AndroidBoards

Although it’s not set in stone, we felt it was necessary to go ahead and release some information regarding all of the G2 rumors. Turns out some mentions by HTC indicate the G2 will be ready in the first half of 2009, and possibly another Android phone is in the works as well. All of this, of course, has either been fully denied or confirmed by either HTC or T-Mobile, but it’s very safe to say that it’s a go for the G2 in mid-2009.

Garmin Asia Pacific marketing director Tony An has purportedly stated that a “bunch of new handsets from Garmin powered by Google’s Android platform are set to ship sometime in the second half of 2009″. While this is the only news we have regarding functionality, you can be sure they will include at least as many features as the nuviphone as well as some top-notch GPS functionality. Apparently, the manufacturing process will be contracted out to a compant like HTC, although no specific word on which company is yet available. More news is sure to come on this one.

EDIT: Not so fast, says Garmin. Apparently a statement is being worked on right now to debunk the claims made by DigiTimes this morning. So much for getting our hopes up. We’ll keep you posted when the statement is released.

EDIT 2: Wired seems to have picked up the story as well and is still spinning it as confirmation from Garmin that an Android phone is in the works, although it’s not clear whether they are aware of Garmin’s reaction to DigiTimes’ post. Engadget seems to have the story straight, stating:

The company says that “the story contains a number of inaccuracies in both sales figures and product rollout schedules,” and while it does say it has “an Android-based phone under development,” it also reminds us that Nuvifone won’t be it; instead, Garmin’s first modern entry into the world of telephony will be based on a proprietary build of Linux, as was originally planned.

Samsung’s long-awaited Android phone release now has a relatively set date: Q2 of 2009. The 80 person Android development team at Samsung has been working on the phone for an unknown length of time, but one anonymous member of the team was quoted as saying:

“We will be able to release the Google phone in the second quarter of the next year in the U.S. market.”

The new phone will closely resemble and incorporate design factors from both the Omnia and Instinct, something that is sure to make Samsung + Android fans happy. The phone will either include both a CDMA radio for Sprint users and an HSDPA/UMTS radio for T-Mobile users or have separate versions for each network. No word on price is currently available, but should be available around Q1 of 2009.