That's what Google gets for making Android so darn cute!  Those fun pins handed out in Hall 8 at Mobile World Congress by Google and its partners are collectibles and apparently, in huge demand.

You can view the entire 86 pin collection on Pocket-Lint (and without clicking 86 times, thanks Stuart!)

So, obviously it didn't take long before they were posted on eBay. And can you really blame the seller for trying to make a quick buck? However, he/she used Pocket-Lint's photos without credit and misspelled the acronym for Mobile World Congress (it's MWC, not WMC)!

Another eBay seller has somehow managed to collect all 86 pins and is auctioning it off at a starting price of £900! (Damn, I should have hustled harded at the show!) So far, no bids!

Tim Bray, Google's Android Developer Advocate whom I interviewed at Androidland tweeted:

But it wasn't just about the pins, Androidland was full of other fun things like a conveyor belt of all Android devices globally, a human slide, cupcake and honeycomb-flavoured smoothies and make your own Android sticker booths.

I rode the slide 3 times, drank 2 smoothies, pasted 6 stickers on my MacBook & snapped up 2 Android toys. But putting a smile on my face during a hectic week - priceless!

You won't find my Android paraphernalia on eBay, even though I have a rare Android Labs pin thanks to @Geekyouup.

If I do decide to part with my pins, I'll donate them to charity in a similar fashion to my Angry Birds toy auction last year.

So we’ve all known for a while now that INQ has been busy working on its first Android handsets -more specifically a Facebook-centric phone sprinkled with recent rumours about a partnership with Spotify. Today, the London-headquartered ‘social mobile’ company unveiled the Cloud Touch and Cloud Q both running on Android 2.2 (Froyo).

The Cloud Touch has a 3.5 inch HGVA capacitive touchscreen with a 5 megapixel camera, whilst the Cloud Q features a 2.6 inch touch Qwerty and 3.2 megapixel camera.  

Facebook and INQ collaborated on the devices, which feature a customised Facebook experience on the homescreen built around a visual media feed. There are also links to Facebook Chat, Friends, Messages, Wall and Notifications and access to Facebook Places. There’s even a full integration of Facebook Events with Google Calendar.

Be careful how you refer to the phones as INQ chief executive Frank Meehan took to Twitter last night to set the game straight:

Both Android-powered handsets come with access to the thousands of apps available on Android Market including the Facebook application. So why create a double Facebook experience by adding a customisable layer using the Facebook social graph API?

You can read the full story on TelecomTV.com.

Click here to view a demo of the Facebook integration on the Cloud Touch.

If you needed any more proof that smartphones are here to stay - a new study shows the market exceeded 100 million units in the last quarter of 2010. So roughly 25 million smartphones sold every month!

Research firm Canalys published a report on the global country-level smartphone market data, revealing that Google’s Android has become the leading platform. No surprise there.

Nearly 33 million Android-based smartphones were shipped last quarter. Nokia's Symbian OS trailed slightly behind at 31 million worldwide, keeping the Finnish giant at the helm as the top global smartphone vendor with 28 percent market share. However, the long-standing regime will topple in the next quarter or two.

In the last four months of 2010, Android was helped by strong performances from LG, Samsung, Acer and HTC. Taiwain's HTC and Korea's Samsung together accounted for almost half of Google OS-based handset shipments (45 percent).

Canalys Smart Phone Analysis, Quarterly Shipment Data

Via Canalys.

Google has a delicious way of naming its Android operating system. The updates are in alphabetical order starting with 'C' and are named after something sweet.

Check out the photo gallery below but be warned - it may cause hunger!

The first of Android's operating systems named after desserts was Cupcake

Then there was Donut (mmm... donut) running on v1.6

Ice Cream Sandwich v2.4 is due to be released just in time for summer. Yippee!

Google recently said that it was going to limit the amount of updates to only two per year. So what can we expect next?

Here are my suggestions:

Jellybean?

Google may find that it gets harder to name its updates when it gets towards the end of the alphabet - X, Y, Z....

The search giant alphabetically names each version of its operating system after something sweet but now it seems it's choosing names in conjunction with the seasons. Gingerbread launched right before Christmas and now Ice Cream Sandwich is rumoured to launch in June - just in time for summer. YUM!

You can read the full story on TelecomTV.com.

 A stand out feature of the Google Nexus S is that it supports near field communications. NFC will become increasingly more popular in the next couple of years as all the top handset manufactures, including Nokia, RIM and Apple - pledge their support for the contactless technology. Check out the demo below.

Google has officially launched it's latest flagship device- which is not only the world's first phone running Android 2.3 OS but thanks to its Contour Display, it's the first mobile phone with a curved screen. The 4-inch touchscreen has a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, combined Flash and HTML5 technology for Internet browsing and a front and rear-facing camera.

A quick look at both last year's Google Nexus 1 and the brand new Google Nexus S - running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).

Google has officially launched the latest Nexus S running on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Unlike last year's model that was available on google.com/phone - the Nexus S is exclusive to Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy in the UK.

The most exciting thing for me is that the phone is NFC-capable. Near field communications or 'contactless' technology is starting to become a reality as more handset manufactures start developing their next batch of smartphones equipped with NFC chips. Can't wait to cut down the clutter in my handbag and just use my smartphone to touch in and out of London's underground or to buy my afternoon latte and cookie.

The Google Nexus S will retail unlocked for £549.95 or free with a £35 per month contract. The Samsung phone is not only the world's first phone running Android 2.3 OS but thanks to its Contour Display, it also wins bragging rights for being the first mobile with a curved screen. It comes with 16 GB of internal memory, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor plus dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and combined Flash and HTML5 technology for Internet browsing.

The phone features a 4” display that is up to 1.5x brighter than traditional LCD displays, has improved motion gesture sensors and location tracking without requiring GPS. There's a front and back-facing camera and since it's a ‘pure Google’ smartphone - users will be the first to receive software upgrades and new applications as they become available. But are you prepared to drop that much cash on a phone?

Also, was wondering what the S stands for? Samsung, Super AMOLED, Speed... someone suggested Sexy... I can live with that!

Running on Android Froyo 2.2, the LG Optimus One has a built-in MP3 player, FM radio and 3.5mm headphone jack. The 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera enables users to edit shots with face-recognition software and then upload them straight to Facebook and Twitter or share  via Bluetooth 2.1. There's also support for microSD cards up to 32GB, and a 2GB card included with the phone.

I was given this Android USB stick at #DroidCon. He's the cutest functional keychain I've seen in quite a long time and can pack up to 2GB of memory. Not too shabby!

Introducing the World's First Dual Boot Tablet: ViewSonic ViewPad 10

The ViewPad 10 tablet device is not only a first for having dual boot capability but thanks to its Intel Atom 1.66GHz processor it may very well be the "fastest Android tablet available right now," or so claims ViewSonic. The 10-inch capacitive touch-screen display runs both Android 1.6 and Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium.

There's a G-sensor (basically an accelerometer) built into the device with full multi-touch and pinch to zoom. The ViewPad 10 only has a front-facing 1.3 megapixel webcam for videoconferencing and limited functionality with the dated 1.6 OS. The ViewPad 10 will be available for £499 available starting on 1st November.

ViewSonic ViewPad 7" Tablet running Android 2.2

The ViewPad 7 is a sleek tablet running the latest Android 2.2 operating system. The 7-inch capacitive multi-touch touchscreen comes with full 3G phone capability and features built in Wi-fi, Bluetooth, GPRS and comes with both a front-facing VGA camera and a back-facing three megapixel camera.

The ViewPad 7 will retail for £399 expected to hit stores on 15 November.

Love how on my way to work by Liverpool Street in London, I get approached by the Samsung Galaxy Tab street team.

Samsung is promoting its 7-inch Android tablet to Londoners by offering them a free two day 'tube-test'. Email your details and your tube station to galaxytab@tubetest.co.uk to get a chance to play with it for 48 hours.

What do you guys think- should more companies lend out their products to the general public ahead of the official launch?

If you wanna take a peak at the Samsung Galaxy Tab - check out this quick video I made last month.

I highly suggest you watch Eric Schmidt's keynote at Mobile World Congress and forward it your colleagues if you work in mobile/telecoms (or plan to..)

I get it, Google has launched a co-branded phone set to revolutionize the way Americans buy a handset. But, in Europe, who cares? The real reason Google is going into the mobile industry is to profit off mobile search and services. In fact, the Head of Android Partnerships at Google, Tom Moss even admits to me - its all about ad-spend. Watch the video!

The Nexus One runs on Eclair OS version 2.1 - the latest Android software. Similar to the Acer Liquid and Sony Ericsson X10, the phone is powered by the super-fast Snapdragon 1 GHz core processor. But aside from that - the phone has a 5 megapixel camera- same as the HTC Hero and looks like a thinner and cleaner HTC Tattoo.

It's impressive to some level - but definitely not worth the hype everyone is giving it. Yes, I think its cool that Google is selling the phone online but to act like its democratising the US mobile space is a load of bullshit. Especially, as at the moment the phone only works on two networks - AT&T and T-Mobile. I am aware that it will be available on Verizon in the Spring - but by that point - many will be onto the next shiny and new toy.