Smartphones

BARCELONA, Spain--On Sunday, the Samsung Wave made its splashy debut during a rather lavish press conference hosted by Samsung on the eve of Mobile World Congress 2010 here in Barcelona.

Complete with dancers and aerial ballet (not to mention drowning us in every wave metaphor one could ever think of), the event gave us a chance to check out the Samsung's first Bada phone. Bada, which means ocean in Korean and is meant to represent the "limitless variety" of the platform, is the company's own mobile operating system that is designed to bring the smartphone experience … Read more

Sony Ericsson typically treats Mobile World Congress (MWC) as one of its biggest events of the year, and the 2010 show in Barcelona is no exception. The manufacturer unveiled three new handsets the night before MWC began at a packed nightclub on the Mediterranean Sea.

The Vivaz Pro is a cousin of the multimedia-centric Vivaz, which made its debut last month. On the outside it looks about the same as its predecessor, but it adds a full keyboard. Sony Ericsson is positioning the Symbian (Series 60, 5th edition) smartphone for business users, which perhaps explains the lower resolution camera (5.1-megapixels vs. 8.1-megapixels on the Vivaz).

Otherwise, the feature set is about the same. You'll find a media player, Bluetooth, a personal organizer, assisted-GPS, PC syncing, integrated social-media apps, a personal organizer, messaging and e-mail, Wi-Fi, USB mass storage, a 710MHz processor, and handwriting recognition. And we're very glad to hear that Sony Ericsson ditched its irritating proprietary connections and memory cards in favor of a 3.5mm headset jack, a Micro-USB port, and a microSD card slot.

The Xperia X10 Mini is about what it sounds like. Though the original Xperia X10 is a sight to behold, its lovely 4-inch display does make the handset a bit bulky (4.68 inches long by 2.48 inches wide by 0.5 inches deep). The Xperia X10 Mini, however, features a 2.5-inch display and measures 3.2 inches long by 1.9 inches wide by 0.62 inches deep.

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From the signs looming over Mobile World Congress we knew that Samsung was going to "unpack" a new phone in Barcelona. And the night before the show began the company did just that with the Samsung Wave, the first handset to run on Sammy's new Bada operating system.

Also called the S8500, the Wave's slim (4.64 inches long by 2.2 inches wide by 0.42 inch deep) candy bar design resembles previous Samsung touch-screen handsets like the Omnia II. The 3.3-inch AMOLED (800x480 pixels) display supports TouchWiz 3.0, which features quick access to apps, integration with social-networking services, and user customization of the home screen. You'll also find Social Hub, which promises combined delivery of e-mail, text messages, and calendar events.

The bigger story, however, is inside. As mentioned, the Wave is the debut device for Bada. Though Samsung rolled out the new OS in November, this is our first chance to check it out and see what it offers. We know that the open OS will have access to Samsung's new application store, but we can't say yet how Bada will compare with Google Android and what it will do for Samsung. Once we get the chance to play with the Wave and Bada, we'll tell you more.… Read more

Boy Genius Report received a tip and some revealing documents that indicate the Motorola Devour might be available some time between February 25 and March 15 (the February date is for indirect channel distribution, while the March date is the official full launch date).

The Devour, you might recall, would be Verizon's first Motorola Android phone with MotoBlur, the unique user interface that pushes out all your social network updates to you right on the home screen. It's decidedly Sidekick-like with the slide-out QWERTY keyboard, plus it has a 3.1-inch HVGA capacitive touch screen, and GPS navigation. … Read more

Everyone, calm down. Rumors of the death of the Palm Pre and Pre Plus are not true.

The rumors started spreading like wildfire earlier Thursday when a report by OTR Global said three different sources confirmed that Palm suspended all future orders of the Pre and Pre Plus.

In the memo, a "key source" was reported as saying, "The decision is very sudden, and Foxconn was told to reduce all February Pre forecast to zero on Wednesday and nobody knows whether shipment will resume in March." Well, perhaps if someone had bothered to take a second … Read more

Earlier this week, iPhone repair site iResQ posted photos of what the blog claims are fourth-generation iPhone parts, received "as a sample from a reputable source." The most obvious change in features of the alleged new iPhone is that the front panel--and therefore, the phone--measures nearly a quarter-inch taller than the iPhone 3GS.

iResQ claims the new iPhone parts contain an LCD that's glued at the factory to the digitizer, which would suggest higher repair costs as both parts will have to be replaced at once (versus the separate LCD and digitizer on the iPhone 3G and … Read more

Japanese pop star Leah Dizon joins the guys on today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast, and Mark Licea also joins the fun to talk about his personal history with the international sensation.

It's not every day we get a chance to interview a Japanese pop star, so when we found out that Mark Licea of CNET's The Green Show grew up with host/model/singer Leah Dizon, we booked her right away. Mark hangs out in the studio as well and we get the inside scoop on their childhood friendship, Leah's rise to fame in the States and abroad, and Japan's advanced technology that makes our iPhone look like the Jitterbug.

In the second half of the show, Wilson tells us a strange story about a man who claims that a booty call cell phone ruined his life. Apparently a Canadian woman found a series of lewd photo messages on her boyfriend's phone. After she confronted him about the pictures, the guy blamed Virgin Mobile for selling him a used phone with preloaded media. Nothing fishy here...

We also can't ignore the big news of the day: Google is testing out its new Internet service that promises speeds of 1Gbps. The fiber-optic network is set to humiliate Verizon FiOS, but at a more "competitive price," whatever that means. If you want Google to test out the service in your home town, you can sign up online anytime before March 26.

Thanks to Leah Dizon for chatting with us today! Check out her Web site and buy her music! Also, be sure to send your Valentine's Day questions to the404(at)cnet[dot]com, because the girls of Sugar Rock Catwalk will be in the studio tomorrow to offer tips on how to impress your boo bear this Sunday!

Looks like we've got another case of someone pulling the trigger a little too early. After posting a Facebook update on Monday stating that an Android 2.1 update would be coming to Droid owners this week, Motorola is now backtracking and saying that it's coming soon.

The bad news came when a Motorola Owners' Forum manager said on Wednesday that the company "jumped the gun" on posting details of the update, which have now been removed from the forum and Moto support site. Motorola didn't have any more to say, other than a rollout … Read more

Next week, Bonnie and I are off to Barcelona with Maggie Reardon of CNET News and CNET TV's Ariel Nunez for the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) brouhaha. As the global show for the cell phone industry, MWC (nee GSMA and 3GSM), sets the stage for what will happen in the cell phone world. And 2010 will be no different.

This week on Dialed In, we devote the entire podcast to what will happen in Spain. In comparison to years past, we expect software to usurp hardware as the focus of MWC. As Bonnie explains, we should see the … Read more