mobile world congress

Smartphones of Mobile World Congress 2011

Despite the Nokia and Microsoft headlines at the start of the show, this year's Mobile World Congress was definitely dominated by Android. Most of the 15 or so smartphones that were announced in Barcelona, Spain, sported either 2.2 Froyo or 2.3 Gingerbread, which is music to our ears. Here's a list of all of the smartphones that were announced at Mobile World Congress 2011.

LG Optimus 3D: Yes, it's 3D on a phone! Though we're not sure if it's for everyone, it's certainly an impressive leap in the mobile space.

Samsung Galaxy S II: Samsung continues its Galaxy S series with the superfast and shiny Samsung Galaxy S II.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: Sure we had our misgivings about its Super Bowl ad, but the Xperia Play does look like a decent phone. But will it be the true "PlayStation Phone" that people might be expecting? We'll see.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo: Sony Ericsson released other smartphones too, like the Neo with the 3.7-inch touch screen.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro: This is the Neo with a slide-out keyboard.

ZTE Skate: ZTE releases its first "jumbo phone" with a 4.3-inch display, but it only has an 800MHz processor and a 5-megapixel camera.

ZTE Amigo: ZTE also announced a couple of other Android phones. The Amigo has a slide-out keyboard and a 3.2-megapixel camera.

ZTE Blade: The ZTE Blade does not have a keyboard, but just a 3.5-inch touch screen. It does run Android 2.1, but ZTE promises it is upgradable to 2.2.

Huawei Ideos X3: Huawei gets in on the Android action, too, with the Ideos X3, which promises to run on 2.3 Gingerbread. … Read more

Google proud of Wael Ghonim's role in Egyptian protests

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said yesterday that he's "very, very proud" of the key role that employee Wael Ghonim played in the recent Egyptian protest movement.

Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Schmidt addressed the topic of Ghonim, Google's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, who used Facebook and other online tools to help spark the protests in Egypt.

"They were able to use a set of technologies that included Facebook, Twitter and a number of others to really express the voice of the people," Schmidt said, according … Read more

At Yahoo, contextual content key for mobile devices

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

CEO: Intel-powered smartphones arriving this year

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

Tablets at Mobile World Congress 2011

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

MWC Day 2 wrap-up

The second day of Mobile World Congress has come to a close, and while it's a little slower than the last few days, there was still plenty to see in Barcelona.

The big news of the day was from HTC, which introduced several new phones including the so-called "Facebook phones"--the HTC ChaCha and the HTC Salsa--which apparently might have Android OS 2.4. It also announced the HTC Incredible S, the Wildfire S, and the Desire S. HTC also jumped on the tablet bandwagon with the 7-inch HTC Flyer.

Speaking of tablets, we took a … Read more

Google adds video editor to Honeycomb

BARCELONA, Spain--Google today unveiled Movie Studio, a new application for the upcoming Honeycomb era of Android tablets that lets people edit videos.

The software, which Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt announced during a speech here at Mobile World Congress, is designed to expand on a phone's abilities to capture imagery.

With it, people can combine still images and videos to create broader video that can be shared online. People will be able to add musical soundtracks, fade to black at the end of the video, and add effects like the Ken Burns-style panning so common on Apple video software. … Read more

MWC Day 1 Wrap-up

BARCELONA, Spain--Mobile World Congress 2011 is off and roaring, as we finally get a chance to have some hands-on time with a few of the products announced this past weekend. But it's not all just handset coverage; Barcelona has also become a hotbed for the latest news in the mobile industry.

Indeed, it seems Nokia and Microsoft are not quite done discussing their partnership, as Nokia's Stephen Elop and Microsoft's Steve Ballmer took to the stage at Mobile World Congress to tout their vision for the future. Elop tried to allay some fears, while Ballmer gave … Read more

Doro introduces its first 3G camera phone

Doro has introduced a few new basic handsets in conjunction with Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. They are the PhoneEasy 615, the PhoneEasy 610, the PhoneEasy 680, and the PhoneEasy 682.

Even though Doro usually makes superbasic phones with the elderly in mind (see our reviews of the Doro PhoneEasy 345 and the Doro PhoneEasy 410), the company has received many requests for an easy-to-use camera phone, which is why it came up with the Doro PhoneEasy 615. The 615 is the company's first handset to have 3G and a 3.2-megapixel camera.

The PhoneEasy 610 is a successor … Read more

Comodo Console makes any car connected

BARCELONA, Spain--At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Israeli start-up Comodo Console debuted a low-cost, all-in-one infotainment system that turns any car--including a 10-year-old beater--into a cutting-edge, connected tech sled.

Comodo's aftermarket product is a one-stop shop that goes way beyond your typical dash-mounted navigation system. For a flat monthly fee the company provides all the hardware, software, and data plan necessary to install and run the console in the vehicle. The package includes a rotatable console with a 4.3-inch touch screen, dedicated USB modem, GPS antenna, Bluetooth, backup camera, external microphone, speaker, and installation kit--devices that … Read more