshone by certain other phone-related news from today, Samsung jumped into the mobile announcement fray with some initial specs for its planned first Android device also slated to hit the streets in 2009. Selecting a dealer show in Amsterdam to reveal the first details of the phone, a reported 0% of the audience was shocked to learn that it would be a large touchscreen candybar, with capacitive (like the original Android G1 or the iPhone) control, not resistive (like the Samsung Omnia or HTC Touch Diamond). The yet-as-unnamed phone will feature a 528 MHz processor, quad-band GSM, 3G via HSPA, stereo Bluetooth, microSD expansion slot, and an unspecified resolution camera, most likely 3.2 or 5-megapixels. As with such things there is no price or launch date information available yet, but we'll be busy de-interlacing the frames of that insanely blurry image above hunting for the details sure to be hidden therein.

 

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