Mobile World Congress 2010 Coverage Round Up

Daniel Carey Feb 19, 2010 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Mobile, Mobile Software

Every year without fail the Mobile tech industry flocks to Barcelona to see what's on offer. Often enough giant conglomerates such as Microsoft, HTC, and Google steal the show - this year's show being no different. At this point I would like to thank websites such as Engadget and Slashgear, whom without, our coverage would have failed miserably. Compiled below is a complete list of stuff that we covered; if you missed any of it we highly suggest that you take a gander:

Windows Phone 7 Series:

• Keynote breakdown
• Windows Phone 7 Series lacks Flash

Software announcements:

• Opera Mini for the iPhone
• Symbian^3 Announced 

Handsets:

• Acer's Smartphone line-up
• HTC Desire
• HTC HD Mini
• HTC Legend
• LG Moorestown GW990
• Motorola MT710
• Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro

Motorola MT710 caught at Mobile World Congress

Often enough smartphone manufacturers design handsets that are never meant to enter into a western market; it can be a little dissapointing at times, however, enthusiasts will find a way to get their greasy mits on them anyway. With Motorola hell bent on dominating the mobile marketplace again, it can be expected that such a thing would happen; destined for China is one of their latest Android handsets, the MT710.

The Motorola MT710 is running an Android based Ophone OS, FWVGA resistive touchscreen (thats a resolution of 854 x 480). Replacing HSPA 3G for TD-SCDMA 3G (essentially the Chinese equivalent), all housed within a svelte metal case emphasised with streaks of red.

Bonus image after the Break

Video: Symbian^3 officially announced

In the modern mobile era, Symbian along with Windows Mobile to name a few, is considered to be an antiquated operating system -- Especially when compared with the likes of Android and WebOS. In an attempt to recapture its youth, Symbian has undergone a facelift. The end result being a revitalised, moisturized S^3.

Taking queues from other platforms, i.e. Apple's iPhone, Palm's WebOS, and Google's Android, Symbian^3 attempts to bring you a full blown widget enabled, multitouch touting, cover flow browsing experience. Focusing on the overall user experience appears to be the main goal here, however like the Windows Phone 7 Series, how functional is it actually going to be?

Video after the Break

Acer's Smartphone Line up is bigger than ever before

So far this year's Mobile World Congress has left us with the delights of Windows Phone 7 Series, the HTC Desire, Legend, and HD Mini. Continuing along this trend,  Acer today announced five new handsets; each ranging from the realms of Android to Windows Mobile 6.5.3.

Acer's new handsets after the break

Video: HTC Desire announced at MWC

 Announced today along with the HD Mini and the Legend, was none other than the HTC Desire. At it's fundamental level, this handset is nothing more than an embellished Nexus One. The Desire is running HTC's custom UI... Sense, and much like its With Google brethren it's running none other than Qualcomm's 1GHz Snapdragon. In place of the Nexus One's trackball HTC has opted for a trackpad (Visually appeasing? We think so). The Desire carries over the 3.7inch AMOLED display, however there is the added bonus of Flash 10.1 (Yes you read that correctly).

HTC announced that this handset would be "broadly available" throughout Europe, Asia and Australia. -- About time HTC decided to bring another Android handset Down Under, I was starting to go through Android withdrawal.

Video after the Break

LG's GW990 - First MeeGo OS Handset

Daniel Carey Feb 17, 2010 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Smartphones

With the metamorphosis of Intel's Mobiln OS and Nokia's Maemo Project we're left with the distastefully named MeeGo OS. As of present, LG appears to have liked the idea so much that their Moorestown powered GW990 will be one of the first handsets to receive the operating system. Essentially this is going to mean very little to consumers; as the GW990 is running a custom UI above the x86-Moblin based core. Could MeeGo be the corner stone for a new line of Nokia handsets? Who knows, but either way its going to be interesting to watch this platform develop.

HTC HD Mini announced at MWC

Daniel Carey Feb 17, 2010 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Smartphones

Today HTC announced the HD Mini, which as you may have guessed is a smaller variant on quite possibly the best Windows Mobile 6.5 device ever created -- the HD2. This device is set to be released in April, and as of yet the OS appears to be rather responsive. Whilst this handset isn't going to impress you as much as the HD2; Sean Cooper, one of Engadget's Mobile editors noted that the form factor doesn't appear to hinder your telecommunication needs as much as you may think. Stay tuned for more on this device in the future.