We'll be totally honest -- we pretty much blew Ruslan Kogan off when he proclaimed that he was about to push out a $199 Android phone by the year's end. And truthfully, the guy still hasn't totally delivered, but you won't find us kvetching about more Googlephones, regardless of MSRP. The Agora (AU$299; US$192) and Agora Pro (AU$399; US$256) are available for pre-order as we speak, though neither one is scheduled to ship out until the end of January. For those unfamiliar with Kogan, it's an online-only enterprise that has wares built specifically to its dimensions in China, and so far as we can tell, it's as legit as they come. As for specs, the Agora packs a 2.5-inch touchscreen (320 x 240), 3G networking, a backlit QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD card slot; the Pro adds in GPS, 2-megapixel camera and WiFi. So, with unsubsidized prices this low, are you willing to take a chance?

[Via iTWire]

And so, it begins. A young, entrepreneurial Australian apparently thinks he has the chops to assemble an Android-powered handset in just over a month, and better still, he expects to sell it for just $199. Reportedly, this whiz-kid (25-year old Ruslan Kogan) offers up a variety of "Kogan-branded" kit that he has built directly for him in China, and presumably, he's hoping to do the same with a Google-fied cellie. Wondering what it'll look like? "Similar to the iPhone," meaning a touchscreen-based device with WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. In his words: "It's a matter of loading the Android system on to the phone, configuring it, making sure it works very well and then the manufacturing of the few thousands phones that we need to launch it is just a matter of a day or two." Yeah dude, piece of cake.

[Thanks, Nick]