It’s been a long, long wait.  Microsoft has been working on the successor to Windows Mobile 6 since 2007. That successor, code-named Photon, was an incremental upgrade to Microsoft’s long-running smartphone OS.

It never saw the light of day. 

In 2009, Microsoft decided to change course in a big way. The next version of the Windows Mobile OS was scrapped, and a new OS – Windows Phone 7 – went into development from the ground up.  It was officially announced early this year. 

Nearly a year later, Windows Phone 7 has been finalized and is being sent to hardware and service partners for real-world release on devices.  The long, long wait is almost over.

We should begin seeing actual devices running the Windows Phone 7 OS – at least in press photos – in the coming weeks.  And at least a few Windows Phone 7 handsets will debut before the end of the year.

Check out our Windows Phone 7 device page for information on the devices we expect to be released running the new mobile OS.

News has been trickling out on the upcoming LG E900 Windows Phone 7 smartphone all month.  Today, another interesting tidbit:

The LG E900 will be powered by a Snapdragon QSD8650 SoC, with a processor core running at 1.3GHz.  This isn’t a third-gen Snapdragon with two application cores, but it would be the most powerful processor available in a smartphone.

Also, according to Engadget the E900 would include hardware for both UMTS and CDMA 3G connectivity.

Check out video of the LG E900 in operation after the jump.

Video Source: Android.com.pl

We’ve known Windows Live Hotmail was due to receive an Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) update for months. 

Today, it’s arrived.

The new Exchange service supports Windows Mobile 6, Windows Phone 7, and the Apple iPhone.  Android support is not yet official, but it may work with your Android-powered device, so give it a try (Android 2.1 is not supported yet; Microsoft will release a list of tested Android phones soon).

Here are the general settings for configuring your device for Exchange ActiveSync Windows Live Hotmail:

Server / URL: m.hotmail.com

Username: Full email address, for example: someone@example.com

Domain: Leave this blank

SSL: Enable this

Certificate:Accept the SSL certificate when prompted

You can find a detailed set of configuration settings instructions for devices here.

Source: Windows Team Blog

Aside from the official Microsoft announcement in February and the steady stream of leaks and rumors that followed, it’s been fairly quiet on the Windows Phone 7 front of late. And other than the HD2 and the LG Fathom, 2010 hasn’t exactly been a banner year for Windows Mobile 6.5 either.

But this week marks a milestone in the Windows Phone 7 journey.  Now, for the first time, reviewers and developers have prototype Samsung smartphones running a near-final version of Windows Phone 7 in their hands.  And that means, among other things, that Windows Phone 7 will quickly shift from chatter and conjecture to any-week-now reality.

Engadget, Boy Genius Report and SuperSite for Windows have each posted first impressions of the Windows Phone 7 OS based on experiences with the prototype devices.  The response is mixed, as you’d expect, and each source highlights aspects of the OS that delight, confound and disappoint. 

If you’re interested in Windows Phone 7 – and if you’re reading this, you very likely are –take a look at the posts and judge for yourself what you think of Microsoft’s upcoming mobile reboot. 

The first smartphones based on the operating system are scheduled for release in Q4 of 2010, so it’s crunch time. 

UPDATE: TechCrunch, ZDNet and Gizmodo have also posted preview pieces.