There’s also a picture browser provided by Scalado that allows you to view up to 1,000 images simultaneously and zoom up to a specific one, with little-to-nil lag.  It looks to be a truly blazingly-fast chip.  Skip to just approximately 3:20 in the second clip and you’ll be able to watch a game demo that was designed specifically for the Android platform.

[via Android Community]

Tablets are an obvious choice – and I’ve made no bones about my love of the platform – with NVIDIA’s second-gen Tegra already picked for Notion Ink’s slate and various other companies showing off prototypes or shipping tablets built on their offerings. Their frugality also makes them equally at home in smartphones, and of course chipsets like Snapdragon have already found their place in smartbooks such as HP Compaq’s Airlife 100.

Drilling down, though, what’s possible now that we couldn’t necessarily do before? Dual-display devices are shipping in a limited way already – Barnes & Noble’s nook is on shelves, and Entourage’s eDGe should arrive with preorder customers imminently – but the breadth of their flexibility is pared down. Most if not all of the new chipsets discussed at MWC can support high-resolution output to at least two panels simultaneously; something like TI’s OMAP4 can drive dual on-device screens while pumping out 1080p HD via an HDMI in fact.

Texas Instruments OMAP4 demo:

So, how about two displays – let’s make them low-power, using a 10-inch Pixel Qi panel or a 5.6-inch mirasol one – in a clamshell, book-style form factor, similar to what MSI and others have mocked up in recent months. Those touchscreen netbook concepts have generally run Intel’s Atom platform, but with the latest ARM chipsets they could have better multimedia prowess, longer battery life and the same sort of internet flexibility as the x86 chip. They can also be smaller; I’m picturing something similar to a paperback novel, maybe with a hinge that opens wide enough to stand the device up in landscape orientation for hands-free video watching. Given the chipsets can crunch more megapixels than mobile-sized CMOS sensors have to offer, we’ll throw a high-resolution camera with 1080p HD recording in there too; something like the OMAP4 can simultaneously encode Full HD and a lower-resolution, 3G-friendly stream for livecasting.

Since ubiquitous connectivity – kicking off from WiFi and Bluetooth, and of course migrating up through 3G and 4G technologies like WiMAX and LTE – is a given, there’d be no question about making voice-calls (either traditionally or VoIP, and perhaps using a Bluetooth headset or speakerphone) or supporting push-email and real-time social networking updates from Facebook, Twitter and others. Where the true game changer would occur is in removing the battery worry; imagine not having to ration out your usage during the day, safe in the knowledge that you have hour after hour ahead of you. I’d take some sort of inductive charging cradle, perhaps with an HDMI output, for opportune top-ups, but every chipset firm is promising more HD video playback (from a standard smartphone battery) than you could feasibly watch during a single day.

An always-on device should play nicely with the other gadgets you have around you, and that means streamlining ad-hoc pairing and cleverly managing what information gets presented at what time. We’ve seen some companies – such as Motorola with MOTOBLUR – try to do the latter already, but smartphones lack the processing grunt to bring true intelligence to the issue. In my opinion a successful mobile device doesn’t just replicate the desktop experience, mainly because it’s intended to span different contexts; instead, it translates information to suit the user’s situation. Next-gen chipsets are powerful enough to take sensor input from the real world – look, say, at TI’s gesture recognition research, which uses a basic webcam to track hand-movements – and understand the context a user is in, filtering information accordingly. If I’m driving (something that could be worked out from GPS speed, tracking my hands on the wheel, or various other sensor inputs) then the device would know to prioritise only calls and messages from the core group of contacts its seen me communicate regularly with, perhaps making an exception for those people geographically nearby just in case I’m planning on visiting them.

Texas Instruments gesture recognition:

How about gaming? The iPhone 3GS has gained quite a reputation for itself as a decent mobile gaming platform, thanks in no small part to its PowerVR SGX graphics chipset, but our imaginary dual-display device could blow it out the water. Like the Nintendo DSi – only with bigger screens than even the new DSi XL – you could have dual displays for more complex gaming setups; or, since the next-gen chipsets are happy driving different content and running various high-performance apps simultaneously, play games on one screen while monitoring email, browser and other more typical smartphone tasks on the other. Alternatively, how does plugging in an HDTV via HDMI sound, putting your gaming on a big screen? We’re talking graphics capabilities potential on a par with an Xbox 360 or PS3.

We’re approaching a tipping-point where power management, connectivity, software and – most importantly – user imagination and expectations are promising to coalesce and kick the next generation of mobile devices up another level of functionality. Of course, not everybody wants the same degree of convergence I’ve described, but the key factor is that it’s possible and with less compromise than is necessary right now. You don’t have to be an avid gamer to recognise the potential of a chipset that can crunch polygons without breaking its stride, just like you don’t have to be a heavy-duty social network addict to appreciate a device that’s intelligent enough to tailor its alerts to what’s going on around it. The sort of smarts in that sort of device will be enough to make today’s so-called smartphones look dumb indeed.

Marvell ARMADA 618 demo:

Speaking to Mobile Industry Review and All About Symbian, Vanjoki highlighted the sales success of the N97 – both in terms of numbers shipped and profit – but agreed that he’d had “sleepless nights” over the software experience.  The company’s attempts to address each issue piecemeal, Vanjoki explained, led to an “unbelievable cycle of things for us that has taken far too long to repair and mitigate.”

However, he’s also confident in the latest N97 firmware release – which went out earlier this month – which was apparently tested extensively on handset users in Norway.  To be fair, we’ve heard plenty of positive feedback from owners, and it does look like Nokia have managed to turn the page on the N97 saga.

[flv]http://c0590192.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/0080_S19_AnssiN97.flv[/flv]

Still, confirmed specifications are 8GB of storage along with a microSD card slot, 256MB of RAM and a pretty considerable 2,000 mAh Li-Ion battery.  As well as WiMAX there’s WiFi b/g support (though no sign of regular 3G connectivity), and Moblic reckon it’s good for 2D/3D mobile gaming.

It’s unclear whether Moblic have produced the E7 as a realistic sales prospect or more to show off the Sequans SQN1210 WiMAX SoC that it’s based upon.  That means price, OS, availability and the like are all unknowns, but there’s something about that form-factor that’s appealing.

Microsoft wasn’t the only new OS being pitched at the show. Nokia and Intel are combining their respective mobile Linux efforts, Maemo and Moblin, to form MeeGo, a name apparently chosen because “Nokia Intel Maemo Moblin Series” would have been even more ridiculous. Once Nokia and Intel’s engineers hash out which pieces of code stay and which go, MeeGo will face the same challenges that Maemo had: a user interface unsuitable for mainstream users and few mainstream apps.

The most outrageous OS launch at Mobile World Congress belonged to Samsung. Samsung staged a press conference for the first Bada phone (the “Wave”) that borrowed equally from infomercials, Cirque du Soleil, and some Korean marketing insanity that didn’t quite make it across the cultural divide. I certainly didn’t get it: a television personality-type hyped the product while attendees were subjected to 360 degree surfing visuals, Samsung’s version of the Solid Gold dancers, and a floating Blue Fairy. It was bizarre.

Samsung’s stated goal with its new Bada mobile OS is to “democratize smartphones at all price points in all geographies,” which presumably means that it expects to ship the Bada OS on mid-tier featurephone hardware in emerging markets. It is taking an “intentionally operator-friendly approach,” though it has not defined what that means in practical terms. This is an intelligent vision; most smartphone vendors are locked in a war with Apple to provide the richest connected computing experience, which all but guarantees that the devices will require expensive high end hardware, and will be sold primarily in developed markets to consumers who can afford $600 devices or the data plans that subsidize them down to $200. The only company targeting emerging markets with entry-level smartphones is Nokia, and Samsung wants a big piece of that business.

The Wave itself is an impressive piece of hardware, highlighted by an 800×480 “Super AMOLED with mDINe” screen that demands superlatives: it is the best display I have ever seen. Holding the Wave next to my iPhone made the iPhone looked washed out and grainy, and even the AMOLED display on my Google Nexus One – cranked to full brightness – was visibly inferior next to the Wave. The Wave also runs a Samsung 1 GHz processor with intense graphics capabilities, has 8 GB of memory, a 5 MP AF camera, and can record HD video. Although I encountered numerous bugs even in the short time I had with the unit, performance was exceptionally snappy, and the Wave not only features the latest iteration of TouchWiz, but also a lot of the social network integration and unified messaging functionality found in devices from HTC with Sense or Palm’s webOS with Synergy.

That’s the good news. The problem is that the world does not need another mobile OS. Besides, Samsung’s Bada phone does not match its vision at all. The Wave – with its incredible screen and high-powered processor – is a product designed to compete with the iPhone or HTC Desire. Assuming that the Wave is priced in line with its bill of materials, no one in developing markets can afford one outside of the elite, who have plenty of high end smartphone choices already. The Wave would be quite competitive with those products in developed markets if it were based on a viable OS. Can Bada actually run on the low-end hardware that is required to bring the price down to featurephone levels? Can Samsung, which is best known for hardware components and design, deliver an SDK with intelligently designed APIs, rich developer tools, and build an effective developer relations program with global reach? While they work all this out, I have one request: Samsung, can I please have a Wave with Android 2.1? I want one pretty bad. Pretty please?

Of course, tablets are not a new invention, and you could forgive those people who have been carrying the pen-computing banner since Windows XP Tablet Edition (and before) for harbouring a little resentment at all this late-to-the-party interest. When Steve Jobs produced the iPad-tailored version of iWork with a flourish, and declared the suite an “amazing”, “extraordinary”, “tremendous” new way to work on a mobile touchscreen device, it’s hard not to imagine the frustration over at Microsoft; after all, tablets running their OSes have had access not just to shaved-down demi-versions of Office, but to the full apps.

So, to see broad applause for something so basic in comparison must be galling for Redmond. Like other platforms Microsoft has attempted before, it seems that their attempt on the market may have come a few years too soon; today’s low-power silicon no longer has a gap in-between lacklustre ARM chips and decent (but power hungry) mainstream notebook CPUs. HD graphics and broad connectivity are both possible without sacrificing battery life. Ironic, then, that those devices culling most interest are pretty much web-slates rather than fully-functional Tablet PCs; if Microsoft had known that was where the interest lay, how much further would their tablet ambitions have progressed?

As I wrote before, in the aftermath of CES, it’s unlikely any one tablet will satisfy the whole market. The iPad launch, while certainly historic for the number of people who joined our live-blog, met with some degree of disappointment from the geek audience normally so enthused about Apple. Still, cleverer men than I reckon it’ll be a success among a greater – though quieter – majority, enthralled by the simplicity of the UI, consistency with the established iPhone/iPod touch paradigm and gloss of the Apple hardware.

The geeks, then, are forced to look elsewhere. Do I need Flash support in my tablet? Perhaps not; but I’m reluctant to sign up to a platform where what I can and can’t run is so tightly controlled. Apple’s iPod may have swept the floor with the PMP competition, and its iPhone arguably revolutionised the touchscreen smartphone segment, but I’ve a feeling the iPad will only open the door to mainstream awareness of larger-scale touchscreen computing, not necessarily dominate it. Speaking to an exec from Freescale in Barcelona this past week, he reported a dramatic upswing in interest in their own tablet reference design in the aftermath of the iPad announcement: rival companies are counting on Apple to pave the way in mind-share, but view it as an opportunity for their own growth.

It won’t be an instantaneous thing; Tegra 2 tablets won’t arrive for another few months (Notion Ink‘s Adam is suggested for Q3 this year) for instance, and the timescales for other chipset manufacturers seem similar. We’ll undoubtedly see more designs and hear more about launch intentions at CeBIT next month, but it’ll be a little longer before you can open your wallet. Apple’s iPad, meanwhile, should go on sale in late March; a premium device, certainly, and not one suited to the ambitions of every touchscreen-lusting geek, but definitely a weathervane about which we can judge whether the market intends to put its money where its mouth is. The “third screen” paradigm is a well-discussed one, but it remains to be seen whether users will really spend on intermediary devices that slot in-between smartphone and notebook.

In terms of specifications, the two devices are closer to twins than anything else. Each has a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, Android 2.1 OS and a slimline candybar form-factor. The Nexus One is slightly thinner – though we’re talking less than half a millimetre here – most likely due to its receding chinline, versus the Desire’s moderate curve. On that chin is one of the more obvious differences: the Desire has an optical joystick, the Nexus One a more traditional trackball.

You have to delve inside the chassis to find the main differences. The Desire lacks both the active noise cancellation and the triband HSDPA/WCDMA of the Nexus One, making do with just dualband 900/2100. That means it’s not much use – at least in terms of high-speed cellular connectivity – outside of Europe and Asia; take the Desire to the US and you’ll be stuck using quadband EDGE or hunting for WiFi hotspots. HTC told us that dropping active noise cancellation was a price consideration, but that since it would only really affect voice dictation – which is currently exclusive to the Nexus One anyway – it wouldn’t make much of a difference to Desire owners. The Desire does have more RAM – 576MB versus the Nexus One’s 512MB – and come with a bigger, 8GB microSD card in the box (the Nexus One comes with 4GB), and arguably they’ll make more of a day to day impact than noise reduction. The Nexus One has Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, compared to the Desire’s 2.1+EDR, though it’s unlikely to make much of a difference generally.

It also looks like HTC have tinkered with the power management in the Desire, too, since with the same 1,400mAh battery the two smartphones manage significantly different runtimes. 3G standby for the Nexus One is up to 250 hours, compared to up to 360 hours for the Desire, though 3G talktime is up to 420 minutes for the Google device but 390 minutes for the HTC. Real-world use is obviously not solely comprised of voice calls, but it seems that if you want a handset for basic phone duties you should look to the Nexus One, whereas the Desire may be a better all-rounder. We’ll have to wait for a real-world review of the Desire to see if that’s actually the case.

HTC Desire hands-on:

Obviously, HTC’s main adaptation to the Desire is their latest Sense build, the combination UI and software environment we’ve seen stretch across their Android, Windows Mobile and, most recently, Brew based devices. It’s certainly one of the more attractive customisations out there, and it also adds extra social networking integration; Sense pulls in Facebook, Twitter and Flickr updates, injecting them into each Contact record together with combining them into a single Friend Stream feed that can be widgetized on the homescreen. It’s not the only widget, either; HTC arguably have some of the best mini-apps for homescreen use, such as a slick animated weather widget, integration with the SMS client, and their own Twitter client called Peep. Most recently, HTC added some extra visual gloss with the so-called “helicopter view”: a pinch-zoom gesture on the homescreen minimises all seven of the panes and displays them like Exposé on a Mac.

Like other OEM modifications, however, Sense has left HTC playing catch-up when it comes to core Android updates. Where basic Android phones have, in many cases, been updated as Google pushes out new official versions, OEMs have to rework their custom UIs to suit the changed platform; in the case of the HTC Hero, for instance, that means despite Android 2.1 having been available for some time now, the smartphone is still stuck on Android 1.5. HTC reckon the Hero’s update will arrive by the end of March 2010 (though availability and functionality will depend on whether it’s an unlocked or carrier-branded device) but you get the feeling that support for previous devices is less of a priority than developing new models such as the Legend, the Hero’s replacement.

Add in the fact that we’re already seeing – a couple of months in advance of the Desire’s official April 2010 release – hacked ROMs for adding Sense to the Nexus One, and for those willing to play the modification game the software differentiation is less of an issue. Of course, you could also say that the Desire will likely get unofficial Android update ROMs – complete with Sense – created by the mod community, before HTC themselves push out official releases. That’s one of the benefits of Android, certainly. Lacking, sadly, is native Exchange calendar support: while the Nexus One will pull in email and contacts from an Exchange server, you’ll need a third-party app to do the same for calendar entries. The Desire will support Exchange mail, contacts and calendar out of the box, and HTC have apparently been finessing their various apps to improve the experience over earlier versions of Sense.

Google Nexus One hands-on:

As for price, it’s made more complex by the fact that, so far, Google aren’t selling the Nexus One directly in the UK or the rest of Europe. Instead buyers have to import it from the US, opening themselves up to import duty and local taxes. In the UK, for instance, the Nexus One will apparently cost around £410 to import ($634); HTC haven’t announced pricing for the unlocked Desire, but it’s already showing up on Expansys – among other online retailers – for £440 ($681). Of course, many people will choose to buy the Desire with a new service contract (not something you can do with the Nexus One outside of the US) thus subsidizing the initial cost potentially to the point of “free” in return for a mid- to high-tier monthly payment.

Importing a device also presents some aftersales issues, and while in a perfect world nobody would experience any problems with their smartphone, the reality is that complex devices can often have complex faults. A Desire owner would be able to contact their local HTC division and seek technical and customer support that way; currently Google’s Nexus One support is online-only for those outside the US (their recently launched telephone support is US-only).

In the end, both devices are at the bleeding edge of smartphone technology today, and neither is particularly likely to disappoint. The Android Market is gradually racking up alternative skinning packages, so even if Nexus One owners aren’t willing to hack a Sense ROM onto their device, it doesn’t mean they’re stuck with the basic Android 2.1 UI. Similarly, even if HTC drag their heels updating the Desire to a later Android platform release, the mod community have proved more than up to the task themselves for those owners prepared to roll up their sleeves and do some DIY tweaking. Both devices are solid, reasonably attractive and have great touchscreens.

For those in the US, the Nexus One remains the obvious choice. The Desire lacks US 3G/UMTS support and HTC told us that they have no plans to release a specific version of the handset with that added in; that doesn’t mean, of course, that they won’t come up with a carrier-branded adaptation, similar to the Sprint release of the HTC Hero. Considering how long the Sprint Hero took to arrive though, versus the European release, we’d plump for the Nexus One ourselves.

If you’re in Europe or Asia, where the Desire’s 3G will indeed function, the decision is tougher: the Desire comes with the undeniably attractive Sense interface (which can be turned off for the basic Android 2.1 UI if you prefer) together with local aftersales support and the potential for slightly improved multitasking thanks to the extra RAM. If you travel to the US regularly, and want to use your phone’s 3G there, it’s worth bearing in mind that only the Nexus One will allow you to do so. Still, with data roaming fees as high as they are, whether you’d actually want to take advantage of that higher speed is another matter.

The HTC Desire’s market success already seems assured; at their press conference last Tuesday, HTC revealed that pretty much all the carriers in the regions they plan to release the smartphone were interested in offering it. There’s undeniably a huge interest in powerful, media-capable handsets. Until Google officially release the Nexus One in markets outside the US, we’d say most European/Asian buyers would be better off picking up the Desire come April 2010.

The Prowave runs Freescale’s i.MX515 chipset, just like Freescale’s tablet prototype we played with at CES 2010 last month.  Connectivity includes WiFi and 3G, together with a USB port and an integrated webcam, and Mastone have customized the standard Android UI with a number of new apps and widgets; some of those were in Chinese language only, however, so we couldn’t really tell what they did.

Performance was fair and build quality was very high, with a brushed metal body and solid feeling buttons, and only the resistive touchscreen proved a mild disappointment (since we’d like to have seen a capacitive panel).  Still, we’re guessing that will help Mastone keep the Prowave price down; so far we don’t know what that price will be, though given Freescale have said that their reference design could come in at around $200 we’re hoping for a similar level for this tablet.

Video demo after the cut

The concept behind Fuse is that a touchscreen and/or D-pad is not always the best way to control a mobile device, especially if you’re trying to do so single-handed. Instead, Synaptics have used their various sensor technologies to suggest alternative paradigms for use: the Fuse has a capacitive touchscreen, but it also gets accelerometers, a rear-panel trackpad and side-mounted pressure sensors.

Squeeze the sides, for instance, and then tilt the phone up and down, and it scrolls through the main menu; a quick squeeze flicks from the current app to the homescreen. Alternatively you can run a finger across the trackpad on the back, and the icons bulge to show where you’re virtually touching. Everything is accompanied by haptic feedback, with the Fuse vibrating to let you know when you’re passing a button or on-screen icon.  The side sensors also respond to strokes, too, for more granular control.

There’s some pretty complex rendering going on inside, too. As you move the Fuse from side to side, the lighting pans across the 3D icons accordingly. Thanks to the accelerometers you can tilt the handset 45-degrees and have the widgets tip over as if about to tumble off; a flick on the touchscreen then rotates them round, meaning each widget has twice as much space to display data.

To be honest – and Synaptics agree – the combination is overkill for a single handset. Attempting to hold the Fuse in a way whereby you can effectively squeeze the side-sensors often means your palm brushes the rear trackpad, sending the screen whizzing away, while sometimes there’s a sense that not everything is actually communicating with each other. In a production device you’d probably only have one or two different sensors, and make more use of dynamic rendering and accelerometer response.

It’s pretty tricky to describe in text, so check out the video demo below and the gallery. Synaptics had several prototypes with them, but all were proving pretty buggy at the show; we came across one of the devices while it was going through a stable phase, so some of the motions and gestures you won’t see anywhere else.

Synaptics Fuse demo:

It’s apparently unclear exactly what sort of firmware upgrade existing MiFi owners will be getting, and of course there are two different models which complicates matters somewhat.  The MiFi 2200 CDMA units – available through Sprint and Verizon in the US – lack the GSM MiFi 2352/2372 units’ application processor; Novatel also demonstrated a slick GPS app that was running on a MiFi itself:

The Golden-i is the result of several companies collaboration: Kopin came up with the initial idea and supplied the SVGA microdisplay, while Motorola put the whole thing together.  It’s based on a TI OMAP3 chipset, while Hillcrest Labs and Nuance had a hand in the motion-control and voice-recognition, respectively.  OS is Windows CE embedded with a custom UI on top, and the battery is good for up to 8hrs use (or, in other words, a full industrial work shift).  Connectivity includes Bluetooth 2.1, mini-USB and a microSD card slot, and the body of the PC is squeezed into the rear band section that’s specially designed to be comfortable even when wearing a hard-hat.

An adjustable speaker sits by your right ear, while the eyepiece is intended to fall just beneath your line of sight; Kopin have made two versions for those with left- or right-dominant eyes.  Focusing is controlled by a simple thumbwheel, and the eyepiece also houses the dual microphone array.  That’s important, since much of the interface is controlled by speech; from the main menu of icons, you merely speak which option you’d like – “photo gallery”, say – and the Golden-i takes you into it.  You can then select individual files, again by voice, and manipulate them with straightforward commands: zoom in, for instance.

Photo and document viewing is linked to motion-control, so moving your head around pans around the zoomed-in picture; alternatively you can lock it, again with a verbal command.  Accuracy was pretty much 100-percent, albeit in a relatively short trial; Kopin say they worked on Nuance’s voice-recognition systems to boost accuracy to around 98-percent.  Of course, you could always hook up a QWERTY keyboard (either by USB or Bluetooth) for more extensive text-entry.

The next-gen models, beyond this development device, will be less bulky and have more functionality.  Kopin say they’ve shaved a half-inch of thickness off the rear PC section, have a 1024 x 768 display that’s the same size as the SVGA panel, and that they’re putting in faster Bluetooth 3.0 too.  They’ve also been looking at potential peripherals, everything from a laser keyboard and wirelessly connected modem, to a Bluetooth pen packed with gyroscopes that allows you to virtually sign a document just by gesturing in mid-air.  There’ll also be a snap-on webcam, generally looking forward but detachable – and wireless – so you can direct it into enclosed spaces or turn it back on yourself for video conferencing.

Kopin’s target market is industrial users, such as engineers, warehouse managers and medical professionals, who need data access while simultaneously keeping their hands free.  An engineer repairing a server, for instance, could consult the technical manual to check up which wire was which, without having to reach for their laptop.  Broad availability isn’t for another year, but the company are offering this development version which comes with the open-source software (for user-customization; you could even put Android on it if you wanted to) and a Motorola ruggedized field-PDA right now.  With a data connection, you can remotely log into a server or PC and access it as if you were at your desk, all using speech-commands.

Would I actually wear a consumer version when they go on sale in – according to Kopin – a few years time?  At a trade show, despite the odd looks, yes, I reckon I would.  Attempting to navigate the MWC 2010 halls was a recipe for collisions, as 50-percent of the people at any one time tried to simultaneously rush to their next appointment and look at their cellphone.  When you start trying to throw in Twitter, responding to last-minute meeting room changes or tracking your schedule, all of a sudden the idea of a floating display you can quickly glance at without sustaining a glancing blow off the nearest pillar seems reasonably tempting.

Hopefully, by then the price will have dropped a little.  The development package costs around $5,500, and while Motorola – who will be distributing the Golden-i when it sees its full launch – haven’t confirmed retail pricing they’ve said it will be in-line with a ruggedized PDA, which are around $2,500 themselves.  Where it gets particularly exciting is when you start wondering how technologies like Texas Instrument’s gesture-recognition, also demonstrated this week, might fit in; Kopin admitted that augmented reality systems are also in the works, with the webcam tracking your hands and reacting accordingly.  Yes, I might look pretty ridiculous, but I think I could suspend my shame for that.

Kopin Golden-i wearable PC demo:

Video demo after the cut

In the hand the smartphone feels a lot like a slimmer CLIQ, and the 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen looks pretty much the same as that handset too.  MOTOBLUR – which pulls in social networking feeds – is onboard, and Motorola told us they’re continuing to roll out updates to the services with which you can integrate; so far they’re doing that on region by region basis.  Of course, it also means you’re stuck with Android OS 1.5, which seems more than a little old-fashioned these days.  An update is in the works, apparently, but there’s no public timescale for its release.

Rather than a mechanical D-pad, the QUENCH has a touchpad square, which can be clicked to select; it works well, though of course most of the time you’ll probably be reaching up to tap and drag the touchscreen.  It’s a lightweight device, though we wish there was a little more interest to the textured back panel.

Motorola have also done a deal with alternative keyboard provider Swype, and the QUENCH/CLIQ XT will come preloaded with the nifty ‘board.  T-Mobile USA customers will be able to pick up the CLIQ XT next month, while broader global availability will begin this quarter; no word on pricing as yet.

Motorola QUENCH/CLIQ XT demo:

Video demo after the cut

The OS is a customized version of Android 1.6 Donut, with various desktop widgets and other enhancements that basically take advantage of the extra screen size over and above a smartphone.  Digital picture frame duties are an obvious possibility, and there’s a great finger-friendly interface (albeit in Spanish at the moment) for navigating through slideshows and galleries.

Keeping things ticking over is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon QSD8250 chipset, though we’re not sure on other specifications; Bluetooth is obviously a given, since the keyboard requires it to connect, and we’re guessing there’ll be WiFi and possibly even 3G in there too since that fits the smartbook mould.  Sadly no talk of a production version, though we’re sure if we all pester BYD enough they might consider it.

Of course, the real interest here is the integrated pico-projector.  Samsung have used a Texas Instruments DLP module running at WVGA resolution, just like the Beam’s own AMOLED display, and it’s triggered by holding down a button on the right-hand side.  Whatever’s on the main display can be projected, and the Beam’s pico has a 6 lumen brightness rating.

That’s not enough to upstage your local Odeon, certainly, but in the darkened setup of Samsung’s demo area is was bright enough to enjoy movie clips or demo impromptu presentations.  As you can see in our video demo, after the cut, the Beam can also be used in relatively standard lighting, though of course the experience is somewhat dimmed then.  We had trouble focusing in when reasonably close to a surface, but found that pulling back washed out the picture as the ambient light took its toll.

Nonetheless, it’s an interesting proposition and perhaps one of the best pico-projector integrations we’ve seen so far.  Samsung have wisely taken advantage of the large chassis size to fit in a high-resolution camera, and the ability to then immediately show off photos and video without having to gather everyone around the display is a boon.

The Samsung Beam I8520 is expected to go on sale over the summer; no word on pricing or specific launch regions as yet.

Other specs include a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, 3-megapixel fixed-focus camera with LED flash, Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD card slot.  There’s also HTC Sense, meaning that the Smart UI looks and feels a whole lot like the company’s Windows Mobile or Android devices.  Despite the relatively slow processor, the Smart is a speedy little performer and we were surprised by just how capable it feels.

Interestingly, while talking to Enrico Salvatori, VP of Qualcomm Europe, he explained that Brew MP isn’t solely the entry-level, basic platform many have assumed to to be.  Actually, it supports all the features on Qualcomm’s top-spec chipsets, as currently found in the Google Nexus One for instance; the company are basically offering it as an option to OEMs, rather than aggressively promoting it as their own entrant into the mobile platform segment.

The HTC Smart will be available on O2 in the UK, Germany and Ireland come April 2010, together with hitting Italy with Telecom Italia and Norway with Netcom.  There’ll also be unlocked sales; no word on pricing as yet, though we’d imagine the Smart will be relatively cheap.

Press Release:

HTC AND TELEFÓNICA INTRODUCE THE HTC SMART, AN AFFORDABLE AND EASY-TO-USE SMARTPHONE FOR EUROPE

HTC Smart drives new category of broadly targeted smartphones

BARCELONA, Mobile World Congress – February 17, 2010 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, and Telefónica are today announcing an exclusive partnership to sell the HTC Smart, an affordable and easy-to-use smartphone in Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The HTC Smart is a new type of smartphone that offers easy-to-use widgets, browsing and connectivity at an affordable price.

“More and more people are craving advanced mobile phone experiences with email, web browsing and social networking but the cost and complexity often represent a significant obstacle for many. The HTC Smart introduces this functionality in an intuitive phone that is affordable,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “With the HTC Smart, HTC and Telefónica share a similar vision for bringing easy-to-use, affordable smartphone experience to the masses.”

HTC Sense
The HTC Smart embodies HTC Senseä, HTC’s unique design philosophy that focuses the mobile experience on people. The HTC Smart’s compact touch design integrates the pillars of HTC Sense – Make It Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected – to deliver a user-friendly user experience. People can customize their own, personal HTC Smart experience using a variety of widgets for quick access to contacts, photos, music, weather and more. People are able to follow their friend’s status updates using HTC Friend Stream, an application that seamlessly aggregates all of your social communication including Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr into one organized flow of updates. This simple aggregation makes it easier than ever to focus on what friends are doing as well as the images and links that they share.

“We believe this is a key move in our ability to bring smartphones to a far wider cross section of the population,” said Matthew Key, chief executive officer of Telefónica Europe. “The benefits of web browsing on the move and ability to experience applications like mobile social networking will now be brought to the mass market and reinforces O2′s position as the home of the smartphone.”

HTC Smart utilizes Qualcomm’s Brew Mobile Platform™ (Brew MP), a powerful and popular mobile operating system that enables HTC to deliver the HTC Sense experience on more affordable smartphones. By pioneering a new era of mass-market smartphones, Brew MP also provides the HTC Smart with a mass-market opportunity for new applications and services from software developers worldwide.

“Qualcomm’s collaborations with HTC have resulted in some of the most innovative smartphones the market has seen in recent years,” says Paul Jacobs, chief executive officer of Qualcomm Incorporated. “The HTC Smart is a budget-friendly smartphone that delivers a really exciting user experience. We are pleased to be supporting HTC’s move to bring this advanced mobile experience and HTC Sense to the widest possible audience.”

Availability
In addition to being exclusively available through O2 in Germany, Ireland and the UK in April, the HTC Smart will also be available in Italy with Telecom Italia, Norway with Netcom and across Europe through the direct channel.

Videos embedded into a webpage will play, certainly; the problem is that the Flash 10.1 plugin isn’t optimized for hardware acceleration.  As it was explained to us, “it’s not fully hardware accelerated, so that means you won’t get the same frame-rates and you don’t get the power saving.”  It all adds up to stuttering, jittery playback – and that’s on one of the fastest devices currently on the market – together with rapid power consumption.

Of course, we’d expect Adobe to make some tweaks to that before any public release takes place, given smartphone owners generally aren’t too pleased with software that drains their batteries any quicker than regular use manages it.  Still, we’re not yet altogether convinced that Flash has a place on the Nexus One; there are potentially better ways to manage streaming video, and we could live without in-page adverts blinking at us.

The body is pretty much the same as we saw before on the Acer Liquid A1, which means it’s slightly larger and blunt-edged than we’d prefer.  Faced with slinky rivals like the Nexus One it’s an unwieldy thing, frankly, and the chassis doesn’t live up to the decently-paced components or the clear, bright display.

Happily things get better once you’re actually using the smartphone, and Android 2.1 runs swiftly.  Acer have only added in a couple of customizations, leaving much of the OS as Google intended it; you get a pivoting shortcut wheel of media at the far left homescreen, and a wheel of browser favorites on the far right.  It’s not going to supplant the Nexus One – or indeed the HTC Desire – as our top-end Android device of choice, but it’s likely to please those who were already considering the Liquid A1.

Acer Liquid e hands-on:

Basic specs are an Intel 1.66GHz Atom N450 processor, GMA 3150 graphics, 2GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive. On top of that Acer add the Ion 2 and a 720p-capable 10.1-inch LED-backlit display, together with WiFi and optional 3G. According to the company you can manage up to 10hrs battery life, though we don’t imagine that’s making much use of the Ion 2 GPU.

There’s also a nifty cellphone-style AC adapter, which is apparently not only easier to drop into a bag but saves a third of the recharging time, and a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. No word on pricing, but the Acer Aspire One 532G will apparently begin shipping at the end of Q1 2010.

Neither may be quite as eye-catching as a full HD video demo, or high-performance gaming (though NVIDIA obviously had those tasks on display too), they do show the flexibility of the second-gen Tegra chipset. NVIDIA’s Michael Rayfield, general manager of the mobile business unit, told us that he reckons digital magazines will be the tipping point for tablet-style devices, and the interface certainly does benefit from a large touchscreen.

As for Farmville – which Rayfield sheepishly admitted to being a little addicted too himself – Tegra is powerful enough to run the Flash app full-screen from the Facebook webpage, with the same performance as you’d see on a desktop. NVIDIA have had to make no changes in order for it to be finger-friendly. Elsewhere in Flash, the chipset is easily capable of driving 720p YouTube HD videos.

According to Rayfield, several smartphones are in the works running the Tegra 2 – in fact manufacturers had access to the chipset as far back as July 2009, despite NVIDIA only publicly announcing it in January at CES 2010 – which should be making an appearance later this year. Of course, it’ll also be making an appearance on tablets, which are also due sometime in 2010.

Wired digital magazine demo:

Farmville on NVIDIA Tegra 250 tablet:

Looking at the Wave as its own device, we were surprisingly impressed. The hardware is pleasingly slim and has a real premium feel, while the 3.3-inch AMOLED display is bright and color saturated. Samsung are calling it a “Super AMOLED” panel, since they’ve integrated the capacitive touch layer and the display layer; that makes for a slimmer unit altogether, but it also gets rid of the “recessed” display effect seen on other devices. Put next to a Google Nexus One, as you can see in our gallery below, the Wave’s display is flush with the screen surround, while the Nexus One’s display looks dropped deeper down.

While we were dealing with pre-production hardware, the capacitive display seemed pretty responsive. Contrary to Samsung’s initial publicity, the Wave does indeed support multitouch, though not across all of its apps. The photo gallery and browser both respond to pinch-zooming, but the maps application only supports Samsung’s single-finger zoom system. Saying that, it’s a slick implementation: press a finger and hold it on the screen and up/down arrows appear; slide your finger up or down and the Wave zooms accordingly. It’s particularly usable when you’re trying to operate the phone single-handed, and we’re glad to see it’s an alternative zoom method to the software that also supports multitouch gestures.

Video obviously looks great on the AMOLED display, but Samsung have also thrown in an unusual skipping feature. Rather than blinding dragging the scroll bar, the Wave quickly analyses the entire clip and presents a grid of thumbnails picked out from along the timeline. Tapping one of those thumbnails takes you to that point in the video, and starts playback. There’s also strong media integration with Samsung’s Social Media Hub, which pulls in networks like Facebook and Twitter and allows for direct uploads.

Unfortunately things aren’t near market-ready at this point, and all of the Wave devices we tried out proved to be glitchy and crash-prone at some point. The web browser often hung and then needed to be force-closed, and most of the apps on the floor demo units fell short of the kind of stability a commercial release (especially for those coming from featurephones) would require. Of course, Samsung have a while to polish things up before sales begin.

That’ll also give developers an opportunity to get moving on Wave, and those we spoke to – with the obvious proviso that they’re at the show at Samsung’s behest – complemented bada for its ease of programming. One gaming title – in which you guide a moth via a network of reflected beams of light – is the first mobile attempt from a PS3 development studio; they told us they’d need to spend four-times the amount coding cost on marketing if they were attempting to break into the iPhone gaming market. bada is based on C++, which does make things easier, though of course it’s also easy to make a splash when you’re one of the first handful of developers on a platform.

Overall, the Wave S8500 is another decent Samsung phone, and should appeal to those looking for impressive media playback and social network integration. Whether Samsung will make an equal splash with bada remains to be seen; it’ll take a combination of compelling devices along with developer support, and Samsung will have to convince consumers and industry alike that bada really is a smartphone OS rather than the featurephone OS it, if we’re honest, looks like.

Video hands-on & Flash digital magazine demo after the cut

Unfortunately, the issues of bringing a new product to market meant that Notion Ink couldn’t get a working Adam prototype to MWC 2010 in time. As far as we know, the tablet is currently being shown around to potential carrier partners, in anticipation of a launch somewhere early in the second half of the year.

How does it feel in the hand? Pretty impressive; the majority of the chassis is slim, but the rounded battery/speaker section fits nicely into the palm of the hand and the light weight should make for comfortable longer-span use. The rotating webcam, meanwhile, leaves us wondering (again) why Apple didn’t fit at least a front-facing camera to the iPad.

Notion Ink also sent over a brief demo of a digital magazine concept – built using SlashGear content with a Flash interface – that they had intended to show off at MWC 2010 this week. The video shows off clean, pared down visuals and a straightforward navigation interface, with swiping left and right to move through pages and then upward swipes to bring up larger blocks of text.

The company still aren’t confirming pricing yet, but the LCD Adam will – as well as being thinner – be cheaper than its Pixel Qi equivalent. For more of the hardware specs, plus a video demo of a working prototype, check out our hands-on from CES 2010 last month.

Notion Ink Adam prototype hands-on:

Notion Ink SlashGear digital magazine demo:

The CEVA DSP Core allows the modem to reach speeds of up to 100Mbps download and 50Mbps on upload on a 20MHz frequency. Samsung has introduced the modem already in Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway according to CEVA.

Samsung isn’t the only device maker that will take advantage of CEVA tech to enable LTE’s super fast data speeds to come to consumers. CEVA hardware is finding its way into gear from Infineon, Broadcom, Samsung, VIA Telecom and more.

The PUMA Phone has the features you expect to find on a smartphone like internet access, messaging, GPS localization, video calling, Bluetooth photo sharing, and a built-in solar charger. The device also has a built-in spin and scratch music player and radio tuner.

A direct link to the multimedia catalog on the PUMA website is included and PUMA applications can be downloaded to the phone. The handset has a 2.8-inch screen with a resolution of 240 x 320. The built-in camera has 3.2MP resolution with LED flash. The handset operates on WCDMA/EDGE/GPRS/GSM networks and has up to five hours of talk time. The PUMA Phone will launch in April on European networks.

The company gave geeks a tool belt with the phone, blocks of wood, nails, sand paper, tape measure, a Leatherman tool, and safety goggles. It then dared the journalists to try to break the handset and this time, the XP2 came out better than the XP3 fared at CES.

Check out the video below to see geeks pounding nails into wood using the phone and generally beating the rugged handset up. I am impressed at the abuse the device can withstand; my iPhone nearly cracked just watching the video. The only thing I am confused about is why a tape measure?

From first glance, there’s a full-screen feature for particular games and applications, and the initial two, somewhat cryptic lexis, Contoso and Fabrikam, are apparent placeholders for Microsoft, made-up company monikers employed, as evinced by, ironically,  a Google search.

The Marketplace is then split into its component UI elements, with apps, games, music and podcasts allowing you into their respective categories.

[via Pocket Now]

Promoted as Symbian^3, (Symbian cubed?), momentum scrolling, swipe movements, and pinch-to-zoom are all supported on the touch-enhanced mobile operating system, and a single-tap interaction model has been implemented across the UI board, simplifying multitasking as well as menu complexity.  There’s also support for multiple, highly-customizable homescreens, and a galore of widgets.  You can also watch HD content at full 1080p on TV display via a Symbian 3 smartphone, as well as purchase tracks from a music store of your choice.  In short, multimedia has gone full-blown on the new Symbian OS.

And as CNet noted, Symbian 3 is a stepping-stone to Symbian 4, expected to be prepared by the end of the year, bringing a key revamping to its mobile operating-system.  And if you’re watching the video, the background music’s turned up a bit, so watch out.

This early version of the WebKit browser looks to be quite solid, rendering Amazon’s main shopping website swiftly as well as scoring a perfect  100/100 on the Acid3 rendering test.

Not much has been said on when BlackBerry users (Crackberry users?) will be able to download and browse away on this, but we’ll keep you posted on more info to come.

Hardware-wise, the A50 is made from unremarkable black plastic, and Garmin-Asus will bundle it with a windshield mount that can hold it in portrait or landscape orientation.  There’s also a 3-megapixel camera, 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth, along with – obviously – GPS; the worst omission is a 3.5mm headphone jack.  The A50 runs Android 1.6, on top of which Garmin-Asus have done some significant re-skinning.

Like the first-gen nuvifone, navigation takes top billing along with calls.  To the side there’s a row of user-customizable shortcuts, which can be panned left to right.  It’s not as flexible as on other Android devices we’ve seen, but then again the A50 really is obsessed with navigation; Garmin-Asus have thrown the mapping data straight into the handset’s ROM, rather than on a separate memory card, meaning there’s no chance that you could either find yourself without the maps or relying on a wireless connection to download them.

Hitting “Where To?” on the homescreen takes you to a straightforward address finding place, though you can also get to navigation by tapping addresses in the Contacts app.  Directions are turn-by-turn and include voice guidance, and the initial route is calculated reasonably quickly.  We’ll have to wait until we get a review unit to see how it compares to rival services, such as Google Maps Navigation, though.

In the end, while the A50 isn’t as impressive an all-round device as, say, the HTC Legend announced today, it’s a great example of Android being customized to address a pretty specific task.  More details in the video below.

They’ve also junked the resistive touchscreen and replaced it with a capacitive panel, which makes for a far more satisfying navigation experience, and the 1GHz Snapdragon processor seems to perform better in this iteration.  Unfortunately the K01 was sandwiched between glass, so we couldn’t play with the keyboard, but the layout looks reasonable and the benefit of having a vast display is that you’ve plenty of space for your QWERTY.

As for that UI, we’re still in two minds.  It’s a definite improvement over their first-gen effort, and there’s no lag visible (though we’re not sure how much was going on in the background on the demo handsets), but only a review unit will tell whether it errs more on the side of visual gloss than actual usability.

Toshiba TG02 3D UI demo:

Now that the code has been optimized, the different Timescape streams flick past smoothly and quickly.  The app pulls in SMS, MMS, email and calls, together with Facebook and Twitter messages, and can be viewed as a single, combined feed or individually.  Meanwhile tapping on the infinity icon pulls up all recent activity from that one contact.

As for Mediascape, that does a similar aggregating thing only for – as the name suggests – images, music and video.  Tap into photos, for instance, and not only will the XPERIA X10 show locally stored images but pull in those from online galleries you’ve entered login credentials for; tap into videos, and you’ll see local and online content.  Hitting the infinity icon in any one piece of content will pull up similar local and online examples, such as YouTube videos.  Everything rendered snappily, and there was none of the lag that plagued the initial pre-production prototypes.

It adds up to a convincing smartphone, and while right now it’s running Android 1.6 Sony Ericsson insist that a 2.x update is in the pipeline.  No timescale for that, however.  Interestingly, one of the things we predicted would likely happen – a rival would bring a similar system to market in the intervening period between Sony Ericsson announcing the X10 and it going on sale – has, to some extent happened, with HTC’s new Friend Stream feature in HTC Sense.  We’ll have to wait until we can test out both handsets before we can decide which works the best; until then, enjoy the new demo video!

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 demo:

The demo was running on TI’s previous-gen OMAP3 Zoom development devices, rather than the Blaze, with regular Logitech webcams plugged in.  By moving a hand or finger in front of the webcam, the user can navigate through the smartphone’s menu structure; it’s also possible to zoom in and out using pinch-gestures.

All this is clever for two reasons.  TI’s software is capable of differentiating between fingers and the surrounding environment, picking out movement and tracking it in real-time; however it’s also something you can feasibly run on an OMAP3/4 processor, rather than requiring a high-spec PC.  For more details, check out the demo video below.

Texas Instruments had to create a special build of Android to support the Blaze’s dual displays, and they’ve been careful not to break app compatibility in the process.  Apps directly downloaded from the Android Market will simply run in the top touchscreen, with the bottom used more as a launcher.  However TI are working with developers to show them how to better take advantage of the multiple displays on offer, whether that merely be choosing which screen the software shows up on, to offsetting controls and other features across multiple panels.  Theoretically – on a non-QWERTY device – you could have an on-screen keyboard on one touchscreen and the app UI on the other.  Best news is, TI are feeding back their code to Google for potential inclusion in future Android releases.

We asked TI what differentiated OMAP4 from rival platforms, such as NVIDIA’s Tegra, and understandably they seemed confident their offering goes the extra mile.  In their own words, not all ARM cores are created equal, and something that might seem identical on paper might perform considerably differently in a real device.  TI reckon OMAP4 has better power management and performance than Tegra, as well as enhancements in graphics processing.  They’re also pushing their interlinked communications modules – such as the WiLink 7.0 – and highlighting their Neon companion cores which reduce main processor load by allowing devices to offset graphics crunching, such as Android’s open-source Skia graphics engine.

There’s also, of course, the ability to encode not only 1080p HD video, but 3D video.  OMAP4 is capable of simultaneously recording 720p HD quality footage from stereoscopic video cameras, and in fact TI say they’re “uniquely positioned” to offer dual-channel 3D.  While the Blaze’s main camera is on the back, up front there are two other cameras which can be used together to encode 3D streams; meanwhile, the OMAP4 is also capable of driving 3D displays when they become more widespread.  On a full charge of a regular 1,000 to 1,200 mAh smartphone battery, you could play in excess of 10hrs 1080p HD video.

As for availability of the Blaze unit itself, it’s currently sampling to some TI partners and will see broader availability midway through 2010.  Pricing is not yet confirmed, though to put it into context the company’s previous OMAP development device ran to around $1,000; Blaze will likely be a little more than that, thanks to the dual touchscreens and pico-projector.  The OMAP4 chipset, meanwhile, is also sampling right now, and should turn up in smartphones within the next year.

TI say they’re also in talks with PMP, PND, ebook, tablet and other consumer electronics vendors, though of course they’re mentioning no names.  Expect a variety of form-factors, however, potentially including dual-display clamshells and smartbooks.

Texas Instruments Blaze OMAP4 demo:

Sony Ericsson are heaping emphasis on media for the Vivaz and Vivaz pro, boasting that they’re the company’s first smartphones to record 720p HD video.  The Vivaz has an 8.1-megapixel sensor; the Vivaz pro had a choice of sacrificing battery capacity or camera resolution to fit in the slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and so to maintain all-day runtimes they dropped the CMOS to 5.1-megapixels.  Both get separate still and video capture buttons, and there’s one-touch uploading of photos and footage to various online galleries.

Like we saw on the Satio, Sony Ericsson have made some changes to incorporate social networking into the galleries, and Facebook photosets are included with local shots.  You can also call up Facebook comments directly over the image, and reply directly; the slide-out QWERTY does make that easier.

Imaging credentials aside, though, we’re leaning more toward Sony Ericsson’s Android-based range than their S60 devices.  We’d gladly welcome a “pro” version of the XPERIA X10, with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard; according to Sony Ericsson, that smartphone will be arriving on the UK market in a matter of weeks.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro demo:

Sony Ericsson’s Timescape and Mediascape apps lose some of their impressiveness on the 2.55-inch touchscreen, but the displays are capacitive and key controls – like the Infinity button which pulls up full contact records in Timescape or track/artist information in Mediascape – seem to have been enlarged slightly to make them easier to hit.  Meanwhile there are four contextual corner buttons rather than soft-keys.  The X10 mini pro’s keyboard is certainly compact, but Sony Ericsson have sensibly avoided cluttering it up with extraneous button rows and so it’s actually pretty reasonable for thumbing out text messages and emails.

Text entry on the keyboardless X10 mini is a little less slick, with Sony Ericsson’s concession to display size being a T9-style layout rather than a full on-screen QWERTY.  To be honest we’d accept the slight size increase on the X10 mini pro – it’s a little bigger in all directions, but only by a matter of millimetres – for the hardware ‘board.

Build quality – on what seemed to be pre-production devices – err’d on the plastic side, but we’re expecting budget price-tags too.  Both handsets will arrive in Q2 2010.

The new platform is based on the TI OMAP 3 platform and supports BeagleBoard with the capability to run all apps written for the device. The new platform can take advantage of the collection of BUGmodules that are available.

The Bug 2.0 platform allows users and companies to conceptualize, prototype, and test wireless devices. The platform and hardware of the Bug 2.0 platform can be used to create new Android applications. Pricing and availability are unknown at this time.

The Wi-Reach Classic is a mobile hotspot device that has a USB port in a battery-powered cradle for connecting any USB mobile broadband modem. The device works with 3G modems and with upgradable software the device supports future 4G modems as well. The device supports both WiMax and LTE networks.

The Wi-Reach allows up to ten computers to connect at once and has a built-in battery that charges via USB. The battery promises up to five hours of continuous use. Inside the Wi-Reach is a connect One CO2144 router on chip that is in use on devices already .The Wi-Reach Classic is available for $99 direct from Connect One.

Aava Mobile offers reference designs for smartphones and tablets with capabilities similar to those of a computer. The reference design it is showing at MWC is intended for system manufacturers and carriers that want to customize both the hardware and software. The design is based on the Intel Atom Moorestown platform.

Aava Mobile reports that functioning devices measure 64mm x 125mm and are 11.7mm thick letting the company lay claim to the title of world’s thinnest x86 smartphone device. The reference design is aimed at Moblin 2.1 and Android for the OS options with plans for support of MeeGo in the future. Features include an extended touch screen, full HD video capability, micro USB port, HD video conferencing, dual mics, 3D sound and UI, GSM capable, and it has GPS, WiFi, compass, and an accelerometer.

The HD2 will get support for Barnes & Noble eReader, Blockbuster on Demand movies, MobiTV, Paramount Pictures movies Transformers and Transformers: revenge of the Fallen will be pre-loaded on the memory card for the handset, and the device will be Gogo in-flight internet ready. That is certainly enough to keep users of the device entertained.

We already know the hardware features of the phone, but I will run them down again. The handset has a 4.3-inch LCD, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and runs the Windows mobile 6.5 operating system. The handset also has GPS, ships with a 16GB microSD card, and features a 5MP camera with autofocus and dual LED flash. The handset will land on T-Mobile this spring.

With the unveiling of Windows Phone 7 at MWC this week HTC has now officially confirmed that it will be offering a full portfolio of handsets running the new OS in coming months. HTC gave no specifics on when the handsets would come or what they would be called.

“Windows Phone 7 Series is a significant milestone for Microsoft, the industry and ultimately people looking to do more on their phones. HTC is working closely with Microsoft to bring the unique HTC experience that customers love,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer of HTC Corporation. “Microsoft has clearly listened to feedback from people and brought a new, fresh approach to the smartphone experience that is beautiful, powerful, and compelling.”

The wow-factor of the huge HD2 – which has a 4.3-inch display, don’t forget – isn’t quite there in the HD mini, but the handset doesn’t feel cheap. The whole front panel is glass, and the 3.2-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen bright (though it pales a little when next to the AMOLED panel of the Legend), and despite the slower 600MHz processor (the HD2 has a 1GHz chip) Sense on Windows Mobile 6.5.3 flicks through the panes neatly.

The bright yellow color – hidden by the semi-flexible back panel – seems too interesting to hide, frankly, though HTC have previously told us they’re expecting the aftermarket community to offer transparent or translucent replacement covers so you can show it off. It’s certainly a more pocket-friendly device, though you lose none of the functionality of a regular WinMo handset.

In fact we were pleasantly surprised at how it both feels and performs; having seen Windows Phone 7 yesterday and been impressed by the considerable jump over the existing platform, we wondered whether the HD mini would feel hopelessly old-fashioned. Considering it’ll be the only way to get Sense on a WinMo device, those users who prefer HTC’s UI shouldn’t be too disappointed.

Review units should be arriving in time for the April 2010 launch, and we’re quietly interested. Not as eye-catching as the Legend or the Desire, certainly, but certainly not a bad smartphone.

HTC HD Mini Hands-on video demo: