We all know the feeling. A new Android handset starts to be rumored. Eventually pictures and FCC filings for the device begin to leak out. Based on speculation it is called the next big thing, and when it finally launches it sells out in mass quantitates. A few weeks later a new Android handset shows up at the rumor mill, and the cycle starts again. Without even owning an Android phone for more than a couple months we start questioning if we really got our money’s worth.

If you have experienced this situation, you are simply a victim of what a report at CNN is calling Android’s Law. As new iterations of the Android operating system are deployed, the manufacturing cycle of new smartphones featuring the OS becomes shorter. What once took a handset manufacture close to 10 months to accomplish is now being churned out at a rate closer to 7. That’s a shift from what was basically a year-long guarantee that something better wouldn’t come along, to a point where we might have six months at best to feel like the coolest kid on the block. With the large number of handsets announced at CES and even more coming at MWC, that life cycle could be getting even shorter.

But should this even matter? After all, the HTC EVO 4G launched last June on Sprint still stacks up pretty well to against the HTC Thunderbolt coming to Verizon later next month. The shorter life cycle also gives smaller companies such as ZTE and Huawei an opportunity to penetrate the Android smartphone market.

Does the shrinking lifespan of your mobile technology make you hesitant to purchase a new Android phone? Or does the great variety of choices make it an even better experience? Let us know in the poll below.

[via IntoMobile]

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As you might have heard, today lots of early adopters are going to get their hands on the new Apple iPad. As Android fans we should not care about it but if you think about it, it is a great news for Android.

A while back (late 2007), Apple released a new type of phone that marked the start of a new era with touch screen phones.  Now the general consumer is using their phone to check email, look at web pages, install apps, etc.   Prior to the Phone there was not that much going on in smart phones.  Well, there are a few early attempts by Microsoft to fit Windows in mobile devices.

Since the iPhone, each Android handset reviewed gets compared and looked at as potential “iPhone” killers in the mainstream media.  Verizon clearly used the iPhone to promote the Droid with their iDon’t campaign.  As Android fans, it is easy for us to do the comparison to explain what our phone can do to non-techies. You can just start by saying “It is like an iPhone but it also can run apps in the background, you can remove the battery, it has a keyboard…” and so on.

Thanks, again, to Apple, the same thing will happen with the iPad. There are few tablets already released and upcoming running Android: Asus,Kogan, Archos, Google, WePad (my favorite!) and all of them will benefit from the hype surrounding the iPad. Even if they might never sell in the same volume of units as Apple (like the iPhone), overall they will do well just because the iPad will do well. I know that I would never own (certainly not buy!) an iPad but I would certainly consider a WePad and if I have one and need to explain to non-techies, I would be able to start by: “It is like the Apple iPad but better because…”.

Do you agree? Will Apple’s iPad help usher in an era of tablets?  Will Android benefit?  I would like to read your comments…