The hockey puck wireless charger, dubbed the WCP-300, charges up Qi-compatible devices, like LG’s own Nexus 4, Spectrum 2, and Optimus G Pro, and it sits at just 6.9cm in diameter. The back plugs into a traditional microUSB port in order to feed juice to devices wirelessly. However, only the Spectrum 2 and the Nexus 4 support the wireless charger in the US.

Of course, though, LG will be releasing more smartphones in the future with Qi wireless charging functionality, and the company hopes that more smartphones will jump on board with the wireless charging protocol as well. After all, the wireless charger doesn’t do much good if you don’t have a phone that supports it.

LG will be releasing the wireless charger in South Korea this week at a price of 65,000 won (around $60). However, the company expects to roll out the accessory worldwide over time, so it’ll arrive in the US at some point this year we’re hoping. Plus, $60 isn’t too bad of a price for the world’s smallest wireless charger, so hopefully LG keeps it that way when it eventually comes to the US.

Speaking this week on the topic of Vertical Disruption in the mobile industry, Jacobs made it clear that “disruption” was too negative to be comfortable to go forth with. Instead it was Mobile Enablement that Jacobs decided to focus on. Qualcomm’s vision of a Digital 6th Sense was re-outlined as a user interface for the world – for the things in your life that don’t otherwise have one.

With this Digital 6th Sense comes the new concept Qualcomm first spoke about earlier today – The Internet of Everything. The AllJoyn collection of connectivity technology – an update for which was also announced today – is at the heart of Qualcomm’s push for a connected world. For the world where an Internet of Everything is made real.

As far as disruption goes, Jacobs reminded the audience that smartphone shipments were twice the number of PC shipments through 2012 (according to a Gartner study published earlier this month). It’s through this wireless world that we connect – this is Qualcomm’s message.

Both healthcare and education were spoken about as two of the most important areas for innovation that Qualcomm is working with. The technology for the enablement of services created by the open source community to boost the abilities of educators, students, doctors, and everyday citizens – all comes through AllJoyn through the future.

Stay tuned the rest of this week in our fabulous Mobile World Congress 2013 tag portal for more information on Qualcomm and the rest of the wireless universe from across the planet. You’ll find more up to the minute news action and hands-on experiences than you can throw a stick at!

The FonePad actually isn’t your typical 7-inch tablet, however. If the name of the slate gave you any hints, then you might know that this tablet acts as a phone as well, earpiece and all. The 7-inch display as an HD 1280×800 resolution, and there’s a front-facing camera that shoots 1.2MP worth of photos and videos.

There are two iterations of this device at least (beyond color combinations), one with a rear camera, the other without. At the moment we’re not quite sure if both versions will arrive on the scene on the same time or if their release will be separated by region. Colors and internal storage sizes are also a bit up for grabs, as it were.

The FonePad is powered by Intel’s Atom Z2420 processor clocked at 1.2GHz with 1GB of RAM. As far as graphics are concerned, you’ll be working with a PowerVR GX540 GPU unit. The tablet has 16GB of internal storage, but thanks to a microSD card slot, you can bump that spec up to another 32GB if need be.

The tablet comes with everything you’ll need to make that occasional phone call, including the necessary radios and the SIM card slot. It will be arriving in the UK sometime between April and June, at a price of £179, or 219 euros in Europe, and it’ll reach the Asia-Pacific region around the same timeframe for $249. However, there’s no word on a US release, but we have a feeling the slate might make its way stateside at some point.

This tour will start at the front desk where you’d be lucky to find an Android pin without being extra excellent at timing and charm. Next there’s the gigantic television screen playing loops of the Galaxy Nexus floating through space, this above a cove of sorts designed by Mr Brainwash brand graffiti, this area promoting Google Music almost exclusively. Also in this room was one of two Android claw machines which anyone could win a plush Android or Android plastic toy from – these plastic toys, by the way, were part of the series just released in recent weeks by Andrew Bell and crew over at Dead Zebra, much like last year when they pre-released Series 2 via Google at MWC again.

*UPDATE: actually the graffiti in the Google Music area was done by “Graffiti4hire ltd”, a UK-based graffiti painting crew commissioned by Google to do this job specifically – check out more images of the work here in their Facebook album: [Pre-Show].

Next on the tour is the all-powerful Android device conveyer belt. If you’ve heard of an Android device and it isn’t here, there’s almost certainly something wrong with it. What Google’s done here is to show the utter power of expansion that the Android operating system has, with everything from the oldest to the newest devices up for peeking at. Then there’s a giant Android slide above the belt for those that love to look fabulously goofy as Google takes a photo of them and prints it up for you to take home.

The main bulk of this whole showing is made up of giant Android statues which hold several Android developers each. There’s developers of games, Google developers making official Google-released apps, and manufacturers along the back as well. Along the opposite wall of the belt there’s an “Android Design” wall which shows off the many strange ways you can use Android to control objects that normally aren’t associated with the mobile world, like light switches and non-mobile touchscreens with icons galore floating about.

Also along those lines there’s an Android tablet-controlled robot in the center of the room picking up Galaxy Nexus battery covers and placing them down to be bejeweled according to a series of Android-related designs that the user can choose from. These design were made by – you guessed it – Android Bell, and because so many people wanted to get their hands on one of these magical items, Google had to implement a giveaway system where people who tried the robot out were put into a hat and chosen at random to win one of their creations.

Then the biggest Android head is once again, just like 2011, home to a series of Google employees serving up Android-flavored smoothies. Everything from Gingerbread to FroYo and back to Donut. The Ice Cream Sandwich bit was then saved for actual Android-shaped Ice Cream Sandwiches which were also given away to lucky Android lovers. Great fun for all!

For an awesome full-on comparison to last year’s Google Pod, simply head back to the Android Community 2011 tour of the Google Pod narrated by yours truly, or simply check the tour out here, also in video form:

Starting the event off with a product (in the form of an app,) Hugo Barra spoke of the release of Google Chrome for mobile as well as how it was sort of inconsequential that they were releasing it on a mobile platform because, as he said, “Android is a real operating system.”  Schmidt himself spent some time extolling the virtues of Chrome, calling it by far the safest browser available. And speaking on the various iterations of both Android and the Android Market, many of which are beyond Google’s control, Schmidt said he didn’t mind. “Android forking is fine,” he remarked, though he also said he though consumer pressure would push OEMs toward Google’s services.

Next the event got especially heavy with Schmidt speaking in depth about the state of the world and how we’ll eventually be a “Global Community of Equals” due to technology and the spread of internet-connected devices.Speaking on recent privacy issues from Google and the proliferation of mobile connections, Schmidt reminded those watching that they were in control - even when it means choosing not to participate, and turning the phone off.

A couple of odd bits were spoken about, perhaps foretelling the future but perhaps speaking about foregone bits of the past. First he noted that there very well may be 3D-capable personal robots on the horizon, while in the past there was an until-now not-mentioned program called Google Bucks for peer to peer mobile payments.

When an Iranian journalist asked Schmidt why Google’s apps and services weren’t available in his country, Schmidt was regretful but not apologetic, informing him that Google is complying with US trade laws. “I’m with you,” he said, “but prison is no bandwidth.” Speaking on recent Internet legislation like SOPA, ACTA and PIPA, Schmidt cautioned regulators that giving up freedom – even for seemingly good reasons – can be a one-way street.

There’s plenty more hardware to check out at Mobile World Congress – make sure to check out our MWC 2012 portal for the latest updates.

A fellow from Germany stood up and pitched a service wrapped in a question about what Google was currently doing with mobile payment, summoning giggles from the crowd simply because such a comment is not often made at a Q and A session such as this. Schmidt responded not with a push-off, but an excellent rebuttal which went like this:

“There’s an issue with peer to peer money, that being that it’s illegal. Other than that it’s a great idea. There are some issues with peer to peer money. In most places it’s illegal. Governments don’t trust it because of issues with money laundering. There were various proposals for our own Google currency – Google Bucks. But we didn’t want to get into it due to these issues.” – Schmidt

We’ll be continuing to cover this technology should it pop up again, of course, and meanwhile keep watching the SlashGear main news feed today for more Google news and Mobile World Congress 2012 news!

This device has a 1GHz processor, 5-megapixel camera, and a reasonably sharp and bright 4-inch WVGA display. This device has a light build, mostly plastic with a glass front, and does seem pretty quick on the flipping through of the screens. Windows Phone seems to have hit a sweet spot here if these devices can be sold for near-to-free – on contract, of course. Now ZTE just has to make sure they’ve got a massive distribution base to get the winning cut.

UPDATE: Check out this hands-on video and see how simply excellent this little beast is – pink interface included!

Have a peek at the device in-hand in photos here, take note of the quality in aesthetics, then hear this: this device does not seem to be a lower-level device. The Windows Phone build here with Tango does not seem to be loading any slower than most other devices with Windows Phone on the market today. This seems like it could be a winning strategy, in short – perhaps Windows Phone has found its niche?

The device is extremely light, has a plastic case which makes the device feel nearly “cheap” but not quite, and has a display that will utterly blow you away. The viewing angles aren’t quite what you’d hope for if you’re comparing to the iPhone 4S, but they’re certainly OK if you’re really going for the same resolution on a non-iPhone devices. The display is showing here ViewSonic’s own ViewScene 3D which ViewSonic has worked with SPB Shell 3D to create.

In the gallery below you’ll also see the ViewPhone 4s, identifiable by its one-tone coloration instead of two-tone device. Both are great!

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this user interface, but it’s certainly the first time it’s working with Android 4.0 ICS. The device is capable of using two SIM cards, one at a time, and is prepared to do all this without breaking your bank. This device is set to be released SOON in Europe, but no release date has been announced for it in the USA as of yet. Have a peek at our hands-on photos here and prepare for a hands-on video later today.

For Harman, this collaboration will mean bringing 1080p graphics and interactive Web streaming to some of the world’s most advanced vehicles. Here the OMAP 5′s architecture works right alongside Texas Instruments’ “Jacinto” automotive infotainment processors, this creating a scalable platform with capabilities more than ready to handle a whole load of Harman products. Expect some undeniably awesome rides in the next few years, courtesy of these two titans in tangent with one another.

The iRobot collaboration, on the other hand, is so very new that TI didn’t even have a slide for it in their big presentation this week at Mobile World Congress. TI did note, however, that it’s because of many of the same reasons Harman is on board that iRobot decided to join in with TI for their robotic products in the near future. For more information on the OMAP 5 and the technology that’s integrated in it, check out our giant OMAP 5 Detailed In-depth post and get the whole story!

The Mobile Ecosystem

Beginning by listing the massive list of impressive devices that are currently running on their dual-core OMAP 4 processor, including the Galaxy S II, Motorola Bionic, Galaxy Nexus, LG 3D, and more, 4430 and 4460 running strong in a massive display that’s all but dominated the last quarter of 2011. Though TI has thus far been concentrating on their “usual suspects” manufacturers for their chips, it is Digital Hubs that will make the big moves in the future, the OMAP 5 built with that understanding in mind.

These Digital Hubs are already here with a complete software framework, in the cloud, and groups like Google and Microsoft are the biggest factors influencing the decisions made by manufacturers. Because of this, it’s important, says TI, that the OMAP Platform tends to the needs of the makers of the software and the content for the devices as well as the manufacturers starting with the OMAP 5.

Smart Multicore

Smart Multicore brings up the facts 2 cortex A15 ARM CPU units inside the OMAP 5 as well as two cortex M4 ARM CPU units as well. This is a dual-dual-core devices, four cores that allow for the A15 cores to work on their own, but to offload processes to the M4 units while they, the A15s, continue on with new tasks. Quad A9, Texas Instruments says, is outdone by 2x when put up against the dual-A15 unit. Two graphics engines sit inside this OMAP 5 chip, one for composition on its own. Security engine, camera engine, clock management, and more are included in Smart Management which addresses the tasks correctly, not simply the most brute-force way.

Photo Processing

This new unit is able to handle four video cameras at once – one of the only times you’d use such a functionality is with a vehicle – several cameras in each place you need them, all run from one chip. Picture quality is first addressed with the sensor, number two is the optics, and number three is what you do in the ISP to tune your process to a specific sensor to in the end attain the best image. A set of barometers need to be tuned for each sensor in a camera setup in order for image correction, color calibration, and more. All of this has been given special care in the OMAP 5.

Why the A15 dual-core plus M4 dual-core

What Texas Instruments is showing today is the outperformance of a quad-A9 multicore architecture with just two A15 cores, that’s a dual-core from the newest generation outperforming a quad-core from the previous generation. Smart Multicore architecture is what’s allowing the dual-core to overtake the quad-core here, and by at least 35% performance improvement. Demos by Texas Instruments here have shown the improvement reaching an unbelievable 2x improvement as well. As TI notes, the ARM Cortex A15 has the best performance on single-threaded applications, currently second to nobody. The M4 then is good for multimedia, music, and the like while you run any and all of your dominant applications with one major single thread on the A15 dual-core.

Thermal Budget

One of the points Texas Instruments want to emphasize here and an element which they feel too many groups ignore is the issue of a Thermal Budget. When you hold a smartphone, you have a certain amount of allowed heat that you’re going to be OK with – this is true of everyone who has used a smartphone for any kind of extended period of time. A user’s comfort zone is what we’re talking about here. TI makes the example of working with a quad A15 processor, saying that working with such a titan would simply get too hot too quickly for anyone to work with it reasonably.

Graphics Processing

With the OMAP 5′s dual PowerVR 554MP2 3D graphics processor architecture, TI notes that they are outperforming all of the solutions that are in the industry right now by 4X. Especially important to the power of this architecture is the 2D display composition engine. For a composition of 8 layers in full resolution, this display composition engine only consumes 10% of the power that alternative solutions do. Alternative solutions are to either do this composition on the CPU or to do this composition on the GPU. Both of these methods use about 10x more power than the composition engine does on the OMAP 5 – that’s no small difference to scoff at.

Wrap-Up

This is an architecture that is not in isolation. The OMAP 5 is trying to address a realistic problem: a chip that needs to fit into a mobile device but will also be able to fit into a variety of other equipment. We have to be clever, says TI, otherwise the resulting device reaches a thermal envelope very quickly. On a PC the heat can go out the back, on a laptop the heat can go out the bottom and out the back, but when you hold a device in your hand, the heat has to dissipate.

Within the Thermal Budget, who can reach the best performance? This is the question for the mobile age in processors, so says Texas Instruments.

The Ascend D has Huawei’s own quad-core processor inside and is clocked at 1.5GHz, this build called K3V2 and said to have a 49% performance boost over conventional smartphones. This device is called by Huawei the “world’s fastest smartphone” and though we’re not able to confirm such a claim at the moment, it certainly does seem, even at this early stage in the software’s build, that they’ve got a chance at putting some fire under the seats of their competition.

You’ll find both Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound inside as well as an MHL connector to bring some fantastic looking and sounding presentations via HDMI. We’ve got a video of this magic taking place that we’ll be uploading a bit later in the day, while photos of the device you’ll find above and below now. You can check out the rest of our news from the events all this week through the following portals: [MWC 2012], for event-related information and hands-on head to [MWC Live], and for all the Huawei news you can handle head to [Huawei] – stay tuned!

While this device may bear a passing resemblance to its Huawei tablet predecessors as well as the Galaxy Tab 10.1, it truly is a unique vision in and of itself. The hardware here makes for both a light and accessible experience, rounded edges made to a degree which allows for a good grip while you’re tapping away on what appears at the moment to be a completely vanilla Android user interface. This device not only seems to be a good next step for the manufacturer, it seems like a downright high quality tablet that’ll compete well in the greater market as well.

This device is able to work with 3G, LTE, and Wifi, has 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0, and of course has a variety of sensors inside for full engagement. This device has a light sensor, gravity sensor, and eCompass as well as GPS. It also connects with its own Huawei private connector which assures you that noone will want to steal your cord because it doesn’t work with any other device. Have a peek at the hands-on images above and below, but don’t expect video because the software is not quite ready for prime-time yet.

The ZTE Orbit is the more impressive of the two devices, complete with a 1GHz processor, 5-megapixel camera, and lovely 4-inch WVGA screen. You’ll be differentiating between devices here mostly based on the shaping of the cases, as both Windows Phone and the specifications for Windows Phone devices at the moment are readily strict. That said, ZTE is ready to bring the fire with what they’re presenting in these two smartphones as high quality a set of smartphones as can be brought to the market at this very moment.

Perhaps the most important tip on either of these phones, one must recognize, is that they’ll be running the “most updated” version of Windows Phone at the time they’re launched, the ZTE crew essentially hinting heavily that this will be the next version of Windows Phone, not the current Windows Phone Mango.

The ZTE Tania you may have heard of before, it being a 4.3-inch display Windows Phone with 480 x 800 pixel resolution and TFT technology, all of this backed up by a 1GHz processor from Qualcomm. Both of these devices are a sign from ZTE that Windows Phone is alive and well at this mostly Android-dominated set of events here in Barcelona in the first quarter of 2012.

First there’s the ZTE PF112 with its 4.5-inch HD 1080 x 720 display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and a slightly customized user interface. Two LTE devices by the name of ZTE N91 and ZTE PF200 were spoken of in only basic detail, ZTE noting that they’ll have their own Mifavor user interface and will be working with Near Field Communication via an NFC app by the name of Touch and Share. These devices running Mifavor aim to “simplify” the Android user experience.

Tablet announcements include the ZTE PF 100 (10-inches) and the ZTE T98 (7-inches), both of them running the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor with 4-PLUS-1 technology. These tablets will also run a slightly customized user interface and will be released in the first and second halves of 2012, respectively. Four Android smartphones made specifically for the Euro markets are the Skate Acqua, Kis, Blade II, and again the Mimosa X (which, incidentally, we expect to see in the USA in the first half of the year.)

The Blade II has a 1GHz processor with many of the same design cues as the original ZTE Blade, now with an updated user interface and basic specs. The Rest of the devices in the list just mentioned were not detailed in-depth but can be expected to have mid-market displays and processors under the hood. A couple of Windows Phones were also revealed including the ZTE Tania and the ZTE Orbit, both of which can be found in a post coming up in just a bit in SlashGear’s main news feed.

Find all of our MWC 2012 posts and releases in the [MWC Live portal] or the [MWC 2012 portal], both of them up and running all week!

The folks at ZTE have made it clear that each of the devices they’ve revealed today with Android will be utilizing their Miflavor user interface on top. This interface is a skin quick essentially makes the whole Android experience what ZTE describes as user friendly (not necessarily more user friendly than Android Gingerbread or Ice Cream Sandwich is on its own, but user friendly none the less.) The ZTE Era is currently only being shown with Gingerbread in press images but will be running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich by the time it’s set for release – we hope.

In fact ZTE has been mostly mum about their plans for Ice Cream Sandwich, favoring instead talk of how they’ll be going LTE furiously throughout 2012 and how their own user interface is super awesome for Android. He Shiyou, Executive Vice President of ZTE, noted that “this is a new year for the ZTE brand” and we’re certainly rooting for them to come up in the market. ZTE made it clear that they’d be releasing at least one Android handset for the US market in Q2 with an LTE tablet in Q3, but were not specific of the models.

Interestingly (and like HTC’s other unveiled phones), it’s using the standard three ICS buttons in a capacitive array, not the on-screen navigation found in the Galaxy Nexus. For all that, it’s still one of HTC’s most stylish phones out there, with a slim 7.9 mm profile that extends to 8.7mm at the bump. That’s even more impressive considering that it revives HTC’s unibody aluminum design with a scratch-resistant Micro Arc Oxidation coating. The downside is that it makes the 1650mAh battery non-removable.

For storage the One S has 16GB of internal memory, though you can augment that with free access to some free expanded storage via DropBox. Memory is a roomy 1GB, though with both ICS and Sense even that might start to feel cramped after a while. The camera on the back is 8 megapixels and shoots 1080p video, while the forward camera is just VGA. HTC didn’t neglect the audio portion, and they’re making the most of their partnership with Beats by integrating it just like on the One X.

HTC hasn’t announced price or availability for the One S yet, but expect it to come in the summer. Keep an eye on our Mobile World Congress portal for a hands-on look very soon.