Perhaps most developers won’t be so lucky as to get to test their software on Google’s Android prototypes, but the open-source nature of the platform means options aren’t limited to official reference handsets.  Bug Labs, who manufacture an “open source, web-enabled, modular software and hardware platform” called BUG, have announced that their segmented device will be compatible with the Android platform and as such could be used as a way to prototype and test new software for the upcoming gPhone market.

BUG consists of a variety of hardware modules - such as touchscreens, 3G modems, cameras and keypads - which can be fitted together in multiple ways to create bespoke devices.  Obviously their practicality is not so much a usable, day-to-day cellphone but as a reference platform to try out new functionality.  The starter kit, estimated to cost “somewhere in the hundreds of dollars” when it launches next month, can be augmented either with pre-build modules or sections custom-made by those handy with a soldering iron.