The first mobile phones loaded with Google’s (NSDQ: GOOG) Android software platform made their debut in Barcelona today, showing that the Open Handset Alliance is making progress even though reports say the prototypes are in their very early phases. The demonstrations were made by a handful of chip makers—ARM, Marvell, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM), NEC and ST Microelectronics—which showed Android working in prototype form, the companies and sources confirmed, according to Agence France Presse. Some early reviews:

Gizmodo: “No fancy graphics demos, no iPhone-style multimedia fizzbang, just a humble ARM9 processor in a plain white prototype ‘to demonstrate the scalability of Android’ and serve as a ‘development platform.’ Our verdict: it works, it’s fluid, but it’s boring.”

Engadget: One prototype “interface is dead quick and rather glorious,” and another is “a pretty early implementation and was pretty wonky.”

Engadget has a photo gallery.

More to come.