Angry Birds Lite ready to flutter on to cheaper Android phones

Angry Birds for Android is a wonder of the modern world, but it has one tiny flaw -- hardly its fault, we feel embarrassed to bring it up. Owners of older, less powerful phones such as the HTC Hero and the Motorola Dext cursed out loud when they downloaded the game and low frame rates prevented them from flinging our fabulous feathered friends to their glorious doom.

Soon this won't be a problem though, with developer Rovio announcing that a lightweight version of Angry Birds built for low-spec Android phones is in the works. As well as running the game on older and slower Android devices, it should also allow the game to run on Android 1.6 or below.

As well as the Dext and Hero, other smart phones prevented from properly joining in the pig-bashing fun included the HTC Wildfire, Huawei Ideos, LG GW620, Motorola Backflip and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini.

"We are currently developing a lighter solution to run Angry Birds on lower-end Android devices," the company wrote. "This does not mean lighter gameplay or a lesser amount of levels, but a game experience optimised for devices with less processing power."

Rovio said that from the beginning it aimed to put Angry Birds on as many Android devices as it could, which is why it's ad-supported rather than paid-for like the iPhone version. The Finns weren't keen on creating multiple versions of Angry Birds, but the game's massive popularity has clearly made a lightweight version worthwhile.

This week we also learned that the Angry Birds were about to hit consoles, in a multiplayer version with elements of the old-school classic Worms. Another new game will be from the point of view of the pigs.

While you're waiting, brush up on each of the suicidal birds with our handy tips.

Image credit: Artist and blogger das chupa celebrates completing Angry Birds Halloween by giving the avians a touch of Charles Darwin.