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MobileWorldCongress posts

Bye bye Barcelona and Mobile World Congress 2009

by Sean Cooper posted Feb 20th 2009 at 10:09PM

Another MWC is done and we're on one hand happy we were there to cover it for y'all, sad to see it gone, but relieved we can start eating normally and sleeping again. So what did we see? Well, so many things that made us laugh, smile, and scratch our heads that we can barely remember them all. Notable things from Barcelona this year include Sony Ericssons' first 12 megapixel camera phone, Windows Mobile 6.5's launch, Palm Pre for the GSM market, A smile pile of Android unveilings -- including Vodafone's HTC Magic launch -- INQ's INQ1, Sonar, and a really creepy mannequin that never failed to freak every single one of us out as we walked by her. If you're finding the list of links overwhelming, check our daily podcasts from the show and hear all about it instead of reading all about it. Check the links below for a quick rundown of some highlights.

Read - Sonar hopes to power social featurephones, we get a demo
Read - Texas Instruments and Wind River do up Android right
Read - HTC Magic is official, bringing Android to Vodafone sans keyboard
Read - HTC Magic first eyes-on!
Read - Nokia N86 hands-on with video!
Read - Samsung OmniaHD hands-on
Read - First hands-on with the HTC Touch Diamond2 (with video!)
Read - First hands-on with the HTC Touch Pro2 (with video!)
Read - Nokia E55 hands-on
Read - Windows Mobile 6.5 walkthrough with Engadget (now with video!)
Read - INQ¹ wins "Best Mobile Handset or Device" at MWC, golf claps
Read - Stantum's mind-blowing multitouch interface on video!
Read - Amosu hands-on: pink, pricey, and plenty of diamonds
Read - Toshiba TG01 hands-on and video walkthrough
Read - modu hands-on with the set, jackets, and some far out visions

Samsung OmniaHD and BeatDisc official images revealed

by Ross Miller posted Feb 15th 2009 at 12:34PM

We've already seen Samsung's OmniaHD via a massive MWC billboard, and now it looks like the gang at Samsung Central have managed to get their hands on an official shot of the handset. There's also an image of the BeatDisc, another entry into the company's new Beat series alongside the previously-spotted BeatDJ. Other than the appearance of widgets on the OmniaHD's screen, we've got no details on the pair. We're expecting all mysteries to be solved at Sammy's press event tomorrow.

Samsung dashes hopes for 12 megapixel phone at MWC

by Darren Murph posted Feb 13th 2009 at 9:43AM

Okay, so a recap is definitely in order here. Merely 11 days ago, a flurry of rumors about Samsung's Mobile World Congress plans filtered out, which just so happened to include word of a 12 megapixel cameraphone. Then, the outfit itself leaked nine new models, giving just a wee bit of credence to the whispers we'd heard. Following that, we even saw a certain UK branch get ahold of one of its flagship models prior to the show, while it casually mentioned that no Android-based phones would be on display. Now, the other most awesome handset (er, rumored handset) is being squashed for a MWC debut, as Telecoms Korea has it that no dozen-megapixel phone is coming to Barcelona. No worries, though -- you'll have plenty to gawk at between the Blue Earth and the Ultra Touch S8300.

[Via Samsung Central, thanks David]

Ericsson promises 42Mbps HSPA demo using multi-carrier technology

by Darren Murph posted Feb 12th 2009 at 8:21AM

Leave Ericsson alone for five seconds, and it goes and makes the technology it was just bragging about seem archaic. Just in case Telstra's 21Mbps Next G network seemed a bit -- how do you say, sluggish? -- Ericsson will be showcasing a new approach that enables peak downlink data rates of 42Mbps at Mobile World Congress. In order to achieve such tremendous speeds, it will rely on its so-called multi-carrier technology, which is the next (or is that next-next?) generation of HSPA. The secret? It allows users to "receive data simultaneously on two frequency channels," which doubles the data rate in the coverage area of an HSPA network and on the cell edge. The best part of all this isn't that you can one day look forward to crushing your cable modem with a wireless USB stick, it's that "one day" will be ready to happen before the dawn of 2010. Huzzah!

[Via phonescoop, image courtesy of TornadoChaser]

Acer's DX650 and X960 smartphones leaked: we waited for this?

by Thomas Ricker posted Feb 12th 2009 at 6:31AM

Ok Acer, you can let us in on the joke now. These "leaks" are just to throw us off the scent of your real smartphones right? After teasing with the announcement of your entry into the marketplace, you can't expect us to believe that a Glofiish DX900 rebadge, and new DX650 (pictured above... twice) and X960 (after the break) makes up your A-game? The DX650 is a chubby dual-sided device: on one side we've got Windows Mobile pumping away beneath a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, on the other a 1.27-inch OLED with full numeric keypad -- you know, because a software-based keypad and/or QWERTY is just crazy-talk. Inside you'll find HSDPA, GPS, microSD, 802.11b/g WiFi, and Bluetooth. Next up, the X960 looking very much a continuation of the Glofiish product line. It brings a 2.8-inch 640 x 480 pixel display riding a 533MHz Samsung S3C 6410 processor, HSDPA data, WiFi, SiRF Star III GPS, microSD, and a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash. Look Acer, if this is all you've got for Mobile World Congress, fine... just don't expect us to repeat the year 2007 along with you.

[Via Sohoa]

Read -- DX650
Read -- X960

Continue reading Acer's DX650 and X960 smartphones leaked: we waited for this?

LG's flagship KM900 S-Class UI caught on video

by Thomas Ricker posted Feb 12th 2009 at 5:42AM

Are you the type who falls deaf in the presence of the latest gadget? Add a girl and your mouth falls agape from the loss the muscle control required to speak? Good, we've got the video for you. A site in Sweden is showing off LG's new Arena KM900 flagship phone along with a first peep at its dynamic 3D S-Class UI. While we're not seeing any of that promised multi-touch here, the cubic interface is interesting and makes good use of the KM900's 3-inch, 800 x 480 pixel WVGA display and dedicated media chip. It's also expected to hit in April for 4,500 Swedish Krona or $535 US if our translation of that image (lower-left) is correct. Worth it? Hit the read link for the video (in Swedish) and let us know.

[Thanks, Martin]

Samsung's Android phones delayed, won't show up at MWC

by Ross Miller posted Feb 11th 2009 at 8:24PM

Looks like Samsung will be one of the few companies not to show off an Android device at next week's Mobile World Congress. Head of marketing for mobile device division Younghee Lee told The Guardian that none of their Google-powered handsets would be making it out to the show. As for that June launch on Sprint and T-Mobile we heard about back in December, the new plan is to launch in the second half of this year. Hey, at least we've got the i8910 to look forward to.

[Via Everything Phone]

Samsung's tiny 120Mbps Wireless USB chipset ready for Q2 launch

by Thomas Ricker posted Feb 11th 2009 at 3:56AM

Today things are a bit more clear as to why Intel abandoned its own Ultra Wide-Band efforts in favor of off-the-shelf solutions: Samsung just announced its ultra-fast Wireless USB chipset. Samsung's tiny 8 x 8-mm (0.31 x 0.31-inch) chip operates in the traditional 3.1 ~ 10.6GHz Certified Wireless USB space and delivers a relatively blistering 120Mbps data transfer rate (measured, not theoretical) compared to the 50Mbps achieved by current solutions -- that's a single ripped 700MB film transferred in about a minute from a range of about 3 meters. It also features 128-bit AES encryption and other security mechanisms meant to safeguard your data during transmission. The SystemOnChip design consumes 300mW of power and brings a built-in ARM core, UWB (ultra wide-band) physical layer, and memory controller while interfacing with SD cards, MMC, NAND, and USB 2.0 without any additional circuitry. In other words, expect to see Samsung's Wireless USB in digital cameras, MP3 player, speakers and more when these chips hit mass production in Q2.

It's worth noting that Samsung is a member of the Wireless USB Promoter Group that pushes the "Certified Wireless USB" standard. However, with Wireless USB start-up WiQuest out of the picture and zero references made to the standard or use of the group's logo, this might very well be a proprietary grab at the short-range wireless space that has received very little interest from vendors to date. We'll find out more more when Samsung presents its WUSB solution for the first time at Mobile World Congress next week.

[Via Samsung Korea]

Verizon's LTE vendor partners to be revealed at MWC

by Ross Miller posted Feb 10th 2009 at 6:35PM

Looks like Verizon's LTE (Long Term Evolution) service might be on track to launch this year, after all. Speaking at a Digital Broadband Migration event at the University of Colorado at Boulder, executive VP and CTO Richard Lynch said the company's in the final stages of selecting vendor partners, and they'll be announced at next week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. He also reiterated that service, which they've been trialing in conjunction with Vodafone, will co-exist with its current 3G platform. He said all vendors have been told that the they need to be and running this year. Hey fellas, let's not let Lynch down here.

Sony Ericsson's W395 Walkman and C903 Cybershot bring more of the same

by Thomas Ricker posted Feb 10th 2009 at 3:47AM

In the run-up to Mobile World Congress we've been treated to a windfall of hot new phones and technologies. Then there's Sony Ericsson's W395 Walkman and C903 Cyber-shot. The W395 is a new Walkman slider with built-in stereo speakers meant for the "youth" market, a market that seemingly hates 3G or storage since the quad-band GSM/EDGE device ships with a measly 1GB memory card. It will, however, be affordable and feature a 2 megapixel camera when it ships in Q1. The C903 Cyber-shot slider already spotted around here a few times brings a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with sliding lens cover as we've seen -- give the cover a slide and this cameraphone's ready for duty. The camera features face detection and a Smile Shutter mode that automatically snaps the shutter when a happy face is detected. It also packs a 2.4-inch display, Memory Stick Micro (M2) expansion slot and, get this... it'll even make phone calls. This worldphone rides quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE for 10 hours of talk or 400 hours of standby with UMTS/HSPA 900/2100 (or 850/1900/2100 in the C903a configuration) frequencies bringing the 3G sometime in Q2. Beautiful devices for what they are -- guess we're just spoiled by all the MWC goods expected in Barcelona from RIM, LG, Samsung, Toshiba, Acer, Android, Palm, Microsoft... you get the idea.

Update: Details on a 5 megapixel C901 candybar were also released sans the Cyber-shot branding and any fanfare even though it's similarly spec'd to the C903.

Gallery: Sony Ericsson W395 and C903

[Via Phone Arena]

Read -- W395 Walkman
Read -- C903 Cyber-shot

Samsung S8300 and updated TouchWiz UI previewed

by Ross Miller posted Feb 9th 2009 at 8:32PM

While we've gotta wait until Barcelona to see Samsung's Ultra Touch S8300 slider for ourselves, a handful of outlets have already played around with a preview unit, complete with the TouchWiz UI makeover. It's not the slimmest of touch phones, measuring 110 x 51.5 x 12.7 mm, but props are given to the 8 megapixel camera and OLED touchscreen, unsurprisingly, as well as the simple drag-and-drop widget menu and three separate home screens for micro-app organization. Other than some of the icon graphics and the aforementioned menu updates, the UI is largely unchanged from its previous form. The lack of WiFi is gonna ruffle a few feathers, but the HSDPA will probably assuage some of that pain. Hit up the read links for impressions and video -- with any luck, we'll be getting our own hands-on time at next week's Mobile World Congress.

Read - Mobile-review
Read - GSMArena
Read - Stuff.tv's

Samsung's TouchWiz UI getting a MWC makeover

by Thomas Ricker posted Feb 9th 2009 at 4:31AM

With Mobile World Congress around the corner, Samsung is prepped to launch the latest version of its increasingly impressive, finger-friendly TouchWiz UI. Already spotted on the Ultra Touch S8300 slider, the interface has been fitted with new 3D-effects eye candy, enhanced haptic feedback, and new gesture and voice controls. A new widget dock allows you to more easily manage an increased variety of downloadable widgets while Samsung's new Photo Contact feature provides better integration of your photos and contacts with what appears to be face recognition technology. We'll know more after getting our hands on with the UI at WMC next week -- an event that's shaping up to be the biggest cellphone show in years.

[Via I4U]

Nokia launching a Symbian app store at MWC?

by Ross Miller posted Feb 7th 2009 at 11:31PM

Because you're not cool unless you've got an app store, Nokia is reportedly set to join the ranks of Apple, Palm, BlackBerry, Samsung, and pretty much everyone in opening a software portal for its Symbian OS. According to Mobile-Review editor Eldar Murtazin, the Finnish phone maker's already got it running and is testing behind-the-scenes, with a formal announcement to come at the Mobile World Congress. While we'll have to wait until Barcelona to find out with some degree of certainty, at this point we'd be more surprised to see a company not open up an online app shop.

[Via Unwired View]

Microsoft confirms MyPhone, invite-only beta coming to MWC

by Ross Miller posted Feb 7th 2009 at 4:26PM

Remember that alleged Microsoft MyPhone beta page that popped up on getskybox.com yesterday? It's back up now and being hosted under the company's official domain, with everything apparently intact except that tantalizing "Sign In" button. According to a statement from the gang at Redmond, a limited invite-only beta is in the cards, and more details on the syncing service formerly known as SkyBox are coming to Mobile World Congress later this month. As for the beta itself, the wording's a bit ambiguous here -- will we just be getting new details on the trial or will the signup actually launch then? Looks like we'll find out for sure in just over a week.

Microsoft insists it's not making a phone, rumored to be rebranding WinMo to "Windows Phone"

by Nilay Patel posted Feb 6th 2009 at 12:10PM

We're just ten days away from whatever Microsoft has to announce at Mobile World Congress, and it looks like the company is trying to put a halt to the endless rumors that it's developing a phone: WinMo director Scott Rockfield told CNET it's not happening, and another Microsoft spokesman just denied it to the Wall Street Journal. That should be enough to shut people up, right? Of course not -- no denials by anyone ever have been -- but unless Stiv Ballmers actually pulls a Zunephone out of his pocket next week, we're going to assume that Microsoft is on the level with us, persistent rumors of some crazy Tegra-powered superphone notwithstanding. We are willing to believe that the company is planning on rebranding Windows Mobile as "Windows Phone," however -- yeah, it's a Digitimes rumor, but it makes a lot of sense to us, and it's an easy way to capitalize on the launch of a new version. We'll see what happens, we suppose -- honestly, we just want a US launch of the Compulab Exeda.

P.S.- Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet says what's more likely is that Microsoft is working on several Windows Mobile reference hardware designs -- including one based on Tegra -- which we find much more believable and lines up nicely with some other whispers we've heard.

[Via PhoneMag]

Read - WSJ, "Microsoft: Once Again, We're Not Making a Smartphone"
Read - CNET, "Nvidia-based Microsoft smartphone coming?"
Read - Digitimes, "Windows Mobile phones to become just Windows phones, say sources"