T-Mobile is preparing a thrust intended to both broaden use of Google's Android platform and strengthen its ties with the search giant.

The company plans to sell a home phone by early 2010, followed by a tablet computer, both of which will be Android-powered. The phone plugs into a dock and comes with a device that syncs data as the handheld recharges.

The news came from confidential documents furnished by a company partner, according to The New York Times. And while T-Mobile spokesmen refused to discuss any future projects in depth, they did confirm plans for "several devices based on Android."

T-Mobile is the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the States, after AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. Late last year it became the first to sell a handheld, the G1, built on Google Android.

Android is an open source platform that Google hopes will both close the gap between mobile phones and computers, and spread to other carriers.

This year Samsung committed to ship a number of Android-based phones; T-Mobile and Sprint will likely vend the devices to US-based users. And Motorola will begin selling Android-powered phones by year's end. For its part, HTC, which developed the G1, expressed interest in developing other Google phones.