Ridiculous quantities of 3G handsets weren't the only things showed off at this year's Mobile World Congress -- oh no, NetIndex, Kaga Electronics and Runcom shook up the norm a bit with their WiMAX-enabled portable VoIP phone. Reportedly, the trio joined forces to develop a VoIP handset that utilized a 802.16e module, and aside from "realizing all-IP voice communication," it also sports a web browser and integrated WiFi for times when a plain ole hotspot will do. Sadly, we've no idea where this thing will go after it leaves Barcelona (nor what it looks like), but here's to hoping it makes a commercial debut -- and can decide on a single logo -- in the not-too-distant future.

Okay, we suppose cellphone companies trumpeting some sort of fuel cell technology isn't that weird, but nevertheless, Moto sure seems proud of its most recent advancements. Showcased at this year's Mobile World Congress are a number of "alternative power solutions including fuel cell and reflow batteries," which can be deployed in most every wireless / mobile environment out there. More specifically, the outfit is demonstrating a fuel cell-powered WiMAX base station, and it's also suggesting that said technology could "further guarantee [the] availability of uninterrupted power" in TETRA radio networks that are used in public safety environments. Fascinating, no?

It's bordering on preposterous how long we've been teased about 3G connectivity from T-Mobile, but apparently, the madness will end this summer. According to CNET, company CEO Hamid Akhavan made mention at Mobile World Congress that T-Mobile would be rolling out 3G sometime during the warmest months of 2008 here in the US of A, but unfortunately, no concrete date was dished out. What he did say, however, was that it would prove to be the "best 3G network" in the nation, so yeah, there's that. As if that weren't enough to get T-Mob subscribers in a celebratory mood, the bigwig also hinted that a Google Android device would be unveiled on its network during Q4 of this year, but we're left to wonder exactly what regions will see it.

[Via The Boy Genius Report, image courtesy of Flickr]

Mobile Linux flagbearer Trolltech appears to be carrying on at a nice clip in the wake of its acquisition by Nokia, and for its Qtopia Phone Edition platform, things just got a little sweeter. The company is using MWC as its stage to announce version 4.3, which is actually a good deal more revolutionary than its one-tenth increment would lead on. Biggies in the new build include a new UI theme designed to be finger-friendly (which makes total sense considering Trolltech's endorsement of the keypadless Neo1973 as the hackable, Linux-based mobile of choice for the moment), the "Qtopia Sync Agent" which ushers data between a Qtopia device and Microsoft Outlook, and support for Real's Helix DNA media engine, among other things. The goods are already available in beta, open source form from Trolltech's site, so hack away.

[Via Geekzone]

Whew, it was quite a day for cellphones at the Mobile World Congress, and there's more to come this week -- but if you haven't been watching Engadget Mobile (where the full coverage is being posted) or are just getting up to speed, here's everything that's gone down.

Sony Ericsson

• The Sony Ericsson W980
• Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1 QWERTY with Windows Mobile and HSUPA
• Sony Ericsson's G700 and G900: "touchscreen organizers"
• Two for the Cyber-shot crowd: Sony Ericsson intros C702 and C902
• The Sony Ericsson Z770: "your life in a clamshell"
• First live photo of Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1
• Video: Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1 "Panel Interface"
• No wonder Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1 is so good: HTC makes it
• Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 does a good job looking pretty at launch event
• Sony Ericsson ties up with Microsoft for Windows Mobile devices

HTC

• HTC P3470 is only EDGE, but has GPS
• HTC Advantage X7510: now upgraded with 16GB flash memory

Nokia

• The Nokia 6220 classic, all 5 megapixels of it
• The Nokia N78, in European and North American flavors
• The Nokia N96 redefines "high-end"
• The Nokia 6210 Navigator
• Nokia goes public with Maps 2.0 beta, plans Series 40 version
• Nokia CEO: No plans for Windows Mobile, S60 touch-screen launch in 2H 2008

Sad, lonely Moto

• Motorola's pathetic MWC showing: Z6w, W161, and W181
• LG says it has no plans to buy Motorola's cellphone biz

Everybody else

• Samsung's F480 Armani (without the Armani), Dual Touch Chic G400 flip and F400 B&O slider
• NVIDIA shows off APX 2500 cellphone applications processor
• Hands-on with Sony Ericsson's world-beating XPERIA X1
• Samsung hauls a load into Mobile World Congress
• First pics of CDMA BlackBerry Curve 8330 surface
• What's an iPhone? 14.3m Windows Mobile phones sold in the past six months alone
• LG gets official with the KF700, KF600, and KF510

More after the break.

Not to be outdone by a powerful Android presence, the boys and girls at the LiMo Foundation have brought it strong with a series of announcements at Mobile World Congress. Yeah, the SDK is en route, but that's just the beginning; first up, and perhaps most notably in its effort to fight the Android juggernaut, LiMo has managed to sign up a slew of new partners. Most notable on the refreshed roster include ACCESS (which just hooked up with MontaVista, itself a LiMo member), Samsung, and carriers Orange and SoftBank.

The foundation is backing up its talk with some walk, too, in the form of several production-ready handsets: the U9, Z6w, Z6, E8, RAZR 2 V8, and RAZR 2 V8 Luxury Edition from Motorola (all devices that have previously been launched using MOTOMAGX, Moto's own special flavor of mobile Linux), the Samsung i800 which is destined for Orange's airwaves, and the N905i, N905iu, N705, N705iu, P905i, P905iTV, P705, and P705iu -- a mouthful of models from members NEC and Panasonic for Japan's NTT DoCoMo. Also rocking out at MWC are prototypes from LG and Aplix along with the Purple Magic low-cost flip from Purple Labs. Is it all enough momentum to give some balance to the mobile Linux landscape and serve as the yin to Google's yang? Seems like a strong possibility, but we'll have to hold our horses until developers are playing with the final tools and handsets are in wide circulation.

Read - LiMo Foundation unveils first LiMo handsets
Read - New LiMo Foundation members introduced

If you're sick of hearing about end products and want to get down and dirty with the innards of handsets of tomorrow, look no further than Qualcomm. The firm is busting out a smorgasbord of new chips at Mobile World Congress today, so we'll get right to it. Up first is the QST1000, QST1100 and QST1105 chipsets, which include the following:

• An integrated ARM11 applications processor running at 528 MHz with support for third-party operating systems (Windows Mobile, Win CE and Linux)
  
• A comprehensive range of popular audio and video codecs
  Rich multimedia features, including camera, video playback at up to VGA resolution, and TV-out
  
• Seventh-generation gpsOne engine with support for Standalone-GPS and Assisted-GPS modes, as well as gpsOneXTRA Assistance technology delivering enhanced Standalone-GPS performance
  
• Support for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and FM radio
  
• 65 nanometer process technology for enhanced battery life and bill-of-materials savings
• Ability to interface with Qualcomm's Universal Broadcast Modem (UBM) solution for MediaFLO, DVB-H and ISDB-T mobile broadcast TV support
• Wireless WAN connectivity for voice calls and data capabilities (QST1100)
• Hardware-accelerated 2D/3D graphics core capable of performing up to 2.8 million triangles per second (QST1105)
• All three are sampling now and are expected to begin launching this year

Head on past the break for more.

You've seen these babies in one form or another over the past year or so (give or take), but now LG has gotten all mushy and official with us on its lineup of handsets. First up on the board is the KF700 -- a phone we've only seen grainy spy shots of -- which features a 3-inch touchscreen, sliding alpha-numeric keyboard, and a slew of multimedia functions. The KF600 is a similarly minded slider, but with a split touchscreen (one for navigation, one for major fun), a 3-megapixel camera, MP3 player, and video recorder. The other new entry is the KF510, another skinny (you guessed it) slider, this time with haptic feedback, an LCD covered in tempered glass, quick start camera with flash, the ability to record QVGA video, and "emotional animation." The KF700 and KF510 will be available in March in Europe, with other regions to follow, and the KF600 is available now. Hit the gallery to see luscious photos of the whole set just oozing silicon chic.

[Via MobileTechNews]



Read - Triple Your Efficiency with LG-KF700
Read - LG Introduces Mind-reading Interactive Phone
Read - Inimitable Style, Slender Strength

With all these companies honing in on bringing HD capabilities to handsets, we were beginning to wonder when someone would step up and lend a hand on the audio front. Thankfully, both Dolby and SRS Labs have come forward at Mobile World Congress to announce separate enhancements to mobile audio, so we'll touch on the former first. Dolby Mobile, hailed as an "audio processing technology platform that brings rich, vibrant surround sound to music, movies, and television programs on mobile phones and portable media players," is available as we speak on the FOMA SH905i and FOMA SH905iTV in Japan, but will hopefully float out to other handsets in due time. As for SRS Labs, it's boasting its own SRS CS Headphone technology, which reportedly "takes stereo or surround encoded 2-channel audio and processes it using an ultra-low-power Circle Surround decoder to create 5.1 highly accurate channels." Granted, we're still wondering exactly how 5.1 channels make their way though stereo earbuds, but we'd be up for a listen, regardless.

Read - Dolby Mobile
Read - SRS CS Headphone technology

On the same day that Texas Instruments chose to showcase a new chip that would enable HD recording capabilities on cellphones, On2 Technologies is taking a moment from its hectic day in Barcelona to trumpet an all new 1080p hardware RTL video decoder. The Hantro 8190 reportedly supports Adobe Flash along with H.263, H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC-1, Sorenson Spark and VP6 video formats, and it can even handle JPEG images up to 16-megapixels. According to On2, the device was created to be easily integrated with ARM, MIPS and "other embedded CPU and DSP cores," and can supposedly decode 1080p H.264 video at 30 frames-per-second using a clock frequency of just 165MHz. As it stands, the Hantro 8190 is currently available for licensing, but only time will tell who's going to bite.

Look out, world -- ACCESS has just announced that it's crawling even deeper in bed with MontaVista Software in order to "accelerate development of smart mobile devices." More specifically, the two have released a "pre-integrated software stack combining the ACCESS Linux Platform with the MontaVista Mobilinux operating system," which should purportedly hack down the engineering time required for DIY integration along with decreasing "associated costs and risks." Reportedly, the ALP-Mobilinux software stack is up for grabs right now on the Texas Instruments OMAP2430 processor, and while specifics are unfortunately absent, we are told that additional hardware platforms will be added in the months ahead.

It's no secret that Texas Instruments has been pushing to get its technologies into more cellphones for awhile now, and considering that even Nokia reckons that HD recording capabilities in mobiles is but a few years away, it's not too shocking to hear what TI busted out at Mobile World Congress. Reportedly, the firm has unveiled "a chip to support cellphones with mini projectors and another chip that would let users record high-definition video on their phones." After showing prototypes in the past, TI asserted that it had chips "ready for production" for pico projectors that could be integrated into a variety of handsets, while the OMAP3440 -- which would let consumers capture HD footage on the same device that gives those thumbs a workout -- will be available in Q2 for handset makers to test out.

Maybe it's just us, but the image pictured above sure looks a helluva lot sexier than the blurry depiction we saw of Samsung's G810 just last week. Along with just about everyone else in the mobile world, Samsung is making its striking do-it-all slider official at Mobile World Congress, and it's packin' quite the specs list. We're talking HSDPA, a 5-megapixel camera with face detection, Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) and image stabilization, a 2.6-inch QVGA display, built-in GPS / WiFi, a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack and a 12.9-millimeter-thick frame. All that's for sure is a March 2008 release for those in Europe, but word on the street pegs it right around €580 ($840).

They're lagging a bit behind the competition in the dog-eat-dog world of high speed data cards, but one of Sony Ericsson's two models has a little trick up its sleeve that should still manage to win over a customer or three. The EC400 and EC400g both support the full HSPA suite -- HSDPA and HSUPA, that is, offering up to 7.2Mbps down and 2.0Mbps up -- on the 850, 1900, and 2100MHz bands, while GPRS and EDGE are supported on 850, 900, 1800, and 1900. Here's where it gets interesting, though: the EC400g adds an integrated GPS receiver, a feature occasionally seen on CDMA cards but pretty unique in the GSM camp. Both should be available in mid 2008.