According to several rumors that have been circulating in the latest hours, mobile phone maker Samsung would be on its way to release the second Android-powered smartphone through T-Mobile.

The "T-Mobile G2" would seemingly hit the North American market in Q2 2009, although other websites said that the device could actually be released to the American public as soon as January 26th, 2009, citing an anonymous tipster as its source.

According to website CellPhoneSignal.com the G2 would feature 3G connectivity, full touch screen, a 5 Megapixel camera with flash and autofocus, and a memory card slot up to 16 GB. The phone would also feature an additional VGA camera to be used for video calling, since T-Mobile would be about to launch its own video calling service at the end of January too.

The BoyGeniusReport.com blog followed up confirming parts of the rumor, but also said that according to its own sources the phone would ship with no physical QWERTY keyboard (but with a trackball at the bottom), and that the smartphone is expected not to be exclusive to T-Mobile, which would make the device name likely incorrect since "G1", "G2" and "G3" are all trademarks registered by the carrier. The blog also said the phone is going to launch in April rather than in January.

Meanwhile, the Android team has been working on updates for its platform. Some of the changes are simple bug fixes affecting elements such as e-mail editor, conversation list scrolling and alarm clock, but the updates also include the ability to save MMS attachments, the upgrade to a more recent Linux kernel, 2.6.27, and basic x86 support.

Google is going to face great challenges in terms of market share to make of Android one of the top players: the market is currently dominated by Symbian and Windows Mobil

e, while Apple's iPhone and the RIM line of Blackberries are going to be two other tough competitors.

For this reason, an early launch of a second Android-powered device makes quite a lot of sense, even though the hypothetical Jan 26 launch date, while still an unconfirmed rumor, would mean that T-Mobile is risking to upset its G1 customers who would see a substantial platform update just months after the launch of the first Android-powered device.

Korean IT news site ETNews reported a Samsung spokesman saying: "We are accelerating the development process for Google phone in order to meet the specific need of local carriers. We will be able to release Google phone in the second quarter of the next year in the US market." The article also states that Samsung has recently added 30 Linux and Java experts to its staff.

Samsung is a founding member of Google's "Open Handset Alliance", a business alliance of 48 firms to develop open standards for mobile devices on all fronts, including software (Android was officially unveiled shortly after the announcement of the alliance foundation). Three weeks ago 14 new members, among which Sony Ericsson, joined OHA and showed their support to the development of Google's mobile operating system.

At this time, HTC is the only firm to sell an Android-based smartphone, but many others are on the way and should hit the markets all around the world next year: the Australian company Kogan Technologies has already announced it has produced a new model that should hit the markets in January.

Taiwanese online news website DigiTimes is also reporting that Garmin, a navigational systems manifacturer, is currently planning to release Android-powered devices during the second half of 2009, with production to be outsourced. Sony Ericsson is also planning an Andoid device in time for next summer.