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Mobile Miscellany: week of March 5th, 2012

Zachary Lutz
Updated ·4 min read

Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, one clever individual has repackaged HTC's Beats equalizer for use on any Android smartphone, and we've also come across news of additional language support for Siri that's set to arrive later this year. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of March 5th, 2012.



ZTE Optimus Barcelona appears at Bluetooth SIG and WiFi Alliance



Showing little regard for LG's trademarks, ZTE presented its Optimus Barcelona before the Bluetooth SIG and WiFi Alliance. The Android smartphone is slated for European availability, but other than support for 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR -- and its press photo -- little else is known about this Catalonian. [Unwired View]

Motorola Xoom LTE upgrade program ends March 31st



If you've been slow to get your Xoom tablet submitted to Motorola for its complimentary LTE upgrade, you'd better act quick -- the promotion ends on March 31st. [Droid Life]

Nokia to shutter Ovi Share on March 13th

And just like that, the fate of Nokia's Ovi Share has been cemented: the Finnish company announced that individuals will be unable to upload any files to the cloud-based storage service past March 13th. Also, existing users will need to retrieve their data from Ovi Share by May 30th. Otherwise, much like the cloud itself, the files within will evaporate into thin air. Perhaps it's time to hop on board with SkyDrive, no? [The Verge]

T-Mobile launches promotional add-a-line discount for family data plans



Starting March 7th and extending through May 7th, T-Mobile will be offering a discount to those either adding or upgrading a line in their family plan. Subscribers spending at least $35 on data will qualify for a $10 discount; those spending $50 or more will fetch a $15 discount, and families at the $65 tier will receive a $20 reduction. In each case, the discounts will be applied for three consecutive months, at which point, subscribers must pay the full price. There are some restrictions, so be sure to hit up the source link for the full details. [TmoNews]

Samsung Galaxy Rugby and Sonim XP5520 slated for arrival at Bell Mobility



If you're needing a rugged phone, Bell is set to receive two of 'em next month. On April 10, the network will greet the Sonim XP5520 Bolt, a candybar handset that offers push-to-talk capabilities. The following day, it'll begin offering the Samsung Galaxy Rugby -- a rebadged Galaxy XCover -- which touts IP67 certification. The Galaxy Rugby features an 800MHz CPU, a 3.6-inch HVGA touchscreen, Android 2.3 and a 3.2MP camera. For the moment, pricing of both handsets remains elusive. [MobileSyrup]

Huawei Vision greets the Bluetooth SIG



It's been a while since we've heard of the Huawei Vision -- a unibody smartphone that offers a Snapdragon MSM8255 SoC with a 1GHz CPU, 3.7-inch WVGA display, Android 2.3 and a 5MP camera -- but according to the Bluetooth SIG, the handset will soon be available in both North and South America. It offers UMTS/HSPA connectivity for the 1900MHz and 850MHz bands, along with triband (1900/1800/850MHz) support for GSM, GPRS and EDGE. [Unwired View]

Opera Mini 6.5 arrives at BlackBerry App World



Is RIM's built-in browser no longer your cup of tea? The good folks at Opera have released version 6.5 of Opera Mini to ease your HTML pains. You'll find social networking support, speed dial and the browser's worthwhile data compression technology for a speedier experience when browsing the web. [Phone Scoop]

Google brings new search app to Windows Phone 7.5



Here's an interesting twist for those unsatisfied with Bing on their Windows Phone: Google has released version 1.0 of its search app for Mango users. The software provides autocomplete support, voice search for spoken queries and duplicates the functionality of Local Scout for locally relevant search results. [MobileSyrup]

Beats Audio served up for non-HTC devices



Shortly after HTC released the APIs of its Beats technologies into the wild, xda-developers member RockoDev went the extra mile and repackaged the equalizer into a ZIP file that anybody can flash to their phone -- be it an HTC device or otherwise. [Android Central]

Siri to receive Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish support later this year

Siri just expressed its love for the Japanese language at the launch event of Apple's new iPad, but unless you speak Japanese, English, German or French, you're currently out of luck. Apple has since updated Siri's FAQ to acknowledge that its voice recognition software will support Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish later in the year. If that's not enough, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, personally responded to one Italian fan to acknowledge this fact. [Apple, 9to5Mac]