The first smartphones running Windows Phone 7 will be released later this year. Brighthand's Ed Hardy got some time with a pre-release version of this operating system, and brings us his early impressions.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab was officially unveiled at the IFA tradeshow in Berlin yesterday, where Dragan Petric from Brighthand's sister site TabletPCReview got a chance to test out this upcoming Android OS tablet with a 7-inch display.

The Samsung Epic 4G debuted earlier this week. The regular price for this high-end Android smartphone with WiMAX is $250, but new Sprint customers can get it for less.

"BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless today announced it will be expanding its portfolio of prepaid offerings to include a new 3G Prepaid data package that lets customers access unlimited data on select 3G Smartphones and Multimedia phones for $30 monthly access. Multimedia phone customers also have the option of selecting a new $10 monthly data package for 25 MB per month ($.20/MB overage). These new prepaid data packages will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Store today and online at www.verizonwireless.com beginning Sept. 28."

Verizon still has Windows Mobile devices (Although perhaps not for long), yet those don't get in on this $30 a month prepaid unlimited data offer. I'm not sure what their reason for snubbing WM here is - I can't imagine it costs them any more money to add it to the other smartphones in their line, and perhaps they just didn't mention the WM devices in the press release. Perhaps some brave soul should test it out when it becomes available!

However it looks like most, if not all, of the Android offerings do (Oh yea, those blackberries and palm devices are eligible too...). Not a bad price if you just want a non-contract data device lying around. Anyone Android-fan going to take Verizion up on their deal?

"So lets say you're in midtown Manhattan and you notice a building is on fire or something really important happening, you can send a "warny" out and people using the same network and in the area will get the notification/alert on their device. You can also subscribe to your favorite "zones" or areas of interest, for example if you want to follow any "warnies" in your hometown while you are away."

WMExperts has unearthed, from what I can tell, is a unique and somewhat peculiar geolocation-leveraging app for Windows Phone 7. There are not a lot of details on the developer's site yet, but the idea behind the app appears to be that you can send out "warnys", or alerts, from your phone that can be picked up by other phones in nearby proximity, or by phones that are "watching" the area you are sending the warny about or from. Alternatively, you can receive warnys from particular zones that you want to "watch". There are waryns pre-canned for particular topics (like a famous person arriving in a particular area) or you can create your own warny topic. Sound confusing? Well, head over to the link and have a look at the demo video from the developer. The Windows Phone 7 on screen interaction looks interesting (see the maps integration), and the potential is quite intriguing. Do we need more information bombarding our inboxes? Maybe, and if you are a future Windows Phone 7 user you may have to decide.

T-Mobile briefly posted some additional details about the upcoming T-Mobile G2 on its website, but has since removed the page. It revealed that this smartphone is going to run Android OS 2.2 on an 800 MHz processor.

"The name is the HTC 7 Trophy and it received approval from the Global Certification Forum (GCF), which is a partnership between OEMs, operators and the test industry to basically certify phones. It's usually a Europe/Asia thing and obviously not the U.S."

WMExperts are speculating that the 7 Trophy will have Windows Phone 7 onboard, but at this stage nobody really knows. On the other hand, the "7" moniker and the release timeline is about right for a WP7 release. Better yet, the original conception of the previous HTC model codenamed Trophy had a front QWERTY keyboard, which would make the 7 Trophy a real departure from the touchscreen-only devices that have been outed so far. Hit the link for further details.

Skyfire has submitted a mobile browser to Apples App Store that is capable of playing Flash video. It is up to Apple to decide if it wants to release an app that will compete with its own Safari browser.

Microsoft has essentially finished work on Windows Phone 7, and this new operating system has been released to the companies that will use it in smartphones. The first devices running it will be released later this year.

I'm thrilled to announce the newest member of the Thoughts Media family: Android Thoughts. As you can guess, this site will be covering Android in all it's forms - phones, slates, etc. The site is being led by none other than our very own Jon Westfall; he'll be handling all editorial duties on the site, similar to how Apple Thoughts works. Android has exploded in popularity over the past 12 months, surpassing even the mighty iPhone in terms of daily activations according to some. It made sense to cover Android as part of what we do here at Thoughts Media, but I wanted to find someone who was passionate and interested in all things Android...and that person is Jon Westfall. Please go read his welcome message on the site to find out how Android Thoughts was born - and subscribe to the RSS feed and Twitter stream. And, above all, if you're interested in Android as a platform, contribute, share, comment, and become a part of that new community.

The T-Mobile G2 is in an unusual situation: T-Mobile officially announced this Android OS smartphone last month, but has revealed almost no details about it. Quite a bit of information has leaked out, however, the latest being the price.

"According to Business Insider, Microsoft says that Android's hidden manufacturing costs are much higher than their own $15-per-unit Windows Phone 7 license. They have some very good points, but others are not so good. Here are their arguments..."

Go check out the article and tell me what you think - is Microsoft right? Are the costs of a "free" operating system higher than most people think? I think there's definitely something to be said for an off-the-shelf experience that doesn't require customization to work properly, but thus far, the deficiencies in Android's offering hasn't exactly been slowing down the adoption rate...

Apple's CEO has just officially unveiled the fourth-generation iPod touch. As many had expected, this handheld computer is going to sport many of the features that debuted in the iPhone 4, including a very high resolution display and dual cameras.

Steve Jobs, speaking at an event in San Francisco today, has just officially announced iOS 4.1, an upcoming update for Apple's operating system for the iPhone and iPod touch. This company's CEO also gave a sneak peek at iOS 4.2, which will bring new features to the iPad.

Microsoft has officially released Windows Phone 7 to manufacturing. This means that carriers have in their hands a final version that they can use to load onto devices. Unfortunately, we still have no information on exact release dates for Windows Phone 7. Current rumors suggest the release date will be some time in October, but nothing definitive has been discovered.

In addition to information that the OS had been released to manufacturing, Microsoft also revealed that there are multiple small improvements that made it into the released build. One of the more interesting features resolves a problem where Facebook contacts were automatically imported into the phone when a Facebook account is added. Now, Facebook contacts are matched to existing phone contacts and those that aren't found are not added. More Facebook functionality has also been added into final build, such as the ability to comment on contact's walls, and the ability to ‘like' someone's posts. I'm sure that there will be many other small features that are discovered when the phone is finally released.

Motorola has just taken the wraps off the Milestone 2, the European version of the Motorola Droid 2. As such, this smartphone is going to run Android OS 2.2 on a 1 GHz processor, and have a 3.7-inch touchscreen and sliding keyboard.

The T-Mobile G2 has been pre-announced, but few details of this model have been revealed. Nevertheless, quite a bit of information has come out through unofficial means. This now includes several pictures off T-Mobile's own servers.

Palm is hard at work on the next version of the webOS, and has just announced what many of the most significant changes will be. These include stacks of cards, "Just Type", and developer access to Synergy.

IFA, the largest consumer electronics trade show in Europe will officially commence in Berlin this Friday. At this point, it is looking as if tablets running Google's Android OS 2.2 are going to be the star of the show.

Verizon Wireless has begun sending an over-the-air upgrade to Android OS 2.2 to the HTC Droid Incredible. Those who haven't received it and are getting impatient can update their smartphone manually.