mobile world congress

Intel unveils MeeGo tablet interface

BARCELONA--Intel has shown off a developer preview of the tablet user interface for its MeeGo Linux operating system at Mobile World Congress here.

At the same time today, the company also addressed Nokia's withdrawal from the long-term development of MeeGo for mobile phones, with software and services chief Renee James saying the company was "disappointed" with its Finnish partner.

The user interface is based on dynamic panels and does not resemble the Netbook variant of MeeGo--the only version to be shown off so far on a mobile computing device. The tablet UI was demonstrated by Intel … Read more

Apple Byte: MacBook Pro line getting a refresh?

CNET TV's Brian Tong discusses evidence that Apple is about to update its line of MacBook Pros. Also discussed in this edition: the Mobile World Congress gives Steve Jobs the Person of the Year in Mobile; Microsoft introduces the Windows 7 Series Phone; and a how-to tip for syncing your iTunes Library with multiple computers.

Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums. Do you have questions, issues, or stories you would like to see on MacFixIt? E-mail Us.

Opera Mini browser for iPhone?

"Opera Mini" and "iPhone" are two words that fit uncomfortably together given the current state of the mobile industry, yet as Opera Software announced last week, it has combined them just the same.

Moreover, the maker of desktop and mobile browsers for multiple platforms has been demonstrating the iPhone-capable browser at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Opera has been secretive and stingy about it, too, forbidding journalists from taking photos and refusing to show the product outside of their convention floor booth.

In addition to raising flags about the program's stability, Opera's … Read more

Skype's Verizon deal spells 'BlackBerry'

BlackBerry users have been waiting patiently for years, really, for Skype to release a version of its VoIP client for BlackBerry smartphones. If that's you, you're in luck. On Tuesday, Skype announced at the Mobile World Congress a partnership with Verizon that will bring a 3G-capable Skype app to Verizon smartphones. That includes several BlackBerrys, like the Curve, both Storms, and Tour.

The BlackBerry faithful have heard similar teases before, and indeed, Skype for BlackBerry has been in closed beta for some time. Now, at least, there's a date attached to the release, March 2010. We guesstimate … Read more

What we still don't know about new Windows phones

As someone who has watched Windows Mobile for a long time (and been critical for just as long), I must say my curiosity has been piqued.

What Microsoft has shown of its new mobile operating system looks nothing like the tired Windows interface of old; instead it looks like the much more enjoyable Zune HD. The idea of putting people and photos in one place where one can do multiple things is a good one. The connection to Xbox Live could help Microsoft appeal to a whole new area, while a pervasive connection to social networks like Facebook is also … Read more

Microsoft hits redial in phone effort (Q&A)

While CEO Steve Ballmer is the one who will get top billing at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, it is Microsoft veteran Andy Lees who is largely responsible for shepherding the long-delayed software project to completion.

Ballmer and Lees, who came from Microsoft's server unit in March 2008, will be showing the fruits of that work--a ground-up redesign of the phone operating system into something that looks a lot more like the Zune HD than it does any prior version of Windows Mobile.

While Microsoft won't be building the phones itself, it is being pretty strict about both the components that must be included (think FM radio and capacitive touch screen) as well as also prohibiting phone makers from putting their own skin over the user interface, something that many had taken to doing to hide Windows Mobile in recent generations.

In an interview just before he headed to Barcelona, Lees talked about Microsoft's different approach with the new software, the role of Zune and Xbox in the product, as well as why Microsoft still believes it can catch up to leaders like Apple, Google and Research In Motion.

There is also a separate Microsoft-designed phone effort, code-named Pink, that is due out this year, ahead of the first crop of third-party Windows Phone 7 Series devices, although Lees wouldn't talk about those.

Here's an edited transcript of our conversation:

Q: So essentially what is Windows Mobile 7, or whatever it's being called? Andy Lees: Windows Phone 7 Series. As you may remember, we about 18 months ago decided that we're going to re-evaluate our mobile strategy, and what we're doing in the mobile space. That was based on the inflection point that was happening in a number of ways, both in terms of convergence of different industries colliding together, and also the technologies of what is becoming possible, of course, driven by Moore's Law in the hardware, connectivity, and new-user paradigms, people using their phones in concert with the Web, and their PCs, and TVs, and things. And so that really created the impetus to go through it. … Read more

Adobe joins Linux-phone group to spread Flash

In an effort to spread its Flash technology as widely as possible, Adobe Systems has joined the LiMo Foundation, a group devoted to putting Linux on mobile phones.

Adobe's Flash Player is ubiquitous on computers, but the company's Flash Lite effort hadn't met with much success extending the programming foundation to mobile phones. With a new generation of relatively powerful smartphones on the market, Adobe is trying again with a full-featured but lightweight version of the computer software, Flash Player 10.1, due in the first half of 2010.

Flash is missing from the highest-profile smartphone, Apple'… Read more

Compaq AirLife smartbook has Android, touch

Normally, when we hear about a Compaq product, we associate it with entry-level computers. HP apparently remembers the days when Compaq first released iPAQ smart devices, because it chose to announce the AirLife smartbook device under its Compaq brand instead.

Though tablet PCs are getting the lion's share of attention lately, "smartbooks"--laptop-like devices with advanced smartphone processors and pared-down operating systems--are attempting to build some momentum, too. The Compaq AirLife 100 looks like many Netbooks, but it differs in several ways: it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor instead of an Intel Atom, comes with 3G … Read more

GSMA Mobile World Congress spotlight

Adios, Barcelona: GSMA 2009 wrap up Before we completely close the door on GSMA 2009, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on what was (and wasn't) revealed at the show. After all, MWC often lays the groundwork for what we'll see in mobile space in the upcoming year. (Read more)