HTC and T-Mobile were among the the many Android supporters at the Mobile World Congress event, introducing their latest devices. HTC Flyer, the 7-inch tablet from the Chinese techies, runs Android 2.4, deviating from the current trend of tablets running on Honeycomb. The company did not reveal the price of the Flyer, and explained that they opted for the Gingerbread OS to “bake its Sense interface on the Flyer, while Honeycomb would have required more time.” The Flyer also comes with an innovative accessory, namely a pen for taking notes by hand.

Yet, James Kendrik acknowledges there might be some inconvenience with the performance of the pen, according to his hands-on experience:

Having watched a number of videos taken of the flyer by MWC attendees, I think the pen interface of the Flyer may have a problem exhibited by other touch tablets with hybrid digitizers allowing pen input. There seems to be a lack of palm rejection technology which will make writing on the screen with the pen a bit difficult. Resting the palm on the tablet screen while inking is a natural pose, and to do it well requires technology that ignores the palm touching the screen. (…)My experience with similar tablets makes it clear this is not comfortable for handwriting. Imagine writing on a notepad with a pen and being unable to touch the paper with anything but the pen tip.

The Android OS won T-Mobile’s heart as well, as the company announced its two new budget smartphones, the T-Mobile Move and the Samsung Galaxy Mini. Both smartphones will be launched on the market in the first quarter of 2011 at the price of $50-$75 with a two-year contract. Both devices run on Android 2.2, do not have any innovative features, but the affordable price is making the difference. The T-Mobile Move will be launched in Europe in May and afterwards in the US.

This speaks to a larger trend taking place in the mobile industry right now, which aims to put a smartphone device in is many pockets as possible.  Apple has taken the stage at MWC to announce its lower-cost iPhones, in an effort to broaden its accessible customer base and remain competitive with Android’s growing global share.  With Android devices getting cheaper and cheaper, it’s only a matter of time until devices are handed out for free, with the purchase of a wireless service contract.  That will significantly change the mobile marketplace as we know it, as Chris Smutny of Adknowledge discusses in an interview with Kristen Nicole.  Fragmentation in the mobile marketplace will level out, better supporting the growth that is currently taking place.

Another player we haven’t heard of lately is ACER, now introducing at the MWC event its very own smartphone, Acer ICONIA SMART, with a 4.8 inch that might induce the impression of a tablet. The resolution is perfect for displaying multi-media content. To carry forward the Android OS trend, Acer ICONIA SMART is running on Gingerbread (Android 2.3). ACER made no reference to the retail price of this device.