More Android Smartphones On the Way

Taiwanese manufacturer HTC has announced plans to roll out three new handsets this year using Google's(GOOG Quote) Android operating system, according to VNUNet.

The Android-powered HTC Magic was unveiled at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month. Basically, the Magic is a full touch-screen version of HTC's first Android phone sold as T-Mobile's G-1 here in the U.S. Vodafone(VOD Quote) is expected to begin selling the Magic next month. T-Mobile might market the Magic here as the G-2.

The rest of HTC's new handsets are expected to become available by the end of this year -- probably in time for the lucrative holiday sales period.

And, the head of ZTE's U.S. business says the Chinese-based vendor is on track to launch a handset via a major U.S. mobile operator by the end of the year. ZTE is China's second-largest mobile handset manufacturer and in past years has been making inroads into foreign markets. It is now hoping to establish a foothold in North America.

U.S. operations CEO George Sun told Reuters that ZTE phones are currently being tested by some Tier 1 U.S. operators, which include Verizon Wireless (VZ Quote), AT&T (T Quote), Sprint Nextel (S Quote) and T-Mobile.

He said that the first handset would most likely be for one of the country's CDMA operators (Verizon Wireless, Sprint) but that the vendor was targeting both GSM and CDMA longer term. "We try to build out our portfolio for each carrier. The first [phone] is tough," Sun said. ZTE already offers devices to U.S. regional service provider MetroPCS (PCS Quote) and also sells mobile data cards via Sprint.

Sun added that the vendor was also looking at launching a high-end smartphone, but gave no further details.