If you have a WebOS, Apple iPhone, BlackBerry or Google Android OS based smartphone; it’s a safe bet that you’re always on the lookout for the best application that will extend your smartphone ability. And for all of the aforementioned operating systems for the various smartphones out there, there are some good apps and some are utter crap.

Whether you’re toting an iPhone, Droid, BlackBerry, or Palm Pre, it’s the apps that make your smartphone brilliant. And the app scene is booming. The iPhone still leads the app race, with more than 225,000 apps, but developers are churning out apps for other platforms as well. Google’s Android Market now has over 60,000 apps. Palm’s App Catalog for the Pre and Pixi has risen from hundreds to more than 2,000 apps during the past several months alone. And there are thousands of apps for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Symbian phones.

PCMag.com has compiled a great list of 100 free apps for your smartphone broken down into: The Top 40 Free iPhone Apps; The Top 30 Free Google Android Apps; The Top 10 Free BlackBerry Apps; The Top 10 Free Palm webOS Apps; The Top 5 Free Symbian Apps; and The Top 5 Free Windows Phone Apps. What, no mention of Maemo!? Check it out now.

[ Links: PC Mag 100 Best Free Apps ]

I’ve not been a Windows Mobile user since the Windows Mobile 2003 series days. With the announcements ranging from last year that (then named) Windows Mobile 7 will not be shown until 2010 when it was still 2009 to the recent announcement that Adobe will not have the Adobe Flash 10.1 Player ready for the initial release of Windows Phone Series 7, Microsoft pretty much did something that shocked quite a few folks.

They released a look into their upcoming OS that simplifies the look and feel of the UI to a point where it is now finger friendly, has multi-touch and seems to have taken the Zune HD UI and taken it up to a new level. That and the fact that Mobile IE is going to be new – please add full CSS2/CSS3 support – and it’s looking like Microsoft has a potential winner on their hands. Makes me glad they delayed last year’s announcement.

Do want.

The Windows Phone 7 Series introduction site (see below) does require Silverlight.

[ Links: Windows Phone 7 Series Intro ]

Hewlett-Packard and AT&T have announced iPAQ Glisten powered by Windows Mobile 6.5. It has a QWERTY keyboard and 2.5-inch display.

The display is AMOLED touchscreen which adds more functionality for its users in addition to the keyboard. Glisten is positioned on the market as a business phone and has all the needed office software preinstalled.

Link to the original article…

LG Electronics today launches its new smartphone LG GW550 running on Windows Mobile 6.5 OS in twenty countries starting in Brazil and Argentina. Coming in a candybar form-factor, the LG GW550 features 12mm-thick 2.4-inch LCD screen and front-facing QWERTY keyboard. Designed for businessmen, it supports ‘Smart E-mail’ and ‘Smart Contact’ functions, and adopts a high-performance dual-speaker. Other features included a 3.2M camera, Wi-Fi support, A-GPS and more.

Looks a lot like the Nokia E series.

Link to the original article…