Android

BARCELONA, Spain--Samsung had more than one card up its sleeve at Mobile World Congress 2011. After announcing the Samsung Galaxy II and the Galaxy Tab 10.1, the company introduced two Android-based portable media players: the Samsung Galaxy S Wi-Fi 4.0 and the Samsung Galaxy S Wi-Fi 5.0.

Essentially, the devices are like the Samsung Galaxy S phones, just without the cellular phone capabilities. The main difference between the two models is screen size. The Galaxy S Wi-Fi 4.0 has a 4-inch WVGA Super LCD display, whereas the Galaxy S Wi-Fi 5.0 has a, you guessed … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Sony Ericsson got the ball rolling at Mobile World Congress when it announced its long-rumored and it-was-hardly-a-secret Xperia Play. As the "PlayStation phone," the Xperia Play combines a cell phone and a gaming device like few other handsets have.

Though we posted out initial hands-on impression shortly after the unveiling, it was difficult to get serious time with the device at the company's crowded press conference. So to take a second look, I trekked up the hill in Barcelona to Sony Ericsson's massive booth that it shared with Ericsson.

I'll warn you that I'… Read more

BARCELONA -- The Android Market is growing at three times the rate of Apple's App Store, according to a report released today by mobile security firm Lookout.

The number of Android Market apps increased about 127 percent since August, while the number of apps in the Apple App Store grew at a rate of 44 percent during that period, the company said in its latest App Genome Project report, which is based on an analysis of more than 500,000 mobile apps for those mobile platforms.

"The Android is maturing fast," but the Apple App Store still … Read more

The day after Apple officially shared details of its new App Store subscription plan, which lays the groundwork for Apple to take a 30-percent cut from publishers who sell content within their apps, Google announced the launch of Google One Pass, its online charging service for newspapers and magazines. Google's rival service offers two big differences from Apple's: content providers will get to keep 90 percent of revenue from One Pass sales and publishers will retain control of consumer data.

Outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who becomes Google's executive chairman in April, announced Google One Pass in … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--In a mobile world, size shouldn't matter, but context should.

That was the message from Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz as she demoed the company's new Livestand service at the Mobile World Congress 2011 here today.

Livestand, announced last week, aggregates and personalizes all types of content for users and optimizes it for every type of device. Dubbed a "digital newsstand," it serves up stories, information and ads based on a person's interest and eliminates the need for publishers to create multiple versions of content for different devices.

For mobile devices, where small screen size … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--In a trade show dominated by phones and PCs using ARM-based processors, Intel Chief Executive took the stage to tout his own x86 chips.

Intel, of course, grew to power on the basis of its x86 chip family, including Pentium, Xeon, and now Core and Atom processors. Today's smartphones, though, use ARM-based chips from companies such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and perhaps most concerning for Intel, now Nvidia as well. Those products are hogging the spotlight at the Mobile World Congress show here.

So when will Intel-powered smartphones arrive?

"This year," Otellini said, though he was … Read more

Today's smartphones allow a user to pack a ton of processing power and productivity software into a pocket. A printer, on the other hand, is usually not so portable. Fortunately, you don't have to drag your printer on the road with you because now you can send your documents to it with Google's Chrome browser and Cloud Print service. In this CNET How To video, we show you how to use this software and your Android, iPhone, or BlackBerry smartphone to print on the go.

One of the first and biggest hurdles any third-party navigation app will need to clear on Google's Android platform is Google itself. While this may not be the case with other mobile OSes, Android (or at least devices running version 1.6 or better) comes more or less bundled with Google's free Google Maps with Navigation app. So, why would a user go out of their way to check out another navigation app? So, of course, this is the first question I asked when evaluating the Sygic Aura GPS navigation app. … Read more

It's not just handsets and smartphones at this year's Mobile World Congress; tablets made their way to Barcelona, Spain, as well, despite some people's opinion that tablets aren't really mobile. As an echo to CES this year, Mobile World Congress proved once again that 2011 is the year of the tablet, with the introduction of at least five new models, and the promise of more to come.

LG Optimus Pad/T-Mobile G-Slate LG showed up in Barcelona with the LG Optimus Pad, which will be branded in the U.S. as the T-Mobile G-Slate. We already saw a glimpse of it at CES, but this is the first time we got to play around with it.

The display has a 1,280x768-pixel WXGA resolution in wide screen, and a 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor is found inside. You also get 1080p HD video decoding, and HDMI support will let you share your 3D video with TVs. Unlike the Optimus 3D, though, you do need glasses to watch 3D video on the tablet.

And as part of the Optimus Pad announcement, LG has a established a partnership with YouTube, which will let Optimus Pad owners quickly upload 3D videos for sharing.… Read more