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>> Hi I'm Kent German for cnet.com. I'm Senior Editor for cell phone reviews and we're here today to talk about Mobile World Congress. This is one of the largest cell phone shows in the world. A CNET Team will be there starting February 14 through February 18 in Barcelona, Spain where a lot of mobile stuff is going to happen. New Phones, lots of news, operating systems, and we're here today to tell you what you can expect. I'm here with Nicole Lee and Bonnie Cha.
>> Nicole and Bonnie: Hello.
>> Kent German: And Bonnie and I will be journeying to Barcelona with Maggie Reardon from CNET News while Nicole will be holding down the Fort here in San Francisco. But Bonnie I think we'll start off with you; it looks like it's going to be a lot of operating system news this time around so tell us what you think you'll see.
>> Bonnie: Yeah I think more than hardware we're going to hear a lot of news as far as operating systems. Windows Mobile Seven is going to be the big headliner I think. Microsoft will be having a press conference there and I believe Steve Belmar [assumed spelling] will be there as well; and you can preview Windows Mobile 7 which some are calling--it's under the code name Montro [assumed spelling] but they're going to simplify the user interface a little similar to the Zune HD. They're also going to bring push notifications but no multitasking or flash at this time. I think they really want to push it out and so they don't want to hold it up with those issues right now. There's some question as to whether there's going to be a Zune phone--hardware wise I'm a little skeptical but I think in terms of the Zune interface and the Zune phone yes in that sense we could see the Zune phone. Another operating system that needs a major overhaul is Symbian [assumed spelling] and we're going to be seeing Symbian 3 there. So what they've done with Symbian 3 is they've simplified the UI which they really needed to do as well as improve the performance so it's faster to use. They also added support for multi-touch and capacitive touch screens so that's good news. They've kind of reduced the clutter on the user interface and also added support for multiple home screens; so Symbian has kind of struggled behind the new OS and so it will be good to kind of see them bring up their end.
>> Kent: Yeah absolutely. Is this Windows Mobile update? Is this what everybody's been waiting for like the final? Windows Mobile for so long has been Windows Mobile.
>> Bonnie: I don't know. I think it will be--I really do hope though. I think they do have a lot to offer, especially to business users and I know they kind of want to hit the consumer market too but I'm really interested to see what they've done with the interface because there has been a lot of usability issues there so.
>> Kent: Okay. Hopefully we'll see that. We know there have been a lot of Zune phone rumors that will depend on what you mean by Zune phone. If you need a phone that Microsoft is producing, probably not and if you need a phone that has Zune software, a good possibility so we'll see. I will be looking forward to a lot of handsets and so Android is going to be a big theme. We think--it was supposed to be a big theme last year and that didn't happen; so hopefully we'll see some new Android handsets from the likes of maybe LC, HG, maybe even Samsung we don't know. But Samsung, Sony-Ericsson are both holding press conferences the day before the show begins and they should use those occasions to introduce their new handsets that they haven't used so we will be there to tell you what's going on. We also will be meeting with a few of the companies like Motorola, T-Mobile, ZTE, Quasari [assumed spelling] even though Quasari doesn't make GSM phones, they'll be showing us some stuff they have from Japan that we'll maybe see lots of stuff you can't get here but new handsets again like I said and Barcelona is a great show to see all of that stuff that's not available in the U.S. but it's really cool so we'll look forward to that. Nicole you won't be joining us but you'll be doing very important work here. And what are you looking forward to seeing from Barcelona?
>> Nicole: I'm just hoping to see like cool new phones like from a consumer's perspective. I would love to see new interesting hardware like I think last year we saw that Samsung Clear phone, so sort of clear displays, very interesting technology. I always think of GSM or Mobile World Congress as sort of a trendsetter in a way of some new hardware, some new takes on phone designs. I would like to see new designs, interesting touch screen phones and that kind of thing for sure.
>> Kent: Well, I really hope you get your wish because I don't think those are really unreasonable requests, but definitely the last two years Bonnie and I have been to this show; the handsets have really set the pace for what's is going to happen to the end of the year. And even if handsets aren't a big feature at this show, for instance we know that Nokia is not even having a booth. They're going to be concentrating on their Nokia business or their Nokia Siemens infrastructure business. Nokia will be having press conference so we might see some new phones there. Not really sure but hopefully we'll see a lot of new phones but certainly I think the Windows Mobile news is going to be exciting enough.
>> Bonnie: Yeah a lot of people are looking forward to that so.
>> Kent: And then Bonnie the last thing is the Samsung Botta [assumed spelling] right?
>> Bonnie: Yes so Botta is a name, you know they came out with this and presented it as an operating system for their Smartphones but they also said it's not really meant to compete with the other OS's out there so we're not really sure if it's more of a user interface they're kind of putting over an operating system or what it is. So definitely we're looking forward to finding out more details about Botta.
>> Kent: So that's hopefully what we're seeing. Our coverage will start February 14th, this coming Sunday which is Valentine's Day--that's the day before the show begins and the show runs through Thursday the 18th and we'll be there throughout the week with all sorts of CNET people from around the world to bring you the biggest and the best. So just come to CNET and check out photos, videos and news and we look forward to seeing you from Barcelona. Thanks for joining us.
