Hello, dear readers. I'm sitting here at Los Angeles International Airport waiting for my flight to Berlin to board (and probably grabbing a beer before I do), and I thought now would be a good time to give you a quick look at what we'll be up to at IFA 2013.

What is IFA, exactly? Think of it like Europe's CES. While us mobile gadget bloggers focus in on the smartphone / tablet / connected stuff aspect of the IFA show, it's actually a huge event encompassing many categories of consumer electronics. I actually believe this year's IFA will be a lot better than CES from a mobile perspective, too - the number of mobile products being teased, leaked, and otherwise rumored before the show far exceeds what we saw in the lead-up to a fairly disappointing CES 2013.

What are those products? Sony's got a new phone with a crazy 20MP camera and these weird but unique detachable smartphone camera systems. Acer's got some stuff and apparently something about 4K. A 12.2 inch Note tablet, the Note III smartphone, and the Galaxy Gear smartwatch may be slated for an IFA unveil. LG has its first tablet in over two years. I can't bring myself to care, exactly, but Archos may have some new goodies at IFA. ASUS should have to new Transformer Pad Infinity ready for eager hands to touch. News on HTC's One Max seems to have gone quiet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see something from them at the show, though they have no press conference planned. This may not be a huge list, but by and large, the number of things we're strongly expecting to see at IFA that smartphone and tablet enthusiasts actually care about is already much greater than what we saw at CES. It may even end up being a more exciting show from a mobile product perspective than MWC.

Liam Spradlin and I (David Ruddock) will be covering the show for Android Police, moving from press conference to press conference and booth to booth, bringing you the latest news as we can get it to you. It's a big show for two people to cover - even focusing on only a single aspect - but we're going to do our very best to get you hands-on video, photos, and the hard facts. It's an especially exciting trip for us, as it's Android Police's first ever to IFA. It's also my first trip to Germany (and thus, Berlin), and I'm hoping we can squeeze in some time for a little fun.

While we're not anticipating any news from the show tomorrow (September 3rd), expect the announcements to flow freely in the coming days. The show floor opens up on the 6th, so you can expect a lot of hands-on posts to arrive Friday and Saturday... and for us to be very tired on Sunday when we depart. Wish us luck!