At an even last night in Mountain View, Google announced the long awaited Android Market website http://market.android.com

For long the only way Android users could explore the Android Market was through the Market app on their mobile phones, which was frustrating and compared to other App Stores, like the Apple App Store, a bit disappointing.

The new Android Market Website is set to change that by allowing Android users to browse through all the apps in the Android Market by category or introduce them to the latest top free and featured apps.

Android users also have the ability to search, something that was previously missing from the old App Marketplace. But for me the greatest feature has to be the auto app download to your phone, with a simple click on the Android Market Website you can request the selected application to download to your phone and install without you needing to touch your phone.

The Android Market Website is clean, fast and easy to browse its easy to see that this will be a hit amongst Android users.

What do you think about the new Android Market Website?

The Android Market is fast catching up to the popular Apple iTunes store when it comes to applications. Recent statistics from AndroLib shows that the Android marketplace had 9,331 new mobile applications added during the month of march, this is almost double than the previous month.

Since the launch of the Android Marketplace in October 2008 the market has seen rapid growth. When the Android Market initially launched after its first month there was a mere 167 applications available for download. Today the Android Market features over 30 000 applications and the numbers is on the rise each month.

Apple currently still has one of the largest markets available for applications but Android is currently the fastest growing mobile application store out there. If your brand still haven’t got an Android application I think you should consider looking into one ASAP.

The Android Market at its current rate is almost multiplying application additions each month compared to previous months, this is good for the user but can be alarming for the developer wanting to get his idea out there first.

Tell us what applications you use from the Android Market.

WordPress just released their WordPress for Android application to the Android Market for download. WordPress for Android will enable bloggers to manage their blogs while on the go.

If you are used to the popular wpToGo application for Android you will feel right at home with WordPress for Android as it was built on the foundation of wpToGo. WordPress for Android is open source, if you would like to contribute to the project please visit dev.android.wordpress.org

Features include:

• Manage multiple blogs
• Comment moderation and ability to reply to comments
• Create and edit posts as well as manage categories, tags and photos
• Create and edit pages
• Get notified of new comments in the Android notification bar

Here is a short video demonstrating WordPress for Android

To get WordPress for Android search the Android Market for WordPress and install the application published by Automattic, Inc.

If you have a barcode scanner install just scan the barcode below.

Since I got my HTC Hero in December last year I have always been browsing the Android Market and Web for some cool apps, and I think this is really one of the coolest apps out there. Cool and extremely geeky.

So you are in a hurry and you lost your keys somewhere in the couch where you were chilling, no problem! Just get your Android phone and fire up the Metal Detector app and swipe it over the couch, it will start vibrating when it passes the keys.

The Metal Detector app works on all Android models that has the built-in magnetometer that is used for the compass. Wow sorry normal Apple iPhone users, I believe only the iPhone 3Gs has this functionality.

Here is a video demonstrating the Metal Detector App

Android users get your Metal Detector App for free from the Android Market, just search for “metal detector”. BTW if you haven’t got a Google Android based phone yet, you can win one at Web AddiCT(s);

We all know the well know SpeedTest.Net website where you can check the performance of your connection, the site allows users to log on and test their connections upload / download speeds and latency. The only drawback was that you had to log into the SpeedTest.Net website to be able to use the service.

Good news for Android users is that there is now a Android App available in the Android Market. Simply search for speedtest on the Android Market and install the SpeedTest.Net App. Fire it up and test your 3G or HSDPA connection speeds. You can also use it over your wifi connection.

It saves all your connection results on the phone for future reference with icons showing if it was conducted over WiFi or GSM network. See screenshot below.

I installed the app and fired it up conducting tests on my HTC Hero over WiFi and GSM on MTN.

Head on over to the Android Market and install the SpeedTest.Net App and post your results here. I got 2Mbps download and 556Kbps upload with 150ms pings on MTN network to a server to Cape Town. Whats your results?

PS: There is also a iPhone App available.