The UK Mobile Phone Blog

Mobile World Congress 2010 round up!

The dust is finally starting to settle after the busiest week in the mobile phone industries calendar. Yes, yet another Mobile World Congress expo is now behind us and, with everyone now looking at the year ahead and looking forward to the releases that were first unveiled at MWC, we thought we’d round up this years event and take you through the highlights. Read on for our take on the number one mobile phone event in the world.

The star of the show was undoubtedly the HTC Desire, the phone we first met as the Bravo. On first inspection, save for some subtle differences, the Desire appeared to be a very similar proposition to the HTC manufactured Google Nexus One. However, after a closer look, those subtle differences all add up making for a radically different device. The design of the phone is a marked improvement on the Nexus One with physical keys and an optical track pad replacing touch sensitive keys and a track ball making for a more responsive means of navigation. The touchscreen, a 3.7 inch AMOLED monster, looks amazing but is even better to use. Make no mistake, the iPhone’s days as the number one touchscreen are numbered.

Unquestionably a stunning phone on the outside, the Desire follows a similar trend on the inside with the latest iteration of Google’s Android operating system, v2.1 or Éclair, paired up with HTC’s Sense user interface, the highlight of which is the excellent new Friend Stream feature which pulls in updates from friends on social networking sites. The Desire also has the processing muscle to ensure apps, menus and web pages loaded quickly and smoothly thanks to the 1GHz processor on board. Expected in late March, HTC easily unveiled an early contender for phone of the year at this years MWC.

Just pipped to the top spot by the desire was the Samsung Wave, the first phone to run Samsung’s Bada OS. Whilst the new operating system was a big talking point, it was the display that really captured all the headlines. Utilising new Super-AMOLED technology, the Wave’s touchscreen is undoubtedly the best we’ve ever seen. Colours are bright and vivid, images are crisp and everything seems to leap off the screen. Having set the trend with AMOLED displays, Samsung have once again raised the bar with the new Super-AMOLED technology and it’s now up to their rivals to catch up. At a compact (compared to the Desire’s of this world) 3.3 inches, thankfully the Wave employs capacitive technology with multi-touch for an ultra responsive touchscreen experience.

Sony Ericsson took MWC as the opportunity to introduce the world to their new Mini range of Xperia handsets, the X10 Mini and Mini Pro, as well as a QWERTY version of the HD shooting Vivaz (the Vivaz Pro) and a public outing for the original Vivaz and Xperia X10. An impressive line up and, from our brief play test at least, no notable bugs, slow down or software issues. Promising when we consider that these devices are still some way off the finished article. Here’s hoping Sony Ericsson are back on track and can have a successful year, headlined by the exciting Xperia X10.

Microsoft had a strong offering at this years Mobile World Congress despite not having any actual devices on show (so sadly, still no Zune phone). The software giant finally announced the long awaited update to its much maligned Windows Mobile operating system, going under the official title of Windows Phone 7 Series, and the transformation was quite remarkable. The operating system is unrecognisable from previous offerings with multiple home screens now on offer, customisable with what MS refer to as tiles, interactive shortcuts that can be used to access on-phone and online content, and not a start menu in site! Drawing inspiration from Microsoft’s other products, the new Windows Phone OS will boast Xbox Live compatibility with the ability to play games across different phones and even against Xbox 360’s whilst retaining achievements and updating gamer scores. Similarly, the multimedia side of 7 Series will be skinned in a similar style to the Zune which promises an extremely user friendly experience. In short, the future looks positively exciting for Windows Phone 7 Series.

In a similar move to Microsoft, Nokia had no new phones on display at this years MWC and very little presence at the event, some what disappointing for the worlds number one mobile phone manufacturer. Nokia did however make an announcement that could pave the way for a slew of exciting new releases in the coming months and years. The announcement we’re referring to is of course, Nokia’s partnership with Intel resulting in an all new open source operating system based on the Linux platform. The collaboration sees Nokia’s Maemo operating system combined with Intel’s Moblin OS resulting in MeeGo. Promising to bring the best parts of both worlds, the OS should thrive thanks to the support from these two giants in their field. Most exciting of all, MeeGo is not just restricted to mobile phones, with netbooks and other devices all supported.

True to form, Apple were also conspicuously absent from the years event, meaning we must wait a little longer to get our hands on the upcoming iPad and longer still to see what the Cupertino outfit have planned for their next iPhone offering. What we do know is that with strong offerings from Android, Samsung and the reinvigorated Windows Phone 7 Series all on the horizon, Apple certainly have their work cut out for them, now more than ever.

So, yet another Mobile World Congress has been and gone. Billed as the premier mobile phone exhibition, the likes of HTC, Samsung and Microsoft all ensured the event lived up to expectations. The onus is now on Nokia, Apple and co. to show the world how they plan to compete with the exciting new releases that debuted at MWC 2010.