Take a look at that phone. It’s like the Nexus One, right? Just prettier. That UI looks great. And is that an optical trackball I see? This is the HTC Desire, the Nexus One’s smoking hot younger sister. It seems a bit strange that HTC would enter a contract with Google, build the Nexus One, and then release a better phone just a couple weeks later. It’s a trend that’s happening often with Android phones, and I think it’s starting to hurt the platform.

Consider the Droid. It was, at the time, the best Android phone to date. It looked great, pioneered Android 2.0, and debuted on America’s favorite network. By all accounts, Droid owners should have been very happy people. That is, until the Nexus One rolled into town. It had a newer version of Android, a better hardware interface, and it did away with that hideous physical keyboard. Unfortunately, a lot of Android fans had already flocked to the Droid to show their Google support. It’s a big problem in the US, where most consumers lock into contracts for subsidized hardware prices. The Nexus One released with lackluster sales.

Now this. There is no official word on a US release, but it’s headed for Asia in April and likely stateside shortly after. As pretty as this phone is, and as great as the Sense UI may be, I’d bet we’ll see some underwhelming sales numbers. If people didn’t buy the Android, they almost certainly picked up the Nexus One. Anyone that’s left is there by mere happenstance – an unwillingness to pay a disconnect fee a few months early, perhaps. This could be the best phone in the world, but the pace of Android hardware release will turn it into an anecdote.

Apple has been prone to the same thing in the past. If you ever bought an iPod you know it was playing second fiddle in just a few months. It’s something Cupertino got right with the iPhone, though. Even though there have been several iterations, Apple has kept its mouth shut about the product until just days before launch, giving it time to offload some of the older hardware before the newest version launches. Does it piss some people off? Sure. But much less so than watching new hardware roll out every month or two or getting an announcement of new hardware on the same schedule.

Verizon and Motorola announced a new phone today. Called the Devour, the phone looks like a mini-Droid, or as my title suggests, the Droid’s weird cousin. It’s got a smaller display, a presumably smaller keyboard (yikes) and runs Anroid, albeit through Motoblur, Motorola’s odd Android distro.

I would guess the phone is going to fall somewhere around the Droid Eris in terms of price. It’s not a bad phone for $100, but like the Eris, it seems like a waste for what you’d get if you spent another $99. I can’t for the life of me figure out why Motorola is so obsessed with the physical keyboard, either. The pad on the Droid sucks. It really sucks. Android’s software keyboard is just so much nicer, why not rely on that?

If Motorola is your thing, you can get the Devour in early March.

Earlier this weekend, tweets started showing up from Google employees about a new phone. The new phone. The Google Phone. I wrote about it last month, based on a report from TechCrunch that claimed we’d see it in early 2010. Google has given the phone, which is made by HTC, to wide array of workers to field test it, or as the Google blog calls it, dogfooding.

From what few pics are available, the phone looks great. It’s got a sizable OLED screen, runs on a Snapdragon, and thankfully has no hardware keyboard. I’m not just excited about the hardware, though. Google has designed the entire experience here, something I’ve waited for them to do since Android launched. Sure, they’ve contributed on the UI for the G1 and the Droid, but this is the whole package, all from Google. They’ll be selling the device directly as an unlocked GSM device. That means T-Mobile or AT&T, to be released some time in early (likely January) 2010.

One of the earliest tweets says this: “Google Phone = iPhone + a little extra screen and a scroll wheel. Great touch screen, and Android.” Is this really comparable to the iPhone, or is it something completely different?

Remember that free Photoshop app for the iPhone? Adobe’s finally released a version for Android, roughly a month after the iPhone version became available.

It’s basically the same app, though with a few differences for both better and worse. For starters, the Android version displays the phone’s entire photo library within the application. With the iPhone version you have to go through an extra step to select your photo. Not a huge difference, but it’s nice.

On the flipside, the Android version doesn’t have the pinch or twist functionality for straightening out your pictures. The feature is still there, just as a menu item instead of the multitouch. Again, not a big deal, and frankly the Photoshop app probably won’t be the pivotal factor if you’re deciding between the two platforms. For either OS, it’s a nice app.

Thanks to the folks over at AndroidLib (and the detective work of the good people at TechCrunch) we now know that Android has reached the 10,000 app marker. That’s a big deal, largely because Android’s biggest and best competitor, Apple with the iPhone, often touts its monstrous app library. For those of you counting at home, Apple’s got something like 70,000 apps these days.

But Android may start to get a leg up as more and more devices turn to the mobile OS. The number of Android devices already announced for next year is way too long to print here, and solid app support is one of the reasons the platform is so popular. As more apps get developed, we can hopefully start to see more talented developers head that direction.

I know, I know, I’m usually only so jubilant about iPhone apps. Honestly, though, I want Android to continue to succeed. The few times I’ve used it I really liked the OS, but more importantly I want the iPhone to have some serious competition. Right now, Android is the only thing that comes close. Yes, Blackberry has a huge installed base, but feature to feature, Android is the most comparable OS with the best long term growth potential. Here’s hoping the Android Market continues to improve.