mwc

Symbian 3 unveiled

BARCELONA, Spain--Microsoft isn't the only one showing off a revamped operating system this week. The Symbian Foundation also made the trip to Mobile World Congress 2010, where it took the wraps off its open-source Symbian 3 platform.

Symbian 3, marketed as "Symbian^3," brings a host of much-needed improvements and enhancements in three key areas: user interface, multimedia, and performance. It won't be "feature complete" until the end of the first quarter, and then it will be another four to six months from that point until we see actual devices, but the outlined … Read more

MWC 2010: Day 2 wrap-up

T-Mobile kicks off the second day of Mobile World Congress 2010 with the announcement that they'll be bringing the highly coveted HTC HD2 to the U.S. market. This Windows Mobile smartphone is equipped with a 4.3-inch WVGA multitouch screen, a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, Wi-Fi, and plenty of other goodies like compatibility with Blockbuster's OnDemand video app, a Barnes & Noble eReader app, MobiTV, and six months of free in-flight Wi-Fi courtesy of Gogo Inflight Internet. T-Mobile says it expects to ship the HD2 in Spring 2010. T-Mobile also announced its plans to roll out HSPA+ … Read more

Skype's Verizon deal spells 'BlackBerry'

BlackBerry users have been waiting patiently for years, really, for Skype to release a version of its VoIP client for BlackBerry smartphones. If that's you, you're in luck. On Tuesday, Skype announced at the Mobile World Congress a partnership with Verizon that will bring a 3G-capable Skype app to Verizon smartphones. That includes several BlackBerrys, like the Curve, both Storms, and Tour.

The BlackBerry faithful have heard similar teases before, and indeed, Skype for BlackBerry has been in closed beta for some time. Now, at least, there's a date attached to the release, March 2010. We guesstimate … Read more

LG shows GT540 Android phone in Barcelona

BARCELONA, Spain--You might say that LG had a quiet Mobile World Congress--it didn't announce new handsets and it didn't have a presence on the show floor--but the manufacturer didn't skip Barcelona entirely. In the modern setting of Barcelona's Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, the company showed two handsets, the Mini GD880 and the Google-Android powered GT540.

The Mini GD880 takes minimalism to an extreme. Sharp and angles and straight lines predominate and the bright 3.2-inch display takes almost the whole phone. Features include a 5-megapixel camera, e-mail, integration with social networking services, a full … Read more

ZTE displays concept phones

BARCELONA, Spain--ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company, showcased some interesting handset concepts with distinctive designs.

The G+2 (pictured above) slider phone was made to resemble a gaming console and targets students. To reduce cost, the superwide display is made from two 2.4-inch touch-screen panels.

The ZTE EQ2 is a fashion device inspired by crystal. Hence, the touch-sensitive keys below the display are transparent, giving the handset a futuristic look.

The ZTE IQ2 is another phone that targets students. The device doubles as an English to Chinese translation device. The QWERTY keypad also allows for faster data entry.

(Source: Crave Asia)… Read more

Google CEO comes to Barcelona in peace

BARCELONA, Spain--Google CEO Eric Schmidt extended an olive branch to wireless-network operators as he took the stage Tuesday afternoon here at the GSM Association's Mobile World Congress.

Schmidt delivered his speech hours after the CEO of the world's largest mobile operator, Vodafone, suggested in his own keynote address that Google was getting too powerful in the mobile value chain. Earlier in the day, Vittorio Colao warned the telecommunications industry that companies controlling 70 percent to 80 percent of a market, such as Google in mobile search, should raise the attention of regulators.

Schmidt, whose company has had a … Read more

Motorola reveals Android update schedule

Finally, Motorola has told us when exactly it'll be releasing software upgrades to its Android phones. Well, sort of. We would appreciate a more specific date than just "Q1" and "Q2," and three of the phone upgrades are still "under evaluation." But at least it's something. Here's the breakdown:

Phone Model Timeline DROID by Motorola (USA) The DROID by Motorola over-the-air software upgrade is expected to roll out soon MILESTONE (Europe) Upgrade to Android 2.1 planned for Q1 2010 MILESTONE (Latin America) Upgrade under evaluation MILESTONE (Asia-Pacific) Upgrade under evaluation … Read more

Deal brings Skype to Verizon 3G phones

Skype and Verizon announced a partnership Tuesday to bring the Internet-calling technology to a number of 3G BlackBerry and Android phones starting in March.

Under the deal, the Skype mobile software will be available on a variety of smartphones: RIM's BlackBerry Storm 9530, Storm2 9550, Curve 8330, Curve 8530, 8830 World Edition, and Tour 9630 and Motorola's Droid, Eris, and Devour. Customers will need to have a data plan to use the application, the companies said in an announcement at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.

Skype, independent once again after an eBay spinoff last year, is … Read more

ARM, Globalfoundries outline 28-nanometer plans

ARM and Globalfoundries have released details on their upcoming system-on-a-chip platform, which they say will combine "PC-class performance" and a huge jump in battery life for mobile devices.

The companies revealed the details Monday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Their system-on-a-chip platform is based on ARM's Cortex-A9 processor and Globalfoundries' 28-nanometer manufacturing process. The platform will be used in smartphones, tablets, and smartbooks.

The 28-nanometer process will allow devices built on the platform to have 40 percent more computing performance, 30 percent less power consumption, and 100 percent greater battery life than devices built using existing … Read more

Hands-on look at the HTC Legend

BARCELONA, Spain--The HTC Legend is legen- ... wait for it, wait for it ... dary. Any "How I Met Your Mother" fans out there? No? OK, fine. What we're trying to say here is that the HTC Legend is pretty awesome.

Announced Tuesday morning at Mobile World Congress, the Legend is the next evolution of the HTC Hero and really brings some nice design improvements and enhancements to the HTC Sense user interface.

Though we had to run to another meeting after HTC's news conference, we stopped by its booth afterward for some brief hands-on time with the … Read more