Mobile Phone News v. Mobile World Congress

[xtop]

http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/

The GSMA Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM World Congress) combines the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry with a stimulating and insightful congress that brings together prominent leaders and personalities from mobile operators and equipment vendors, as well as Internet and entertainment professionals.

Feb 16-19

a ton of news is going to be coming from this and i'll do my best to bring it all here. a bunch of stuff has already leaked out or been announced..so off we go..

Android:
Archos to release Android phone / tablet

No pictures yet, but the spec sheet makes it sound like a hotrodded Archos 5: five-inch screen, up to a 500GB hard drive, a battery capable of 7 seven hours of video playback, and Flash support, all in a package just 10mm (.39 inches) thick. The underlying OS will be Android, but Archos plans to really beef up the media features -- there's even mention of HD video playback.

Windows Mobile 6.5:
Microsoft confirms MyPhone, invite-only beta coming to MWC
Some windows mobile 6.5 news/rumors i've already got going here

Other:
Nokia launching a Symbian app store at MWC?

Other Mobile News:
HTC, Samsung, LG looking to Snapdragon for future handsets?

Awesome Phones:
Toshiba TG01 with 4.1-inch WVGA touchscreen: a world's first Snapdragon

The 9.9-mm thin handset will feature a 4.1-inch WVGA (800 x 480 pixel) touchscreen display, HSDPA data, GPS, WiFi, a microSD slot, and custom Tosh 3D GUI to hide the Windows Mobile 6.1 uglies within. Most notable is that 1GHz Snapdragon chip that Toshiba claims makes the TG01 considerably faster than any device currently on the market with the promise to "revolutionize the mobile entertainment world."

More to come next week!

[mikejet]

I'm hoping for a phone to succeed the Nokia e90. Then I can get the e90 for cheap.

[xtop]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/s...hikaru-at-mwc/

Sony Ericsson leaked another stellar looking phone today in the form of the slider pictured above, apparently codenamed Hikaru. As with all these early treats, specs are thin, but we do know if has an 8 megapixel camera, 2.6-inch screen, WiFi, AGPS, some type of kickstand -- a la Nokia N96 -- and a 3.5mm headphone jack! Yeah, really, a first in a Walkman set. What else can we tell ya? Nothing, though, we should all know soon enough if this pans out as real and is indeed set for release at Mobile World Congress next week.

[mikejet]

News phones by Acer:
http://www.gsmarena.com/live_shots_o...p-news-791.php

[xtop]

acer shouldn't even bother with those, thos are horrid

i'll throw some more updates up later today

[mikejet]

Originally Posted by xtop

acer shouldn't even bother with those, thos are horrid

i'll throw some more updates up later today

I've only seen blurry shots of the "leaked" touchscreen Nokias. Have you seen better pics anywhere?

[xtop]

that? nope thats all i've seen

[mikejet]

Originally Posted by xtop

that? nope thats all i've seen

I like it, reminds me of The Dark Knight. I want that phone. I'm wondering if that will be the next in the Communicator series.

[xtop]

Some decent WinMo 6.5 Screens:





lots more here

Info on the nokia handsets posted above..

Sure, the pic looks a wee bit dodgy, but regardless it shows what looks to be two Nokia sets we've not seen before. Both of these ape the N97 -- which explains how this vid has been circulating since the 29 of January -- but the set on the right has had its d-pad moved to the right side of the keyboard and the buttons on the face seem absent. The handset on the left differs as it looks -- arguably -- thinner than the N97 and the front lip is sporting what appear to be a mini USB port and headset adapters. GSMArena has pointed out a couple sets from Nokia's leaked roadmap that could fit the bill. The Ivalo (left) has a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 32GB ROM, AGPS, a 5 megapixel camera, WiFi, and rounds out with TV-out and Bluetooth. The Madeleine, if that's what it is, has a side sliding keyboard, WiFi, Bluetooth, FM Radio,GPS, and a 3.2 megapixel camera. Hopefully the truth is waiting for us in Barcelona, but feel free to peek at the video after the break to keep your spirits up 'til then.

Garmin-Asus announces Windows Mobile-based nuvifone M20



nothing exciting in the spec dept for the nuvifone

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

weaksause ^^

Gigabyte to debut GSmart S1200 WinMo phone and more at MWC

As you can see above, this one's a touchscreen phone, and runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 with a new Gigabyte-developed interface atop it dubbed Smart Zone. At 0.43-inches, the phone is also reasonably slim, and it doesn't look to be too underpowered with a 528MHz Qualcomm 7200A processor under the hood. More details as we get 'em.

Ericsson promises 42Mbps HSPA demo using multi-carrier technology

yes please. they're saying thats possible in 2010

Verizon's LTE vendor partners to be revealed at MWC

lte might happen this year. sweet!

[Maximus]

Sony Ericsson bring the heat!

http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/15/s...apixel-mobile/

We didn't doubt it for a second (okay, maybe one second), but Sony's so-called Idou is for real. Though, we wouldn't go memorizing that name or anything, 'cause SE has plans to change it to something more commercial before summer. At any rate, the touchscreen-heavy handset -- which will run Symbian Foundation at launch -- does indeed sport a 12.1 megapixel shooter (which was hinted at last November), which sort of makes the also-just-official Samsung Memoir seem a bit dated already. It's funny too, as the only dozen megapixeler we were actually expecting at this show was from Samsung. We're still waiting on the minutiae, but we do know that it will pack a 3.5-inch panel (640 x 320 resolution; no word on capacitive or resistive) and "full media consumption," a phrase we're still struggling to digest. More as we get it!

What I can get so far, capacitative touch screen, multi-touch (5 point supposedly, but I don't believe that) gestures, XMB interface.

[xtop]

they're unsure of touchscreen or not. just looking at it makes me think it is. very cool tho. 12mp camera too

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by xtop

they're unsure of touchscreen or not. just looking at it makes me think it is. very cool tho. 12mp camera too

How can it not be?!? it has no buttons...

I heard way back Sony had patented and trialled 5-point multi-touch and they would use it in upcoming products (PSP2!) but I didn't think they would do it this quickly. It could be in a later version Idou 2.0 maybe...

[xtop]

http://www.samsungcentral.net/2009/0...reen-and-more/

According to Samsung, the Samsung OmniaHD will be the world’s first HD-video capture capable phone, sporting an 8 megapixel camera that supposedly captures 720P HD video. It will have a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen, which should be able to do the HD content it will record justice. That much, Samsung has revealed, but I think we can pretty much agree that it will have GPS, Wi-Fi, ample amount of built-in storage and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Those are staple features, after all, that any new competing smartphone in this day and age shouldn’t be released without. Of course, I could be wrong, but pray I’m not.

Next up is the W995 Walkman (can someone say Hikaru?), a multimedia-centric slider which boasts an 8.1 megapixel camera, A-GPS, Google Maps, WiFi, DLNA certification, 118MB of built-in memory, an 8GB M2 card and a 2.6-inch QVGA scratch-resistant display. The mobile should ship in a trio of colors -- Progressive Black, Cosmic Silver and Energetic Red -- and the inbuilt kickstand should make airplane-based movie watching a touch easier on the neck. No word on a price or release, but SE should be remedying that at any moment.

At this point, it's tough to say the Memoir wasn't official with a straight face, but Samsung and T-Mobile have jointly disclosed all (er, most) of the remaining details that were so sorely missing here at Mobile World Congress. The 8 megapixel handset will boast a Xenon flash, CMOS auto focus and 16x digital zoom, not to mention a full touchscreen and a sophisticated camera menu that enables users to adjust the brightness and flash, change the default destination of images, select a timer and zoom in or out. Moreover, the video recording and TV-out features should provide even more joy in the lives of multimedia lovers, and the blink detection, face detection, anti-shake and geotagging inclusions should shake off any remaining pundits who say there's not a "real camera" in here. As anticipated, the phone will launch exclusively on T-Mobile USA in just ten days (February 25, if you're too excited for math), though there's still no mention of a price. Procrastinate much?

Update: Boom, pricing -- $249.99 on a two-year contract with a $50 mail-in rebate. Not the cheapest thing we've ever seen, but you get what you pay for, yeah?

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/0...n-february-25/

[xtop]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

How can it not be?!? it has no buttons...

I heard way back Sony had patented and trialled 5-point multi-touch and they would use it in upcoming products (PSP2!) but I didn't think they would do it this quickly. It could be in a later version Idou 2.0 maybe...

yeah there's way too much going on even on the screen of it playing music for it not to be.

5 point multi-touch? how does that compare to the iphone?

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by xtop

yeah there's way too much going on even on the screen of it playing music for it not to be.

5 point multi-touch? how does that compare to the iphone?

iPhone is 2-point.

It is the number of fingers you can use on the screen at the same time, 5 is overkill, but it is much better than two as you will be able to copy/paste stuff easily.

[xtop]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

iPhone is 2-point.

It is the number of fingers you can use on the screen at the same time, 5 is overkill, but it is much better than two as you will be able to copy/paste stuff easily.

well thats freaking awesome then..one of the reasons i hate the iphone so much is because there is no copy/paste. and it seems like it would suck if there was.

with this screen making its debut so fast, do you think there's a chance of it hitting the psp-4000 before it shows up on a psp2 (assuming the 4k is even true)? or is there a psp2 fairly soon on the horizon that we dont know about?

[Maximus]

Too expensive to PSP, and adding touch screen to it would be making it into PSP2. There is no way SCE can add touchscreen functionality to PSP and not call it PSP2 as it gives developers another input method, unless they tell devs not to use it in games (which would make the functionality about as useful as a girl on a gay cruise).

[xtop]

fair enough

[Maximus]

Another shot:



Definitely a touch screen.

[xtop]

yeah no doubt. wonder how close to $1000 its gonna be