We've been waiting on pins and needles for Google to announce some official Android tablet plans for so long we'd almost forgotten about Mountain View's other operating system -- but from what we're hearing, Chrome OS is about to jump to center stage with a tablet debut on Verizon just before the holidays.

ENGADGET: Chrome OS tablet coming from Google and Verizon on Black Friday? (update: probably not)

We're liking both the black chrome bezel and the touch-sensitive buttons, which eliminate virtually all of the visible gaps on the front of the phone to give it that smooth, slate-like appeal that full-touch handsets typically want to shoot for.

ENGADGET: BlackBerry Storm2 hands-on and impressions Hands-on

Also, if when Microsoft does actually build a black version, we're kind of hoping they stick with that chrome drive tray from the regular 360, and maybe go with a truer black instead of this piddling smoke color.

ENGADGET: Black Xbox 360 rumors abound

You're better off with a newer build of Firefox or possibly Google Chrome or Safari (my personal favorite).

CNN: How to squeeze the most from your computer

We're also told that learnings from Android will be carried over to Chrome, and further into the world of web apps.

ENGADGET

If you're particularly attuned to tech gossip, you'll know that Google's Chrome OS announcement has prompted a lot of whispers about something called "Gazelle" being cooked up in Microsoft's labs.

ENGADGET: Microsoft's "Gazelle" browser detailed -- it's more of a research project

Tell Chrome to enable support as well as ignore a graphics chip blacklist, and suddenly you're running Epic Citadel from your Linux install.

ENGADGET: Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 now working on Linux through Google Chrome, more or less