Yahoo brings Mail and Messenger to Android

Yahoo is taking its Mail and Messenger comms tools to Google Android handsets

Yahoo has released versions of its Search, Mail and Messenger applications for Android handsets.

Yahoo said the apps, which harness HTML5 technology, would be faster and offer a richer user experience than previous versions.

"Yahoo keeps more than 600 million consumers around the world connected to the people and things that matter to them most – wherever and whenever they want," said David Ko, senior vice president, Americas, audience, mobile, and local for Yahoo.

"With the availability of our world-class Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger apps for Android and by harnessing the latest in HTML5, we're making it easier than ever for consumers to access fast, reliable, and feature-rich Yahoo experiences across some of the fastest-growing platforms in the market."

The Yahoo Android apps are available, for free, via the Android Market, and support OS 2.0 or newer. Features include the ability to allow for easy push email notification, as well as the syncing of contacts across devices.

Also included are photo tools that let users upload photos to the web right from their handset, and a feature that allows users to SMS instant messages to their contacts.

In related news, Yahoo has announced that it has updated its Mail and News pages for the iPhone and iPod touch.

The upgraded pages are built using HTML5, according to Yahoo, which delivers a "faster and more sophisticated mobile browsing experience".

A Search widget for Android was also released, however this is currently only available to US users.

Yahoo and Google have been battling for supremacy for some time now in the mobile web space and Yahoo will see the availability of more of its products on handsets operating the Google operating system as a significant step.