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This morning Android users have a couple new apps to choose from, including one that adds new search functionality from Google, and an entry from a surprising player on the Android scene.

Gesture Search is a new way to search through your contacts, media, and saved bookmarks, brought to you by Google. The app is all about making searches as quick as humanly possible, for when you've got to whip out your phone and just have your information straight away. You begin spelling your search query, sketching in the letters on the screen, and Gesture Search begins narrowing down the results. If it can't quite tell what letter you meant, it will return results for all possible matches, narrowing them down the more text you enter. A few quick swipes with your finger let you navigate through the list or remove results from it. Users of Android 2.0 or later can try it out starting today.

It might just be the last name you'd think to see developing Android software, but Microsoft has come out with its first app for the OS. Its Tag app recognizes the multicolor triangular 2D barcodes Microsoft has been pushing as a way to embed things like URL data in the real world. You scan one with your Android phone's camera and Tag decodes it and shows you the data embedded within. Just like Gesture Search, it's free and you can download it as of now.

Australian entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan has taken on the ambitious task of releasing a tablet with a sub-$200 price tag.

The tablet Kogan announced looks just like a SmartQ 7 internet tablet, a Chinese model we first heard about last year. Presumably, Kogan's main task is in setting up an English-language firmware to make the device accessible to western audiences.

The specs Kogan named seem capable, if not overwhelming. The tablet will have an 800 x 480 touchscreen, though external HDMI monitors will support up to full 1080p. The 512MB RAM and 2GB flash are on the low side, but since this isn't Apple we're talking about, of course it includes support for SDHC expansion. What could really hurt its performance is a rather sluggish-sounding 600MHz ARM processor. If Kogan expects the tablet to play HD video, it had better include some dedicated graphics acceleration circuitry.

While it probably won't compete with the iPad, we can definitely see where there's a market for a less polished, less capable tablet, just due to its extremely low price. Kogan's target cost for the tablet comes out to only $180 USD. With Android and Linux options available, it might be a good fit for tinkerers or anyone looking for an extra web portal around the house: think, pulling up recipes right from your kitchen. You might not want to risk ruining an expensive iPad, but Kogan's tablet could fit right it. There's no word yet on when to expect its release, but considering the hardware's already in place, it could be anytime now.

The release of AdMob’s January 2010 Mobile Metrics Report reveals some intriguing data from the mobile advertising network’s latest consumer survey, but the trends taking shape across iPhone, Android and Palm webOS application platforms are for the most part predictable.

The just-released report was compiled as a six-month follow-up to AdMob’s July 2009 survey intended to track consumer usage and attitudes throughout the mobile Internet category. There were 960 respondents among users of iPhone, iPod Touch, Android and webOS devices on the more than 15,000 mobile Websites and applications presently in AdMob’s network. Left out of the survey was the RIM platform because AdMob does not currently serve ads into Blackberry applications.

Some interesting, if not surprising statistics coming out of the report include a 5 percent rise in requests coming from mobile Internet devices throughout AdMob’s network since the first survey was conducted six months earlier—17 percent in January 2010 as compared to 12 percent in July 2009; a 10-percent disparity between iPhone users (16 percent) and Android users (6 percent) that said they intended to purchase the new iPad when it becomes available next month (webOS users split the difference at 11 percent), and the following breakdown of monthly application downloads among the four groups of respondents: 12.1 downloads per month for iPod Touch users (10.5 free downloads and 1.6 paid); 8.8 monthly downloads for iPhone users (7.0 free, 1.8 paid); 8.7 for Android users (7.6/1.1), and 5.7 for webOS users (5.1/0.6).

This last trend in particular is easily explained by the fact that 78 percent of iPod Touch users are under the age of 25—a group made up largely of students and kids downloading free games. Less easily explained, though, is perhaps the most curious of all the data: 73 percent of Android users responding to the survey were males, compared to 58 percent of webOS users, 57 percent of iPhone users, and 54 percent of iPod Touch users.

Perhaps the folks behind the Android’s male-friendly marketing campaign will take note and we’ll see a more delicate touch in the future—or not.

As expected while the Mobile World Congress is in full swing, we're getting lots of announcements about exciting mobile tech. While more than a few of us are still sore about the lack of ubiquitous Adobe Flash on out gadgets (iPhone owners, lead the call!) at least Android users are about to get a break, as Adobe is bringing the full version Flash Player and AIR to the platform.

While Android users have had Flash lite since version 1.5 of the OS, Adobe is finally pushing the upgrade to full-on Flash 10.1 beta. You'll need an Android 2.0 device to use the software; its one real caveat. Along with Flash, Android is getting the AIR treatment, letting developers write cross-platform apps that should easily migrate from PCs to mobile screens.

This might be the beginning of a Adobe-vs-Apple battle for app dominance, especially if cross-platform AIR support really catches on. Adobe already has a toolset that developers can use to compile apps for the iPhone; soon we may find the same apps for sale on every mobile platform. Granted, Apple has a big leg up, but Flash might just be the tipping point to draw some users away from the iPhone. Why wait for a native Hulu app when you can just use another smartphone to access the site in-browser? It will be interesting to see how this balance plays out.

Sometimes a new gadget is sparse on details when word of it first pops up. We tell you what we can about it, let you know what specs are subject to change, and update you when whoever's behind it makes an official announcement. Today the first signs of a new HTC smartphone have appeared on the edge of our radar, the HTC Scorpion, but some are doubting that this reveal is anything more than a hoax.

The source that mentions the Scorpion is a configuration file for forthcoming Android software. As it's just a text file, there's nothing stopping anyone from editing it to say whatever they choose, and without corroboration, could seem a bit thin. That said, there are plenty of references to the Scorpion in the file, so if this is a hoax, someone took his or her time.

Assuming for the moment that the Scorpion is real, it looks to be quite the impressive handset. If it appears as described, the phone will run the next version of Android, its 2.2 release, on a very fast Snapdragon processor. Though microprocessors have evolved such that it's unfair to compare the performance of different chip designs based on clock speed alone, just as a reference point consider that this Snapdragon is to run at 1.5GHz and most netbooks only run a hair faster at 1.6GHz.

One of the few other details we could gleam from the leaked file is that the Scorpion would be able to run on WiMAX networks for high-speed data connectivity. As what little we know about this phone is pretty exciting, we'll be sure to keep you updated anything backing up or discrediting this initial report.