Cell phones

Moto is almost a no-show at GSMA

If you're a Moto fan who is eager for new cell phones at the GSMA World Congress, I'm sorry to report that I have some bad news. The company is not announcing any new handsets in Barcelona. What's more, its booth, while well positioned in a prime location, offers few sights beyond previously announced models like the Motorola Aura.

This year's GSMA appearance is even smaller than last year when Motorola introduced just the Z6w and the sleep-inducing W161 and W181. When we contacted Moto before we left for Barcelona, a spokeswoman confirmed that the company … Read more

A phone for superheroes

If the Invisible Woman needed a cell phone to call the other members of the Fantastic Four, or if Wonder Woman wanted a handset for her namesake jet, they'd be wise to check out one of the latest phones from LG.

The GD900, which LG debuted at the GSMA World Congress, is billed as the world's first transparent-design phone. We're always skeptical when any company claims to have a "first in the world," but in this case we admit that we've never seen anything like the GD900.

Of course, not everything on the slider … Read more

GSMA 2009 Day 1 summary

Even though Monday has just come to an end here in the U.S., a brand-new day in Barcelona is just beginning. So before we hear more news from Day 2 at GSMA Mobile World Congress, here's a brief wrap-up of Day 1.

It was a big opening weekend at GSMA Mobile World Congress with Garmin announcing its whole line of Nuvifone phones before the show even began. They were the Nuvifone M20 Windows Mobile smartphone and the original Linux-based Nuvifone G60. Also, T-Mobile and Samsung announced the Samsung Memoir for the U.S. market. The 8-megapixel camera phone … Read more

Skype strikes deal with Nokia

BARCELONA--Skype is racking up deals with mobile handset makers here at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009.

On Tuesday, the company, which is owned by eBay, announced a partnership with Nokia, the largest cell phone maker in the world, to put the Skype Internet calling software onto its phones. Nokia will initially offer Skype on its high-end smartphones, the N-series. The N97, Nokia's flagship device that goes on sale in June, will be the first to have Skype embedded. The Skype feature will start shipping on the device in the third quarter of 2009.

Skype will be integrated into the … Read more

Cisco brings Web conferencing to more smartphones

BARCELONA--Smarrtphone users will soon be able to participate in Web conferences using the hosted WebEx tool right from their phones.

Cisco Systems, which owns the WebEx Web conferencing service, announced Tuesday at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 here that it is making a version of its WebEx client software available to several smartphones including Research In Motion's BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Curve 8900, and BlackBerry Storm. It will also be available for the Nokia E71, Nokia E75, Nokia N97, and other Nokia E series and N series devices, as well as for the Samsung Blackjack II.

The new functionality … Read more

Nokia N86: 8-megapixel leak

All mobile phone-loving eyes may be on Barcelona, where Mobile World Congress is currently taking place, but we've just spotted some breaking news from Singapore. Nokia's Far East showcase is showing off none other than an 8-megapixel camera phone: the Nokia N86.

Nate Lanxon and Andrew Lim, our men on the show floor in Spain, will be seeking out a hands-on opportunity with the N86 quicker than you can say "Sony Ericsson Idou." In the meantime, we'll share some leaked specs with you. It's a slider phone with a 2.6-inch OLED screen, 8GB … Read more

Nokia announces E55, E75

Updated at 6:09 a.m. (PST) with more details and photos.

Nokia rolled out two new E-series phones at its press conference on the first day of the GSMA World Congress here in Barcelona. Both offer full messaging and smartphone features, but they take a different approach to design. Full specs are below, but be sure to check out our Nokia GSMA photo gallery as well.

The Nokia E55 has a candy-bar design and comes in white or black. Nokia says it will be the world's thinnest smartphone, but we know the E55 has lots of competition in … Read more

LG Arena debuts with S-Class 3D interface

We knew it was coming, and sure enough the LG Arena made its glorious debut on the opening day of Mobile World Congress 2009 here in Barcelona. The Arena is LG's flagship model of 2009 and includes a number of high-end multimedia features and more noteworthy, a cool 3D user interface called S-Class.

The S-Class UI was designed to further the advantages of touch-screen phones and also make them easier to use by providing four customizable home screens. The system uses a cube layout so you can program all four sides of the cube to include shortcuts for your … Read more

Huawei to launch Android handsets

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to a Huawei executive as James Chen. The executive's name is Edward Chen.

BARCELONA--Chinese handset maker Huawei Technologies said Monday at the GSMA Global World Congress 2009 here that it plans to start selling phones using Google's Android operating system later this year.

Details about the upcoming phones are still scarce. But the company said it's partnering with a design consultancy company. The device is still in development and is expected to hit the market in the third quarter of this year.

Huawei is a large telecommunications equipment maker … Read more