Windows Phone 7 Smartphones on sales in USA

November 8 is here, and so is Windows Phone 7‘s US launch. The smartphone OS Microsoft is relying on to squeeze memories of Windows Mobile from our minds has been out in Europe for a few weeks now, and today it’s landing – in the shape of the Samsung Focus, HTC Surround and LG Quantum on AT&T, and the HTC HD7 on T-Mobile – in the US.

All four of the devices are GSM-only at present – we’ll have to wait until sometime in early 2011 for the first CDMA Windows Phone 7 handsets on Verizon and Sprint – and all have roughly similar specifications. Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor is the CPU of choice, along with UMTS/WCDMA, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and a sizeable capacitive touchscreen running at WVGA. How sizeable you want that touchscreen to be may be your biggest differentiator: the HD7, for instance, has a 4.3-inch panel, while the Samsung Focus gets a 4-inch Super AMOLED.