Amazon is finally releasing a Kindle app for Android phones, only getting as specific as saying we can expect the app “this summer.”

Blackberry got a Kindle app in February, and the iPhone has had the Kindle app available since March of 2009. If you’re used to reading and buying books on an iPhone, or you have an iPod touch and an Android phone, the Android Kindle app will handle the book-buying process a bit more smoothly. On iPhones, if you (deliberately or accidentally) click the “Get Books” button, Safari launches and opens a mobile optimized version of Amazon’s website. (Apple won’t allow in-app sales without taking a mafia-like 30% cut.) On the Android Kindle app, you’ll be able to purchase books without leaving the app, which is a pretty cool improvement.

It seems like Amazon is hoping use of the Kindle app will eventually boost sales of a dedicated Kindle device. (I personally use the Kindle app for iPhone heavily and often wonder how a just-Kindle could be three hundred dollars better.) Amazon’s Kindle director says:

“Kindle for Android is the perfect companion application for Kindle and Kindle DX owners, and is also a great way for customers to enjoy over 540,000 books in the Kindle Store even if they don’t yet have a Kindle,” said Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle. “We think customers are going to love the convenience and simplicity of having instant access to a massive selection of books from Amazon on their Droid, Nexus, Incredible and many more Android devices.”

Amazon will release information as it becomes available here, and you can sign up to be notified when the app is released.

Kindle app hitting Android phones this summer is a post from: The Inquisitr

A few tweets from Google employees have sent tech blogs and re-tweeters into a speculation loop about the whens and whats of the Google phone. (Googlephone?)

Apparently, they’re in the wild. One of the more popular re-tweetable rumors started with a Google employee who simply said:

Stuck in mass of traffic leaving work post last all hands of 2009. ZOMG we had fireworks and we all got the new Google phone. It’s beautiful

Fireworks and Google phones? At my last work Christmas function we got lukewarm Chicken Parm and a gift bag of lens cleaning cloths. User Great White Snark originated the other widely-quoted tweet about the Google phone, saying first:

A friend from Google showed me the new Android 2.1 phone from HTC coming out in Jan. A sexy beast. Like an iPhone on beautifying steroids.

And then:

I might have made out with it a little bit. Maybe.

It’s interesting that the stickiest soundbites about the Google phone are related to aesthetics. The one area Apple products have the clearest advantage is looks, and that would be a big hurdle in luring loyal iPhone users. So we hear it’s performance enhanced pretty. Anything else? A Computer World post has description of a CNet writer’s brief encounter with the Google phone:

I was given the phone for a very limited time from a Google employee. It resembled an HTC Hero to my eyes, though a tiny bit smaller and DEFINITELY thinner. I kept looking over at the guy using it, thinking to myself that it WAS a Hero, but when I asked, he spilled the beans. Google employees were handed the phones today. He reiterated that there would probably be a decent amount of information hitting the tubes this weekend. With my limited time with the device, I saw it running Android 2.1. The home screen had this animated background image that looked nifty with red and blue lasers shooting across it. The gray bar at the bottom of the home screen was replaced with the “house” line art used on the face of most Android phones that takes you to the home screen. Looked sleeker. Super light phone too.

So what we know might be true is that they’re sexy, they shoot lasers, they might be hitting in January and more speculation should be coming down the pike soon. If they were handed out en masse at Google HQ, it’s surprising that more info hasn’t been leaked yet. One last bit of speculation from the CW post:

The real killer feature of these phones would be that they are sold open, without a carrier.  And, if they have Wifi and VoIP you might be able to *gulp* skip the carrier part of the equation.  Or just get a Mifi.

We’ll post more information when and if it becomes available.

Google phone rumored to be in the wild is a post from: The Inquisitr

Want to watch the Android announcement live for yourself? Go here at 10:30 a.m. ET today to check out the live news conference stream.

The latest rumor, by the way, is that the G1 will offer built-in Gmail access, without the need for a data plan of any sorts. The phone is expected to be on sale by October. Rumored prices put it at about $199 with a two-year contract.

The G1 design boasts both an iPhone-style touchscreen display and a swivel-out QWERTY keypad. It also has a “jog ball” that appears to have Blackberry-like navigation functions and also features an iPhone-like accelerometer.

Watch the Android Announcement Live is a post from: The Inquisitr