The Android Market still may not have the sheer volume of apps that Apple enjoys, but they are quietly catching up. In March alone, over 9,000 applications were added. Of course, with more apps come more junk and redundancy, but that is to be expected. That might be a problem as it grows.

But for now, this is impressive growth and it looks like things are only getting better. The android market went from a 5,532 app increase in February to a 9,330 increase in March. Right now there are over 27,000 apps in the Android Market.

The iPhone OS is the king of smartphone traffic and the mobile web share right now, but the Android OS is catching up and nipping at it’s heels. Maybe it’s because of the slew of Android-powered devices that were rolled out recently or maybe less people are paying for iPhones and iPod touches these days.

RIM, webOS and Windows Mobile have a long way to go if they want to catch up. Do you have a prediction as to who will come out ahead?

We know that your Android obsession knows no bounds. So while trying to collect all of the various toys and stay abreast of all the latest devices rocking the platform, why not rest your head on this soft Android pillow.

The little green bot will lull you to sleep and make all of your dreams come true. And if you can’t sleep, just count bots instead of sheep. The pillow measures 12 x 12 inches and each are handcrafted by Craftsquatch for about $20.

Huawei has a first on it’s hands with the new U8800 which is the first 3G/HSPA+ Android handset, capable of download speeds of up to 14Mbps. The Huawei U8800 will be powered by the Android 2.1 operating system.

It also sports a 3.8″ capactive touchscreen display. To use the full speeds, you will of course have to be on a network that supports HSPA+, of which there are currently zero in the UK. Huawei also has four other Android devices on tap, so they are looking to make a big splash here.

Android is all the rage. If only you had some cute action figures to display your love for the OS. Well, now you can. Artist Andrew Bell has partnered with Google to release a series of authorized Android robot figurines, starting with an initial run of 12 designs in blind boxes.

You’ll want to collect them all because these guys look adorable. The figures stand 3 inches tall and have articulating heads and arms. They will be available starting the 10th of this month.

On the same day that Apple is slated to announce its much hyped tablet, Archos makes the news with some whispers of an Archos 7 tablet powered by Google’s Android operating system. The Archos 7 is much like its smaller relative, the Archos 5 and features a 7″ touchscreen display with a 800 x 480 resolution.

Some other specs include at least 8GB of storage, an SDHC memory card slot, Wi-Fi, GPS and pre-loaded Google apps. Look for it to arrive in March from 180 Euros and up. Look for Apple’s tablet to hit later today and laugh.

Gigabyte has boldly ventured into Android phone territory with this unnamed GSmart series phone. Until now, the series included only Windows Mobile devices. The features include Wi-fi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, 3.5 mm jack, a 2MP camera with autofocus and a Trackball.

It’s powered by a Qualcomm ESM 7225 528 MHz processor with 256 MB RAM and has 512 MB of memory with microSD card expansion. You’ll be enjoying the Android OS on its 2.8 inch QVGA touch display. The phone should be released in Russia next month for $300.

Not sure why we haven’t seen this guy on more things. The Android Robot does fall under the Creative Commons license after all, but check this out Android fans. This cute little guy can’t be found in stores sadly, but we still want one.

Some guy got tired of waiting for Android Robot merchandise to appear and made this himself as a birthday present for a friend. It’s a hand crafted, one-of-a-kind, Android Plush Bag. Great for your Google phone or whatever.

Android is literally in everything. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it show up in a teapot next. Anyhow, this GL-750 netbook was spotted at CES 2010 running the Google Android operating system. It comes from Taiwanese PC maker King Yung.

You get a 533MHz Freescale iMX31 ARM11-based processor along with 128MB RAM and up to 16GB of flash storage. Aside from Android, you can also get it with Windows CE or a lightweight Linux distro built on a 2.6.x kernel.

We don’t normally see many Android devices in slider form, the Motorola Droid aside, but the Inbrics M1 is another and it’s extremely thin for a slider. The features are pretty decent as well. It boasts a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display, 3-megapixel camera, front-facing VGA camera, an 800MHz processor, 16GB of built-in storage, microSD card slot, and a full QWERTY keyboard.

Not too shabby at all. It runs Android 1.5 for now, but by the time it hits in March 2010, Android 2.0 should be onboard. Nothing on carrier or price yet, but you will know when we do.

MIPS technologies has portted the Android Operating System to multimedia set-top boxes for your home. The goal is to make Android a viable platform for digital home devices such as Blu-ray Disc players, DTVs, VoIP solutions and of course the set-top box.

MIPS and the other companies involved will be demoing the new technology at CES and will showcase a netbook running on the Android platform as well as world’s first social media center for Android-based embedded platforms. The goal is to optimize the platform for the best possible in-home usage. The mobile market is taken care of. We’re talking full HD with multi-channel audio and enhanced user interfaces.

Apparently Motorola isn’t going to be the only one offering an alternative Android store. Looks like Sony Ericsson and General Mobile are also planning their own Android stores. Sony Ericsson has already announced that they will be accepting submissions for apps and games for Android devices.

Meanwhile General Mobile is already working on Storeoid, its own Android app store. How this will affect the Android Market and Apple’s AppStore, we don’t know. But competition is good right? 2010 is looking very interesting.

What have we here? A 5-minute video of the Nexus One’s UI has surfaced on YouTube and it has detailed looks at plenty of the features. The most interesting things are the enhanced graphical features and animated menus and the speed.

Judging by the video, there is almost no lag at all. 2010 is looking very promising for the Android platform. It just might be Android’s year if what we’ve seen so far is any indication.

PMP maker OPPO will launch their first Android-powered smartphone in the first quarter of 2010. It looks like it came right out of the future. The phone features a 3.5-inch WQGA (800 x 480) capacitive multitouch screen, a QWERTY keyboard, WiFi and of course the Android OS.

I guess the company must be pretty confident in their PMP player abilities to make the leap to smartphones. There really isn’t much info right now, but we like the design. Especially the slide-out (transparent?) display with edge lighting.

Sure, with 20,000 of anything it doesn’t mean they are all quality, but it’s a notable milestone. The Android Market has now topped 20,000 apps in just over a year. Just FYI, Apple’s App Store had over 50,000 apps one year in.

What’s interesting here is the percentage of free and paid apps in the Market. According to AndroLib, 62.2% of the apps available are completely free, while 37.8% are paid apps. Compare that to the App Store, which now has over 100,000 individual apps and by some counts, 77% are paid applications, though only 30% of total App Store downloads are for paid apps. What it means is anyone’s guess, but markets for apps are very healthy indeed.