Mobile World Congress Round-Up: Smartphones, Apps and Awards

mwc_logo2009feb.gifMobile World Congress appears to be a success and there were so many announcements, they begged to be summarized in one of our easy-to-read Cliff-Notes-Style round-ups.

Smartphones Get Smarter and Cheaper at Mobile World Congress.

  • Acer showed four smartphones and then revealed that they may be free with contract with such carriers as AT&T and T-Mobile.
  • Nokia showed off E-Series messaging phones and the super-megapixel  N86 8MP.
  • Not to be outdone in the camera department, Sony showed the concept-phone, the Idou with a 12.1 megapixel camera phone while showing the W995 8 megapixel Walkman phone.
  • Pre-MWC Garmin-Asus announced the super GPS enabled, Nuvifone M20.
  • Samsung showed the first solar-powerd Blue Earth phone, a mobile phone with a Texas Instruments' Projector and Samsung OMINA HD.
  • The Palm Pre will multitask data and voice in Europe as well as an eBook on Mojo is published.
  • i-Mate launched the waterproof impervious i-mate 8-10 smartphone with GPS.

App Stores Announcements Abound at Mobile World Congress.

Operation Systems & Apps at Mobile World Congress:

  • Microsoft premiered the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system with a bigger honeycombed interface.
  • Huwaei and LG will offer Android phones this year.
  • Yahoo! Mobile Apps cloud of services will make the mobile web easier.

Awards Given at Mobile World Congress:

Charging Forward:

  • Members of the GSMA are working on standard universal USB charger for all handsets.