Cell phones

The new Sony Ericsson Idou and W995 Walkman weren't the only new handsets sitting pretty in the company's GSMA World Congress booth. We also spied the C903 Cyber-shot and W395 Walkman, which debuted before the show began. To refresh your memory, the C903 is a 5-megapixel camera phone and the W395 is low-end Walkman phone.

We dropped by the Sony Ericsson booth on Tuesday to put the handsets through their paces. First up was the C903. Sporting a slider design, the C903 has a rather angular look, even with the rounded corners. The slider mechanism is solid and … Read more

BARCELONA--It looks like mobile chipmaker Qualcomm and handset maker Nokia have finally buried the hatchet.

On Tuesday, the companies, which were once entangled in a bitter legal battle, announced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 here that they would collaborate on developing technologies for 3G smartphones sold for the North American market.

The new devices will use Nokia's S60 software, which uses the Symbian OS, and advanced chipsets from Qualcomm that use its Mobile Station Modem technology. The first mobile devices to come out of this collaboration are expected in mid 2010, the companies said. And they will … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--iPhone maker Apple isn't at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 along with the rest of the mobile phone industry, but the company's growing success is definitely top of mind for key executives in the mobile market.

The iPhone and Apple's successful App Store got more than a passing mention on Tuesday during a panel moderated by The Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg.

The panel which included three of the most powerful CEOs in the mobile industry--Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility, the second largest mobile operator in the U.S.; … Read more

Update: This story has been updated to clarify that Apple was not named in the list of handset makers that have agreed to use a new universal charger standard.

BARCELONA--After I've spent years scrounging through drawers looking for the right charger and kicking myself every time I forgot my charger while traveling, the mobile industry has finally decided to make one device that can juice up any cell phone.

On Tuesday, the GSMA trade association announced at its 2009 Mobile World Congress here that it has brokered a deal with the world's leading handset makers to come up … Read more

If you're a Moto fan who is eager for new cell phones at the GSMA World Congress, I'm sorry to report that I have some bad news. The company is not announcing any new handsets in Barcelona. What's more, its booth, while well positioned in a prime location, offers few sights beyond previously announced models like the Motorola Aura.

This year's GSMA appearance is even smaller than last year when Motorola introduced just the Z6w and the sleep-inducing W161 and W181. When we contacted Moto before we left for Barcelona, a spokeswoman confirmed that the company … Read more

If the Invisible Woman needed a cell phone to call the other members of the Fantastic Four, or if Wonder Woman wanted a handset for her namesake jet, they'd be wise to check out one of the latest phones from LG.

The GD900, which LG debuted at the GSMA World Congress, is billed as the world's first transparent-design phone. We're always skeptical when any company claims to have a "first in the world," but in this case we admit that we've never seen anything like the GD900.

Of course, not everything on the slider … Read more

Even though Monday has just come to an end here in the U.S., a brand-new day in Barcelona is just beginning. So before we hear more news from Day 2 at GSMA Mobile World Congress, here's a brief wrap-up of Day 1.

It was a big opening weekend at GSMA Mobile World Congress with Garmin announcing its whole line of Nuvifone phones before the show even began. They were the Nuvifone M20 Windows Mobile smartphone and the original Linux-based Nuvifone G60. Also, T-Mobile and Samsung announced the Samsung Memoir for the U.S. market. The 8-megapixel camera phone … Read more

BARCELONA--Skype is racking up deals with mobile handset makers here at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009.

On Tuesday, the company, which is owned by eBay, announced a partnership with Nokia, the largest cell phone maker in the world, to put the Skype Internet calling software onto its phones. Nokia will initially offer Skype on its high-end smartphones, the N-series. The N97, Nokia's flagship device that goes on sale in June, will be the first to have Skype embedded. The Skype feature will start shipping on the device in the third quarter of 2009.

Skype will be integrated into the … Read more

BARCELONA--Smarrtphone users will soon be able to participate in Web conferences using the hosted WebEx tool right from their phones.

Cisco Systems, which owns the WebEx Web conferencing service, announced Tuesday at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 here that it is making a version of its WebEx client software available to several smartphones including Research In Motion's BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Curve 8900, and BlackBerry Storm. It will also be available for the Nokia E71, Nokia E75, Nokia N97, and other Nokia E series and N series devices, as well as for the Samsung Blackjack II.

The new functionality … Read more