Mwc09
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LiMo Foundation gains another half dozen members at MWC
While Android is sure enjoying the spotlight underneath that HTC Magic display, the LiMo Foundation is quietly building an army to rule the mobile realm once and for all. Dramatics aside, the Linux consortium did manage to secure another six members here at Mobile World Congress including Telefónica SA, Aromasoft Corporation, Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications, Marvell Semiconductor, Opera Software ASA, and Swisscom. Of course, all these formalities really mean nothing if the group can't manage to get a reputable handset out the door, so for now, we'll say "congrats" and "hurry up, why don'tcha?"
CSR fits WiFi, Bluetooth, FM, and GPS into CSR9000 wireless chip
We don't know if CSR's latest all-in-one chip benefits from the recent acquisition of GPS chipmaker SiRF, but the CSR9000 does manage to bundle the location-based technology with WiFi, Bluetooth, and FM. It's also boasting low energy output and small form factor. The company says it's already sampled it for key, unnamed customers. Those canoodling in Barcelona can check out a live demonstration of the chip running on Android at the company's booth.
Samsung: at least three Android phones and a LiMo handset in 2009
While Acer unveiled its plan to launch a pair of Android phones this year via the slightly ancient pen-and-paper method, Samsung used an even trustier method: spoken word. According to Reuters, the company's head of product strategy Won-Pyo Hong affirmed that Sammy would sell "more than three" Android phones by the end of this year, and furthermore, it would "definitely" unwrap a phone using the LiMo Foundation's Linux-based software before 2010 dawns. Hong wouldn't disclose whether those Google-powered handsets would hit America, Europe or elsewhere first, but he did remark that both the US and Europe would be covered by the year's end. We'd love to say we're totally unaffected by such a tease, but c'mon, who has that kind of patience?
Samsung's S7220 and S7350 get real
Samsung's S7220 and S7350 are but the sideshows here at Mobile World Congress, but did you really expect anything different when it's up against the 8 megapixel Memoir and the 720p-capable OmniaHD? The Ultra S7220, once known as the Eltz, boasts a 2.2-inch AMOLED display, a 5 megapixel camera (with AutoFocus and LED flash), an accelerometer, FM radio tuner, Bluetooth 2.0 and HSDPA 7.2Mbps support. The Ultra S7350 ups the ante with a 2.6-inch WQVGA LCD, GPS and video recording. No word on pricing or availability on either, but we'll keep our eyes peeled.
Novarra making web pages easier to view on Verizon Wireless
On far too many handsets, browsing the web is a lesson in futility. Particularly for dumbphone owners, who practically need a gun to their skull before they'll willingly engage in even mildly extensive surfing. We're hearing now, however, that Verizon Wireless is making things a little easier to stomach for its users -- though it's doing so for the bandwidth savings more than anything. Reportedly, the carrier has contracted Novarra in order to help out, and as subscribers request that certain pages be accessed, the aforesaid company "adapts the content (including Flash!) and optimizes it for a smaller screen" before letting it hit the user's handset. It's expected that Verizon will showcase the new approach at Mobile World Congress, and in the future, it could even help struggling smartphones surf more easily.[Via phonescoop]
Samsung Valencia outed by Microsoft, not Samsung
Microsoft's mansion at Mobile World Congress contains -- among other things -- a playground of recent Windows Mobile-powered models designed to show off its licensees' collective design and manufacturing prowess. By and large, the models were nothing we haven't known about for days, months, or years, but one stood out for us: this here Samsung Valencia. We've heard of this sucker through Expansys as the C6625 with a $365 sticker price -- but Samsung doesn't seem to know anything about it and it's only being shown by Microsoft, so we suppose they've opted against an unveiling here at the show. Microsoft's spec sheet indicates that it's got 3G (which jibes with Expansys' details), GPS, 128MB each of RAM and ROM, a totally pedestrian QVGA display, and a 393MHz processor -- slow for a Professional device, yes, but this sucker's Standard with some minor UI mods. One thing that's got us a little confused is the line item indicating 20GB of storage -- something tells us that a phone with these kinds of specs wouldn't be packing 20GB on board, so it might refer to a theoretical max of 20GB with the microSD maxed out. We're not losing sleep over the missing announcement with this one, guys, so don't sweat it or anything.%Gallery-45088%
Nokia 6710 Navigator and 6720 classic hands-on
Nokia's 6710 Navigator and 6720 classic aren't gonna win any beauty contests. Our friends at Engadget Spanish can attest to that, and after getting some hands-on time with the GPS-friendly handsets, they pointed in particular to the simple, inelegant design. Still, they say the navigational functionality should more than make up for the aesthetics, so if you're in the market for such a phone, this might be the ugly duckling for you. Hit up the gallery for more beauty shots. Gallery: Nokia 6710 and 6720 hands-on
LG plans Android phone by June, two more by end of year
As is so often the case, details are scarce here, but Engadget Spanish got word from LG that, as expected, they're planning to put out an Android phone by June, and two more of 'em by the end of the year. 2009 is certainly looking to be the year of the Android, and it seems like every month that goes by without Windows Mobile 6.5 on the market gives truly finger-friendly OSes like Android a chance to shine -- now to see what a manufacturer that isn't HTC can make of it.
Amosu hands-on: pink, pricey, and plenty of diamonds
While scavenging for pricey handsets to hang on the gilded walls at the Mansion, we luckily bumped into one Alexander Amosu, of Amosu fame. The Amosu brand is synonymous with gold, encrusted and dripping with gemstones, and most of all, pricey. In his bag of tricks we found three fully-kitted BlackBerry Bolds, a pink iPhone, and an iced Motorola Aura. If you lined them up on a table -- which, of course, we did -- you'd be looking at some 12 plus carats and a price tag somewhere up around 50k. Sure, we're normally harsh on these types of things, but seeing them up close, we could almost kinda get it. Huge sparkling gallery after the break, so if you have shades, now's the time to don them.%Gallery-45070%
TI's OMAP 4 bringing 1080p support to smartphones and MIDs
Right around this time last year, Texas Instruments was busy showing off its OMAP 3 platform, which enabled 720p playback from a mobile phone. At this year's MWC, we've got a real live handset recording 720p, and TI upping the ante once more with a chip that handles 1080p. For those still with us after being blasted with resolutions, the predictably titled OMAP 4 aims to bring 1080p support, 20 megapixel imaging and "approximately a week of audio play time" to mobiles and MIDs that house it. Granted, TI also calls this stuff "future-proof," so don't believe it's totally incapable of uttering some pretty outlandish stuff. At the heart of the platform is a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 chip, a programmable multimedia engine based on TI's C64x DSP and a POWERVR SGX540 graphics engine. We're told that it'll play nice with Linux variants such as Android and LiMo, Symbian and Windows Mobile, though it'll have to be mighty impressive to outgun NVIDIA's Tegra. Battle on, we say.[Via Linux Devices]
ASUS announces WiMAX-equipped Eee PC 1000HG
Despite the fact that LTE looks to be the de facto standard for next-gen mobile data, ASUS has an unwavering love affair with WiMAX. In fact, we've already seen the company introduce a WiMAX-equipped laptop, and a WiMAX-enabled Eee PC was demoed way back at CES 2008. That said, the company is just now getting around to producing a new one for the adoring public, but for whatever reason, it's not even boasting about it. Tucked deep, deep within a release gloating about the Eee PC 1003HA and T91's ability to handle Windows 7 Beta is the promise of an Eee PC 1000HG. Said netbook will include both WiMAX and WiFi capabilities -- or, more specifically, IEEE 802.16e, WAVE2 and WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n support in the 2.4GHz~2.7GHz and 5.1GHz~5.8GHz bands. Of course, "future" could mean "we'll release this in late 2019," but we're banking on hearing more details sooner rather than later.
Hyundai's phones are creatively ridiculous
We associate the Hyundai name more closely with cars and ten-year warranties than we do phones in these parts of the world, but Hyundai Mobile does a little business selling low-cost phones in parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia (cars... phones... right, makes sense). We had a chance to check out some of the offerings today, and yeah, let's just put it this way: some of these devices are a bit off the beaten path. Pictured above from left to right are the MB-400 (bearing absolutely no resemblance to any existing device), the MB-910 touchscreen watch phone, and the lovely MB-105 "Chico" (which -- interesting fact -- features a whopping 50-message SMS storage capacity). The Chico wasn't functional for us, but follow the break for some hands-on time with the unfortunate iPod rip and one of the nicer watch phones we've seen come to market. Odd couple, isn't it?%Gallery-45055%
HTC Magic in-depth hands-on, with video!
We only got a brief glimpse of this device before it was whisked away at the Vodafone press event today, so we tracked down HTC's megabooth and sat down for a much longer gander at the new HTC Magic. The unit we played with has a non-final button layout on the front -- we'd say the final version, reflected in official press shots, is much-improved -- but was raring to go otherwise. Check out our impressions, along with a couple of videos after the break!
LG gets official with 3G-equipped X120 netbook
LG was all too happy to show this one off at CES in January, but it wasn't quite ready to talk about it any sort of official manner, though it has now finally rectified that situation more than a month later at MWC. From the looks of it, the netbook seems to be unchanged from its CES iteration, with it packing a 160GB hard drive, the Splashtop-powered LG "Smart On" quick-boot interface and, we presume, the same 10-inch WSVGA display and de rigeur 1.6GHz Atom processor as before. Most notably, LG has also now confirmed that the X120 will indeed come equipped with standard 3G HSPA connectivity, which is no doubt why LG took advantage of MWC to finally get official with it. If you missed it the first time around, be sure to check out our CES hands-on for plenty of pics and a video of that quick-boot in action.[Via Liliputing]
Acer's four other phones in the flesh, not powered on
Acer made a lot of noise about launching "eight" handsets yesterday, but we only got hard details on the four Tempos -- which was probably the wrong way to go, because the prototypes of the F1, white C1, L1, and the E1 due to launch later this year are way hotter. Too bad Acer won't turn 'em on or tell us anything about them -- we can see the F1 has a five megapixel camera, but the lack of a Windows Mobile 6.5-required hardware Start button on any of these doesn't bode well. Check 'em all out in the gallery.%Gallery-45053%
Acer F900, M900, X960, and DX900 hands-on with video
Acer's new Tempo lineup of middling Windows Mobile 6.1 sets isn't going to steal the show from the TG01, the OmniaHD, or the Magic, but it's not like they're total failures -- they're just way behind the curve. Engadget Spanish did the honors, and it looks like Acer would have been better off spending the time getting these ready to ship with 6.5 instead of the amusingly quaint Microsoft Bob-like Acer Shell it's come up with to skin 6.1 -- all it's missing is the dog. Add in a general sense of lagginess and a stubborn resistive touchscreen, and we'd say this round is better off skipped. So much for those budding Acer fanboys. More galleries and a video after the break.%Gallery-45048%
NVIDIA's Tegra in the flesh, booting to Android and pumping out 1080p video
NVIDIA really has a technical wonder in the Tegra APX 2600 chipset, and is more than happy to show it off, with a myriad of tech demos on display here at MWC. Some of this they showed off back in June of last year, but it's no less impressive -- there aren't really any mobile devices out there capable of this stuff right now. Still, we're here for the new, and NIVIDA showed up with Android running on one of its proof-of-concept units, and with another unit pumping out 1080p video, with a claimed 10 hours of battery life at that task. NVIDIA says it took them just a few weeks to port Android to the system, and we found it already quite snappy and even usable on the capacitive touchscreen-ed device. We also saw the forthcoming Android-running Yulong N8 and IAC S2 Tegra APX phones, along with an untitled CompalCom set -- they were all in non-working prototype form, but it's clear this chipset isn't just for MIDs. Check it all out in the videos after the break and the gallery below!%Gallery-45023%
Acer working on two Android phones to launch this year
Alright, this one's pure tradeshow silliness -- when Engadget Spanish pressed the Acer rep at MWC about rumored plans to launch an Android handset, dude pulled out a notebook and whipped up a quick product roadmap, including the two mysterious "Android secret models" shown here. That's all we know for now, but anything's got to be better than the sad Tempos Acer launched yesterday -- and hey, we also got the names of the four announced-but-not-revealed sets we're due to see sometime later this year. One more pic of Acer's secret diary after the break.
LG doesn't rock the WinMo boat, launches S60-powered KT770 on the downlow
In light of its fresh tie-up with Microsoft, we can understand how any LG smartphone not running WinMo might be perceived as a black sheep this week. Still, it bums us that the the company has launched its latest S60-powered handset -- the KT770 slider -- at MWC this week with little more than a brief mention on LG's official MWC site and a couple of forlorn demo models stuffed in the corner of the company's booth. The good news is we decided to make good on LG's oversight and give this little beauty the love it deserves with a mention, a gallery, and a quick video of its tweaked S60 3.2-based UI in action.The faux carbon fiber back is a little cheesy -- particularly for a device that otherwise looks fairly businesslike -- but with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, GPS, a WQVGA display, and a 5 megapixel camera on board, it's hard to argue that this device can't be competitive (put this up against the far bulkier, uglier N95, for example). The UI seemed reasonably responsive, and though we weren't able to test the browser without a connection, we imagine the stock S60 apps work every bit as well as they do on Nokia fare. Check out the video after the break!%Gallery-45005%
Ralph de la Vega says he was misquoted, doesn't know of a Dell smartphone
We just spoke with AT&T's Ralph de la Vega who says that he's been misquoted about Dell's rumored aspirations to enter the smartphone market. As we suspected might be the case, he claims he'd been referring to the fact that he'd heard rumors of a Dell phone -- you know, the same rumors we've all been hearing -- and was simply commenting on that fact. Either that, or there's a Dell smartphone running some futuristic S60 / Android hybrid in his pocket as we speak... one of the two.
