mwc

Unspectacular Firefox OS is OK for low-end phones (hands-on)

BARCELONA, Spain--Firefox OS is real, and it works.

Mozilla's browser-based phone technology is a credible option for the emerging markets where it'll first arrive starting in the second quarter. The nonprofit debuted the first version of the software at the Mobile World Congress show in front of 700 people curious to see how well it works.

For that mobile-savvy audience, the answer is this: not well enough. For wealthier customers, Firefox OS will have a hard time standing up to the two powerhouses of the mobile market, Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

With Firefox OS, Mozilla … Read more

Samsung to launch first Tizen smartphone as early as July

BARCELONA, Spain--Samsung Electronics expects to release its first smartphone running on the Tizen mobile operating system in July or August, CNET has learned.

The Tizen Association is scheduled to make the official announcement later this week at Mobile World Congress.

Tizen is an upstart operating system seen as an alternative to the stranglehold that Google's Android and Apple's iOS has on the smartphone industry. Samsung and Intel have been spearheading the development of the mobile OS, and Japan's NTT Docomo has already committed to carry the phones.

Tizen is just one of many emerging mobile operating system … Read more

Nvidia Tegra 4 supercharges smartphones (hands-on video)

BARCELONA, Spain--Nvidia's latest mobile processor, the Tegra 4, and its little brother, the Tegra 4i, will soon be turning up in all manner of smartphones and tablets. I went hands-on with some of Nvidia's reference devices at Mobile World Congress and found the new silicon to deliver some impressive results.

Like the Tegra 3 chip before it, the Tegra 4 is a quad-core processor with a fifth power-saving core for less intense tasks. Based on ARM's latest Cortex A-15 platform, it boasts a faster clock speed and a whopping 72 GPU cores -- that's six times … Read more

Alcatel One Touch Star brings Jelly Bean on a budget (hands-on)

BARCELONA, Spain--A Star is born: the Alcatel One Touch Star is a new budget Android phone that brings you Jelly Bean without busting your wallet.

The Star is cute enough, with a slight sheen to the back. The case comes in white, black, or pink. The build quality feels solid and not at all rickety, but plastic does look and feel cheap.

For a budget phone, I was instantly struck by how bright and vibrant the 4-inch AMOLED screen is. Games and apps look colorful and run smoothly thanks to the 1GHz dual-core processor.

It's an Android phone, so … Read more

Mophie unveils iPhone 5 version of its Juice Pack Air

BARCELONA, Spain--Smartphone accessory maker Mophie may have launched the Juice Pack Helium two weeks back, but the successor to its iPhone 4 and 4S Juice Pack Air case has just been revealed at Pepcom's MobileFocus Global event here at Mobile World Congress.

While the Juice Pack Air looks similar to the Helium, we're told that the Air is slightly heavier (helium floats because its lighter than air). Not that we could tell, both cases felt pretty light in our hands. The Air sports a 1,700mAh battery, and the Helium has a charge of just 1,500mAh. Both … Read more

Unnamed Powermat case for iPhone 5 to launch in spring

BARCELONA, Spain--We stopped by Powermat's booth at Pepcom's MobileFocus Global show (which happens just before the first day of Mobile World Congress) and found that the company was showing off a new prototype of a wireless charging case for Apple's iPhone 5.

Like the Powermat Receiver Case designed for the iPhone 4 and 4S, the iPhone 5 version will let you put your smartphone on a wireless inductive charger from Powermat, but it isn't quite as thick as the older model.

It does, however, have a strange design, with two gaping holes at the bottom of … Read more

Asus at MWC 2013: Join us Monday (live blog)

BARCELONA, Spain--Given what else it has had to deal with recently, Spain probably wouldn't be all that shocked if a UFO did indeed land atop Gaudi's famous Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. But rest assured, would-be tourists, that was just a teaser in a brief video Asus released over the Internet in the run-up to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Asus' Mobile World Congress press conference

The video ends with an invitation to "join Asus to embrace the metallic miracle" on February 25 at Mobile World Congress. Another tease: the company's Mobile World … Read more

Intel Atom-powered Acer Liquid C1 to head to rest of Asia

BARCELONA, Spain--Launched two weeks ago in Thailand and making its first appearance outside of Asia is Acer's latest Intel Atom smartphone, the Liquid C1. The U.S. $331 handset sports a single-core Intel Atom Z2420 1.2GHz processor, a 4.3-inch qHD LCD display, 1GB RAM, and only 4GB of storage (but it does have a microSD card slot).

The quad-band C1 weighs just 140 grams, and also features an 8-megapixel camera. It also packs a 2,000mAh battery that should last you a day of use.

Meant for the Asia market, the Liquid C1 will soon head to … Read more

Indigo brings Siri-like assistance to Android for free (hands-on)

BARCELONA, Spain--Want to challenge Siri to schedule every aspect of your busy life but don't want an iPhone? Great news for you then as Artificial Solution's Indigo service brings similar functionality to Android, Windows Phone 8, and your Web browser. Better yet, it's completely free.

Indigo works in much the same way as Siri; ask it your question and it will use its various channels -- Web searches, a built-in catalog of commands, and, also like Siri, Wolfram Alpha information -- to perform the required task.

The usual requests of "What is the weather doing in … Read more