smartphones

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

Acer introduces eight new smartphones at GSMA 2009

Weeks prior to the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 here in Barcelona, there were plenty of rumors as to what Acer would reveal at its scheduled Monday press conference. We knew they'd be smartphones but there were varying opinions as to how many and what type. Well, all the speculation can stop now as the company finally took the wraps off the devices on Monday night.

Speaking at Antoni Gaudi's Casa Batllo, several Acer executives, including CEO and President Gianfranco Lanci, announced that the company would bring more than 10 smartphones to market in 2009 and showed off … Read more

Photos: Acer at GSMA 2009

On Monday night, Acer held a press conference during GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009, where the company unveiled eight new smartphones. Full details of the event and the new devices are coming soon, but in the meantime, check out our photo gallery of the event, which was held at Antoni Gaudi's Casa Batllo.

LG kicks off Windows Mobile deal with LG-GM730

LG Electronics made a number of announcements at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009, one of which was its alliance with Microsoft to make Windows Mobile the primary operating system for the company's smartphones. As part of the agreement, LG said it would create a tenfold increase of Windows Mobile devices in 2009, and it got things started with the introduction of the LG-GM730.

LG expects to ship the GM730 during the first half of 2009, so unfortunately, it will run Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition. But the company said it would release a Windows Mobile 6.5 version … 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

Microsoft previews Windows Mobile 6.5

On Monday, Microsoft officially unveiled the latest version of its mobile operating system at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer previewed Windows Mobile 6.5 during his keynote address, and as expected, the updated OS brings a handful of enhancements, including an application store, a backup and restore service, and an improved mobile Web browser. Here's a full rundown of the new features:

My Phone service My Phone is a free service that allows you to back up your phone's information to a password-protected Web service. It offers automatic synching and backup so you can store your contacts, appointments, text messages, and other information to the service and then easily restore the information to your device if you happen to lose it or upgrade to a new smartphone.

In addition, My Phone lets you automatically upload photos and videos straight from your phone to the service. Currently, My Phone is only available as an invitation-only beta.

Windows Marketplace for Mobile Windows Marketplace for Mobile will operate as the central hub for searching, browsing, and purchasing mobile applications for your smartphone. It comes preloaded on all Windows Mobile 6.5 devices where you'll be able to download applications over the air or from your PC simply by entering your Windows Live ID. Developers who have already created programs for Windows Mobile will be able to offer their products through the marketplace after a security and compatibility check from Microsoft.

Internet Explorer Mobile With Windows Mobile 6.5, you'll get more features from Internet Explorer Mobile. Built on the Internet Explorer 6 engine, the mobile browser will support Flash and JavaScript and includes new tools for better page navigation, such as zoom in/out sliding scale and a breadcrumb feature that shows you where you are on a Web page. In addition, Microsoft added that the browser allows for more transactions (e.g., checking flights, buying movie tickets) than any other mobile browser.… Read more

LG commits to Windows Mobile

Alongside the introduction of Windows Mobile 6.5, LG announced on opening day of the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 that it will make Windows Mobile the primary operating system for its smartphones and promised to significantly increase the production and distribution of such devices in the years to come.

In addition, Microsoft and LG have committed to creating joint research and development teams to work on these phones and ensure a tight integration between hardware and software.

To show its seriousness, LG said it will increase the number of Windows phones available in 2009 tenfold and will bring up … Read more

Nokia announces Ovi Application store

BARCELONA--Nokia is taking on smartphone rival Apple with its own version of an application store.

On Monday, the world's largest cell phone maker, which has been losing market share at the high end to devices like Apple's iPhone, announced here at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 that it will follow Apple and a few other handset makers in launching a virtual storefront where developers can upload applications and consumers can easily download them.

The news of Nokia's Ovi Store is hardly a shock. Several news agencies had reported that the company was expected to announce the store here at MWC.… Read more