Not long after spinning off from former corporate parent O2, Windows Mobile purveyor MWg is moving out of its Asian comfort zone to attempt to sell its wares over in Europe with a splashy press conference to kick things off -- and if the aggressive roadmap they're pursuing for the next year or so holds true, they might just have a fighting chance at making a splash up there. First up are the official European intros of the Atom V and Zinc II, HSDPA-equipped handsets that have been kicking around for a while now, but that's not even close to the interesting part. Looking deeper into '08 reveals a handful of HTC Diamond competitors, devices that are sporting a respectable 7.2Mbps down and 5.2Mbps up, and looking still deeper into the fourth quarter suggests that MWg intends to release its first Windows Mobile 7-powered device -- the Flame II -- with GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and "multimedia features" on board. That seems a little far-fetched considering that 7 hasn't been officially shown off and 6.1 isn't even in broad distribution to users yet, but we appreciate MWg's motivation here. We also see a Shift killer in the wings with Vista and a 3G data connection toward the end of the year, so all told, the future's looking bright for these cats if they can actually execute.

Alright, let's start firing up the conspiracy theory engines, shall we? Motorola's iDEN Software Upgrades site -- one of the first around to offer handset firmware upgrades directly to customers -- has been mysteriously pulled down with nary a clue as to the reason or when they might be back up. All we know is that they're "currently unavailable" and that we should check back at a "later time." We imagine new firmware builds for these rugged warriors aren't exactly the hottest thing going to begin with (and let's be honest, what percentage of iDEN users even knew this site existed to begin with?) but let's hope Moto has a plan to bring these back out nonetheless.

[Via Unwired View and PhoneNews]

Keeper of Flash, Adobe, has unveiled its far-reaching "Open Screen Project," garnering the interest of a who's who of heavy hitters ranging from ARM to Verizon and pretty much everyone in between. Why the massive corporate attention? The project ultimately aims to open-source Flash's file formats and portions of its inner workings -- but perhaps more importantly, it'll kill the license fee manufacturers pay to bundle Flash players on their devices, potentially opening the door for the same massive level of acceptance Flash has enjoyed on the desktop in our pockets as well. There's no word on exactly when the fruits of the project will be available to the public -- Adobe says it's "just underway," after all -- but if this means our Flash-laden phone is going to be, like, 20 cents cheaper now, we're all for it.

Screen shots posted on Chinese site wretch.cc allege that iPhone firmware 2.0 has added support for Chinese handwriting recognition in addition to a revamped (albeit non-recognition) Japanese interface. While that's still light years from an Apple admission that not everyone is in love with the on-screen keyboard, it's one small step toward functionality that seems to make boatloads of sense -- in any language -- given the phone's generously proportioned touchscreen and its reluctant but unavoidable nomination as the Newton's spiritual successor. What isn't clear is how folks are expected to draw characters, seeing how there's no provision for an on-board stylus, the entire interface is designed for finger use, and we don't see many owner rushing out for a Pogo. However Apple intends for this feature to be used, the implementation looks pretty hot, capable of operating in both portrait and landscape modes. Sadly, it seems that Chinese is the one and only language supported at the moment; sure you don't want to let everyone in on the Graffiti-esque retro fun here, guys?

[Via Mac Rumors]

Wait, Taiwan? i-mode? Yep, turns out that Far EasTone Telecommunications licenses NTT DoCoMo's well-known mobile internet brand for use in Taiwan, and they've partnered with Nokia to deliver the service on a customized version of the 6124 classic candybar -- the first Nokia ever to offer it. Of course, no i-mode handset is complete without blazing data speeds, and sure enough, the 6124 classic delivers with support for HSDPA in addition to a 2 megapixel cam, QVGA display, and S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. Yep, that's right, not only is Nokia tying up with i-mode, they're doing so on an honest-to-goodness smartphone. Kudos!

[Via IntoMobile]

When we'd heard that T-Mobile Germany was at loggerheads with Nokia over its Ovi services, the carrier was quick to point out that it didn't offer any Ovi-compatible devices in its lineup to begin with and that it was "in discussions with Nokia about this topic and [was] confident to find a common path in the near future." Sure enough, it looks as though that "common path" has now been found with an announcement that Nokia will be working closely with T-Mob to integrate its web'n'walk mobile internet service with Ovi for deployment on future devices customized for the carrier. There's no telling what sorts of contracts got signed behind the scenes here, but if we had to guess, we'd say most of T-Mobile's existing content-based revenue streams are going to end up being preserved by appearing within the Ovi sandbox on these new phones. A loss for Nokia? Not if it wants its phones to keep appearing on T-Mobile Germany's store shelves, it isn't.

Check it -- Gigabyte has just revealed details about a swank new user interface for its GSmart mobiles, and it has been coined Smart Touch. Sadly, multi-touch gestures aren't supported, but it does handle dragging / dropping and gives users oodles of customization options. Comically enough, the note on the new UI actually admits that it "works like [the interface on the] iPhone," but it claims to be superior due to its tight-knit integration and more "useful and interesting features." Sure, alrighty. We'll let you be the judge on this one -- jump on past the break for an excruciatingly long demonstration vid.

[Via the::unwired]

As we hurl headlong toward HTC's May 6 date with destiny, the Diamond is looking more and more like the headlining act for the unveiling -- but what's it gonna look like when they turn it on? Screen shots of a purported Diamond have turned up on Chinese site PDAFans, and if they turn out to be legit, the answer is "pretty much like any other Windows Mobile 6.1 device." One of the Diamond's alleged claims to fame is a revamped TouchFLO interface, though we're not really seeing a heck of a lot of that here; just a whole lotta plain-vanilla WinMo that has us thinking that this is either fake or an early prototype with an particularly barren build loaded. Doesn't really matter how hot the hardware ends up being -- unless HTC manages to impress with the software visuals, we suspect there are going to be a lot of disappointed people when this one starts shipping.

[Via PDAPhoneHome, thanks Joseph G.]

While you can argue that Windows Mobile is feature-for-feature and spec-for-spec superior to OS X on the iPhone, Apple's mobile UI is certainly more fun to use. So if you're running WinMo with a hankerin' for rubber band-like scrolling, jiggly icons, screen flicking, SummerBoard themes, and even simulated multi-touch pinching of photos then you're in luck. Flick Software Research is set to release its iSwish interface and iZoom pinch software in beta come "early May." Hey Flick, here's a hint: Dell Axim != sexy demo hardware... or maybe that's the point. See the action after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Considering that some countries are mulling the idea of making texting a recognized subject and allowing students to use text-speak on exams, we suppose it's not too outrageous to hear of handsets being used as educational tools and not seen as a hindrance. Nokia has teamed up with Mindset Network in order to spearhead the M4Girls pilot project, which utilizes Nokia 6300 handsets loaded with educational material to "help improve the mathematics performance of Grade 10 girl learners." Reportedly, the initiative will be piloted in two South African schools, and students lucky enough to take advantage will have access to educational games and other material created to meet the needs of the national curriculum. No word on whether the program will filter out to other locations if it proves successful, but here's to hoping that eventually gets answered with a resounding "yes."

[Via textually]

Remember those refreshed Sling apps we mentioned not long ago? They've finished baking and they're ready for prime time (sorry, BlackBerry users, we don't mean you -- not yet, anyway). The players for Windows Mobile, both Professional and Standard editions, now rest at version 1.6 while the S60 player gets upped to 1.1; changes are relatively minor, but notable, the Nokia N95 8GB is now officially supported (even though the old player worked pretty well) along with a slew of new WinMo pieces and set-top boxes, video quality is improved on some devices, new channel logos are included, and some "under the hood tweaks." The update is available now and free for existing SlingPlayer Mobile users; newbs, meanwhile, pay a $30 one-time pop.

Doesn't really matter how high the cool factor is on Android handsets once they start trickling into the retail channel -- if they lack productivity and enterprise software, business penetration is going to hover near zero. That's a problem, seeing how companies have a tendency to buy entire fleets of phones at once, contributing serious revenue to a carrier's and a manufacturer's bottom line come earnings report time. Don't worry though, Android, Quickoffice has you covered. The suite -- familiar to a great many Palm, S60, and UIQ users -- brings serious Office document viewing and editing power to the world's non-Windows Mobile smartphones, and judging from a recent show-and-tell with PC Magazine, it looks like they have every intention of sharing that same power with Android users. All the typical Quickoffice stuff is there, appearing surprisingly close to being ready for prime time despite the fact that Android hardware isn't expected for a handful of months yet. One bonus feature here (and a biggie at that) is integration with Soonr's technology for accessing documents remotely -- pretty nifty, since most of us don't carry our full library of documents when we're on the road. No word on a release date here, but we imagine we'll be seeing it right about the same time that the first devices hit the market.

[Via Talk Android]

Why should smartphone and 3 Skypephone users have all the fun? Skype has finally released a client written for mobile Java, enabling the ubiquitous VoIP pipe to be used on a wide, wide variety of phones (Skype says they've tested it on about 50, but it's likely to work on far more than that). Though it's naturally scaled down a bit to fit in its tiny target footprint, the client still manages to pack in support for Skype-to-Skype and SkypeOut calls, chat, group chat, and your buddy list -- pretty much everything you need to make it functional. If you're going to have a go at it, just make sure you're on a sufficiently generous data plan, k?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Turns out the data plan doesn't have to be that generous. Straight from Skype: "Tom has 20 Skype contacts and signs in twice a day for a total of 90 minutes. He IMs for about 25 minutes each day and makes 20 minutes of Skype calls. Tom would use just under 1 MB of data in one month." Thanks, everyone!

There's little doubt that Linux has quite a bit going for it in the mobile realm, but a recent report put out by ABI Research asserts that just about one in every five mid- to high-end handsets sold in 2013 will boast a Linux-based OS. Citing the mounting momentum behind LiMo Foundation as well as the alleviation of "issues with framework fragmentation and silicon requirements," the research firm is projecting Linux to be an integral part of some 20-percent of higher-end mobiles in just 5 years. ABI Research's VP even noted that "Linux OS solutions will be far more cost-effective than incumbent solutions, even when silicon requirements are taken into account, given that a fuller application layer will be included in the standard package and that the burden of customization falls mostly on the independent software vendor." Hey, you won't find us kvetching about the proliferation of open-source.

[Via mocoNews]

Once again, the time has come for a fresh beta build of the official iPhone SDK -- and if you're lucky enough to be involved in the firmware seeding program, a fresh build of the 2.0 firmware, too. The big change this time around appears to be support for OpenGL ES in the SDK's emulator, enabling easy, breezy access to 3D acceleration for testing all those spellbinding games we plan on playing the heck out of in a couple months. So yeah, shouldn't you get cracking on that? Seriously.