You know the old techie joke, right? If you don?t like the Android phones on the market, just wait a minute.

There are dozens of Android phones, and newer, better ones appear every few months. Google subscribes to the Microsoft Windows scheme: write the software, and let other companies build the phones. The result is a lot of choice, but also a lot of fragmentation. There is no one Android phone. Some models can be updated to new Android software, some can?t. A certain app might or might not run on your particular version.

That master plan differs quite a bit from the iPhone?s.

Apple designs ?the whole widget,? as Steve Jobs used to say: both the software and the phone. The result is clean, reliable and consistent ? but you?re limited to the features Apple wants to give you. For example, if you want a 4G phone (one that runs on the new, very fast Internet networks in big cities), you?re out of luck.

And a new iPhone, accompanied by a major software release, comes out only once a year, or less often. In any case, there?s a lot of news in Androidland. The three biggest players are Samsung, Motorola and HTC, and all three are offering beautiful marquee Android phones. All three are Verizon 4G phones. These phones are whopping big; that?s the trend these days. You can almost fit an entire iPhone in just the screen area of these Android monsters. Big is great for maps, movies, photos and Web sites ? less so for holding up to your ear on a call.

All three phones have front and back cameras, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth. Each can serve as a portable Wi-Fi hot spot for your laptop, for an added monthly fee. On the other hand, they come preinstalled with Verizon promotional apps that you can hide, but can?t remove.

The HTC Rezound ($200 with two-year contract) comes with a pair of Dr Dre Beats in-ear headphones. Those, plus matching software, give music playback extra clarity and bass. This thickish phone was the first in the US with a true high-definition screen (1280 by 720 pixels, 4.3 inches) ? sharper than even the iPhone?s Retina screen. Even the front-facing camera can film 720p high-def video, which is a rarity. The rest of the specs are the usual on high-end phones these days: 8-megapixel rear camera, 10 gigabytes of built-in storage for your apps and a memory-card slot if you need more room (a 16-gigabyte card comes with the phone).

Then there?s the expansive Motorola Droid Razr Maxx ($300), whose claim to fame is its beefy battery. This may be the first 4G phone that gets you through a full day.

Android still feels disjointed in spots. Why do we still have to use different apps for Gmail and all other e-mail? And there?s no standard connector in a standard spot, so there?s no universe of docks, alarm clocks, car adapters as there is with the Apple gadgets.

Still, Android is coming on strong.