Mobile World Congress 2009 Wrap
6 Mar 2009, 12:25 pm
The Mobile World Congress is held each year in Barcelona and is the largest mobile phone and technology exhibition in the world. Now the dust has settled and the reports are in, what were the highlights, and what do we have to look forward to in the year ahead?
Window Mobile 6.5
Hitting the headlines thanks to Sol and his unfortunate misadventure with a prototype WinMo 6.5 device, Windows Mobile 6.5 has finally surfaced. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was in Barcelona to deliver a keynote address on opening day, showing off a Windows Mobile 6.5 device.
The revamped OS offers several enhancements, including an application store, a back-up and restore service, and an improved mobile Web browser. Nice, but it’s not giant leap in innovation compared to the competition and it won’t be released till the second half of 2009 and by then, who knows what Microsoft’s competitors will have done.
Nokia Ovi App Store
Nokia is doing an Apple with its own version of an application store. After losing market share at the top end to smartphones like Apple’s iPhone, Nokia announced it will follow Apple and Android in launching an oline app store front where developers can upload their applications and users can buy and download them.
Opening for business in May, Nokia’s flagship smartphone, the N97, will be the first Nokia device to have the application store software built in. The N97 is scheduled to go on sale in June. Other Nokia phone users, including those using S40 and S60 phones, will also be able to use the application store from in May.
Developers will get a 70 per cent cut of revenue and will be able to start loading applications from March. Several content owners have already started working on applications for the store, including AccuWeather, Facebook, Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, Electronic Arts, Fox Mobile and MySpace.
Nokia’s announcement follows the success of Apple’s App Store, which provides applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Other smart-phone makers have also jumped on the bandwagon with their own application stores. Google has launched one for its Android phones and RIM plans to have one up and running for its BlackBerry devices. Microsoft, maker of the Windows Mobile operating system, also announced its application “bazaar” at MWC 2009.
Hot New Handsets
Palm Pre: iPhone’s greatest nemesis. Palm desperately needed to hit the nail on the head with its next handset. Now launched, reports are coming in of a phone so awesome it could single-handedly put Palm back on the map and could be the iPhone’s most challenging opponent in 2009.
HTC Magic: second Google phone. Android is Google’s open-source operating system, and its launch in late 2008 was one of the biggest mobile stories of the year – internationally, but things were a little more subdued for the local launch earlier this year. Now it’s been announced as the OS of a new HTC phone – the HTC Magic – It’ll be in Australia later this year.
Sony Ericsson Idou: 12-megapixels. Lauded as one of the highlights of the show, Sony Ericsson’s 12-megapixel camera-cum-music phone, tentatively known as the Idou (pronounced “I do” or “I dow”, depending who you talk to) is scheduled for launch in Australia later this year. No other phone is scheduled for launch with a higher megapixel count. It also features a touch screen and walkman functionality.
Samsung Omnia HD: the first mobile to support HD video. Samsung showed off a few things, but top of the list would be the 8-megapixel Omnia HD – the first handset in the world to support and output 720p high-definition video. It supports several formats including H.264, DivX and Xvid, and its enormous AMOLED display is reportedly stunning, even if not actually HD.
Nokia N86 8MP: Launched on the second day of MWC 2009, the highlight of the N86 is an 8-megapixel camera. The N86 8MP features a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens for panoramic pictures, and variable a aperture improve pictures in super-bright or low-light environments. There is a dual-LED flash and a fast mechanical shutter that should reduce motion blur. With integrated GPS photos can be geotagged, and you can upload them to Nokia’s Ovi service or Flickr. The N86 also has video-out capabilities, so you can show off your pictures on a larger TV or computer screen. There’s 8GB of on-board memory for storing photos and other media files, which can be expanded through the microSD slot with up to 16GB cards. Other features include a 2.6-inch, scratch-resistant OLED display, stereo Bluetooth support, Wi-Fi, email support, an FM transmitter, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Expect to see the N86 in Australia later this year.
Huawei Android: Chinese manufacturer Huawei announced it will take on the smartphone market releasing a touchscreen device that will run on the Google Android operating system. No other specifications have been released, but it looks Almost identical to an iPhone. It is scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2009. Huawei is a large telecommunications equipment maker that is best known for providing most of the 3G broadband USB modems for Australian mobile networks.
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