mobile

BARCELONA, Spain--Yahoo has upped the ante in its campaign to rule the mobile Web.

On Tuesday, the company announced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress here OneConnect, a new tool that allows mobile phone users to aggregate their social-networking updates and messaging in one spot on their phones. The service integrates directly with a phone user's address book and allows people to share status updates and messages from a variety of messaging and social-networking platforms. This means it can provide status updates from Facebook or MySpace.com as well as provide access to e-mail and archived instant-messaging chats.

Using … Read more

Almost every U.S. T-Mobile customer wants to know when the carrier will be activating its 3G network. After all, it is the only major carrier in the United States not to offer 3G. Though it has slowly begun introducing 3G-capable handsets, the carrier has remained maddeningly vague on when the service will activate.

But a news conference at the GSMA World Congress, T-Mobile CEO Hamid Akhavan dropped a few hints. When I asked him when the magic day will come, he didn't give an exact date but he did promise it would happen by this summer. Akhavan said … Read more

AOL is jumping into open source and offering a new mobile platform. The real news here, however, is that AOL still exists. Its mobile platform will help developers to integrate with such applications as AIM, AOL Mail, AOL Video, MapQuest, Userplane, Truveo, Winamp, and others.

I use AIM (on Adium) and vaguely remember MapQuest (and once used Winamp), but is AOL's mobile-platform play meant to be a funeral dirge or a real effort to be relevant again? I just can't see too many people getting excited about this move. While its new open-source mobile platform will contain an … Read more

At GSMA 2008 Mobile World Congress, Microsoft announced that its MSN Direct services is now available on Windows Mobile devices. A technology preview allows you to get instant, at-a-glance updates on weather, top news stories, stock updates, sports scores, and more. The service will also automatically refresh the content so you have the latest information. You can download the free technology preview in one of two ways: by pointing your mobile Web browser to http://phone.msndirect.com or by downloading the MSN Direct client to your PC, then synchronizing it with your mobile device. Just be aware that using … Read more

HTC just made its smartphone/mobile computer/Frankenstein device, the HTC Advantage, even more powerful with an update that brings more memory, new software, and an improved keyboard.

Introduced at GSMA, the HTC Advantage (X7510) now includes the TouchFlo software (a la HTC Touch) for easier scrolling of e-mails and Web pages. Plus, it will boast a new Today screen, based on a new version of the Windows Mobile operating system, with one-touch access to messages, calendar, and contacts.

While the interface enhancements sound great, we're more excited at the mention of the new operating system. The Advantage X7510 … Read more

As CNET News.com's Ina Fried reported earlier this week, Sony Ericsson has teamed up with Microsoft to release Windows Mobile smartphones and sure enough, the first such device was revealed at GSMA and its name is the Sony Ericsson EXPERIA X1. In the past, Sony Ericsson smartphones, such as the P1i, have used the Symbian mobile operating system (UIQ). The launch of the XPERIA line marks the debut of Windows Mobile on the company's devices. The X1 is the first in the series, and makes quite the impression.

It has a cool arc slider design (think Motorola Rizr Z8) … Read more

Advanced Micro Devices may have been demoted on Dell's Web site (though three AMD-based notebook models are still listed). But its chips aren't collector's items yet.

A quick inventory of Best Buy, the largest U.S. electronics retailer, is telling. A search on the reseller's Web site greets you with a page full of AMD-based notebooks. Ten to be exact. Some are fairly attractive too. Many are models in Dell's svelte Inspiron line. (Correction: not Dell's XPS line). Granted, Best Buy may not have the turnover of Dell's Web site but it's … Read more

February 11 has come and gone, and it turned out to be a busy first day at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Before the show even began, Senior Editor Kent German gave us a little preview of the convention scene, and Bonnie Cha tells us her woeful tale of her stolen wallet. But work must go on, and Kent managed to get a hands on with the Samsung Soul, a slider handset packed with HSDPA, a 5-megapixel camera, and a new navigation pad with a display that changes its icons depending on what feature is being used.… Read more

Having floated a spinoff trial balloon for its struggling mobile phone business, has Motorola reconsidered?

Motorola sent a ripple through the mobile phone industry a few weeks ago when it released a statement saying it was "exploring the structural and strategic realignment of its businesses" that "may include the separation of Mobile Devices from its other businesses." The company has lost significant market share in the mobile phone business after failing to come up with an Act 2 following the success of the Razr.

But in Barcelona on Monday for the World Mobile Congress, new Motorola CEO Greg Brown told Reuters … Read more