Posts filed under Mobile World Congress 2008

Mention the words ‘NVIDIA’ and ‘concept phone’ in the same sentence, and you’ll always cause a stir, and as these video clips show below, with just cause. These are clips taken of NVIDIA’s concept phone on display at MWC 2008. The phone itself is just a mock-up – like Google Android phones on display at MWC 2008, it’s not the phone’s form that’s the main attraction, it’s the user interface and the mobile CPU powering it.

And good gods, what a user interface! NVIDIA are world famous for their stunning GPUs and graphics abilities, but this mobile UI looks liike something straight out of Minority Report!

In a sign that mobile phones are becoming secondary to the features they support, Sony Ericsson have unveiled the new Sony Ericsson W980 Walkman phone at MWC 2008 that at first glance looks nothing like a mobile phone.

The W980 looks in every respect like a Walkman, and nothing at all like a phone. It’s only when you open it up that you realise it’s a clamshell in disguise.

What this means is that the phone as a device has become so ubiquitous, it’s no longer necessary for a phone to look like a phone. You can already see this trend with camera phones, which look more and more like cameras, and less like phones, with every new release.

Nokia have seemingly increased the pace of mobile phone innovation with the announcement of the Nokia 6210 Navigator at the MWC 2008. The 6210 Navigator is similar in features to the 6120 Navigator, coming with HSDPA and aGPS as standard.

However, what the 6210 adds to the mix is a built-in compass, which acts to rotate the map according to the direction in which you’re pointing. In other words, no more having to work out which way down a street you’re walking – the map will always point in your direction no matter where you stand. Perfect for women, I understand ;)

Nokia have announced the Nokia N96 at the MWC 2008. The N96 is set to replace the hugely successful N95 (which has sold over 7 million units), and blimey, does it do it in style!

It comes in the same form factor as the N95, with the dual slide keypad (slide it down to get the keypad, and up to access the dedicated media keys), but looks so much sleeker.

It also offers the same enormous range of features. For those unaware of what they are, you get WLAN and HSDPA connectivity, MP3 player and aGPS all built-into the phone. You also get the same 5 megapixel camera as the N95, plus a flash and video light.

On top of the N95’s features, though, the N96 adds some of its own.

Yesterday we brought you pictures of the Google Android phone on show at MWC 2008. Today, we thought we’d go one better, and bring you a video of the phone in all its glory.

Obviously, this is just a prototype, so pay no attention of the hardware it’s encased in. The phone itself is an old cannibalised smartphone, and really isn’t the focus of the excitement at the moment. It’s all about the software – what Android will offer, how it will look, and more importantly, how different it will be from existing mobile phone software platforms.

Sony Ericsson have had a gloriously busy MWC 2008. Not content with announcing the XPERIA X1 and Z770, they’ve also announced two new Cyber Shot phones that take camera phones to a whole new level.

The Sony Ericsson C702 and C902 Cyber Shot phones don’t just add more megapixels – anyone can do that, and not necessarily with good results. LG have had a 5 megapixel camera on the market since 2006 with the LG KG920, but despite its megapixellage, its picture quality was poor.

It wasn’t until Sony Ericsson came along with the K850i that a 5 megapixel camera phone made sense, with picture quality that rivalled that of low end dedicated digital cameras.

Now these two new Cyber Shot camera phones, the C702 and C902, raise the bar further with a combination of superb phone features, such as HSDPA, GPS, and excellent camera features such as face recognition.

More details of the two new Sony Ericsson Cybershots after the jump.

Sony Ericsson have announced the Sony Ericsson Z770 mobile phone at the MWC 2008. The Z770 is a smart-looking clamshell design that focuses on superior Web browsing. Although not as all-singing all-dancing as its high-end stablemate the XPERIA X1, the Z770 nevertheless offers HSDPA and the Access NetFront Web browser for super-fast Web browsing, and also acts as a 3.5G modem when hooked up to your laptop via USB.

The Z770 also offers built-in Google maps for mobile that will give you step-by-step directions to where you want to go (although you have to tell it where you are, as there’s no built-in GPS), as well as a built-in weather application.

It looks good, and should be really good for quick Web access, but don’t expect to use the Web fully without a proper QWERTY keyboard and a decent sized screen.

Full details of the Sony Ericsson Z770 after the jump.

Sony Ericsson stole the show on the first day of the MWC 2008 with the launch of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 smartphone. The Xperia X1 is one of those phones we were all dying to see last year – a new Sony Ericsson phone that has so much wow factor, you really don’t know where to begin!

Crammed full of features, with fantastic styling, and a superb user interface, the XPERIA X1 even makes me wonder whether I should replace my Nokia E90 for it.

More details and pictures of the XPERIA X1 after the jump.

Well that didn’t take long – no sooner had I posted about Google Android prototypes being on display at MWC 2008, than up pops a picture of one!

You can’t really see much – in fact, it looks just like an old Sony Ericsson P900 smartphone externally (which it probably is – this is a prototype, remember). However, it’s the software we’re really interested in, and there’s just not enough detail in this pic to give us any idea of what we can expect from Google Android phones.

More Google Android pics coming up, though, so stay tuned.

[Source: TechCrunch]

The Mobile World Congress 2008 (formerly known as 3GSM) has just kicked off in Barcelona, and the first bit of news to come from the event is a revealing interview with Google’s Rich Miner who talks about the new Google Android platform.

In an interview with Rory Cellan-Jones of the BBC, Miner confirms that there will be prototype Android phones and services on display at MWC, and that the phones themselves will be ready in the second quarter of 2008. He also explained Google’s business model behind Android: provide a free open platform to a new market, and pretty soon the ads will follow. If Google develops that platform, then naturally it will be Google delivering (and profiting from) the ads.

We all knew this, of course, but it’s good to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

We’ll give you pics and details of the new Google Android prototypes as we get them.

[Source: BBC News]