How to protect my Google account credentials on my Android phone? Currently I use Gmail on my desktop with 2-step verification (by SMS) enabled and I consider it secure. Now I'm buying an Android phone and I'd like to check Gmail on it sometimes, but I don't want to save my password on the phone.

When my phone gets stolen or lost, the thief would gain access to all my Gmail data. I've heard Android uses Google account for a lot of things, like downloading apps from the store. Is there any way to set it up so that it doesn't store my password and asks for it every time I'd like to access mail?

I don't want to protect my phone entirely (with entering the PIN every time I use it etc.), as it's prepaid and I don't really have anything sensitive there.
Using a free service like Android Lost, you can remotely control your phone from a web browser. You can wipe it, locate it on a map, read sms'es, take a picture remotely etc... to ease your concerns regarding security.

While not directly an answer to your question, it might be a viable solution.  Not storing your Google credentials on your Android smartphone and accessing Google services through the mobile web brower is not only very impractical, but also sort of defeats the purpose of a modern smartphone doesn't it ?