Android This Week: HTC to Launch Desire, Legend; No Mobile Firefox for Android Till Late 2010

HTC plans to release two new Android phones overseas this spring, the maker of the Nexus One — considered by many to be the best Android phone around — said this week. The first will be dubbed the Desire, and will be HTC’s effort to bring the same capability as the Nexus One to the carrier-subsidized market, unlike the unlocked Google version. It packs many of the same components, including that snappy Snapdragon processor, but adds an optical trackpad.

And if the early look at the second phone, the Legend, that HTC provided is any indication, that device will be the sexiest smartphone around — Android or no Android — due to its aluminum unibody construction, similar to that of Apple’s (s aapl) MacBook. The same optical trackpad will be used on the Legend as on the Desire, indicating HTC may make it a standard feature on its entire Android line going forward. Both phones will start to appear in Europe and Asia in March or April. No word yet on plans for a U.S. debut, but hopefully a deal with a U.S. carrier will be inked to bring them stateside not too long afterwards.

In the meantime, the folks at Mozilla are hard at work on Mobile Firefox. But those hoping an Android version would soon appear to challenge the Webkit-based browser had those hopes dashed this week. A VP at Mozilla said in an interview that the Android version of Firefox wouldn’t arrive until late in 2010. When pressed as to why, Jay Sullivan indicated that Android is harder to code for than Mozilla originally thought:

“Android has been built on a Java platform, whereas [Firefix Mobile] is based on C and C++ code. Until last year when [the Open Handset Alliance] released the NDK (native development kit) which allowed native code as part of the app, it was simply impossible.”

[Via http://gigaom.com]