At this point, it’s a safe bet that a Google Android phone will hit by year end. I think uou can increase your odds on that bet by guessing there will be only one Android handset available in that time frame. I’d be surprised if we saw two, in fact. The LiMo Foundation isn’t waiting around to see what happens in Android-land, however. Today, they’ve got seven new handsets announced, in an effort to raise awareness of their open platform and to deliver a product sooner rather than later.

Here’s the team of seven: the MOTOZINE™ ZN5 from Motorola, the FOMA N906i, FOMA N906iμ, FOMA N906iL and FOMA N706i from NEC and the FOMA P906i and FOMA P706iμ from Panasonic Mobile Communications. I don’t see specs on each of these handsets, which bring the total number of LiMo models up to 21, but these aren’t lightweights based on this bit from the press release:

"Several of the latest LiMo handsets include advanced enabling featuresthat herald the forthcoming Mobile 2.0 experience for global consumers.These include international 3G/High-Speed Downlink Packet Access(HSDPA) roaming capabilities, Global Positioning System (GPS), mobileTV and advanced video streaming, secure payment and advanced mailfunctionalities—all presented through higher-resolution displays andintuitive user interfaces."

Actually, stepping away for some coffee cleared my head and I DO see specs. In fact, there are specs on all of the LiMo handsets neatly bundled for your pleasure right here. Specs aside, I’m more interested in getting my hands on a LiMo device to check the user interface and usability. Features are great, but I’m willing to forgo some in favor of a great user experience.