While the free-market works pretty well when, uh, left alone to be free, sometimes it needs a push from a visible hand. Case in point, phone chargers, at the moment some 30 different types of chargers are used on handsets throughout Europe. Today, the European Commission received industry backing of its phone charger standard that relies on a micro-USB socket. The standard is now backed by all the majors (representing 90% of the European mobile market) including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Apple, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments with compatible devices starting to appear in Europe next year. Or course, the micro-USB charger standard already has the blessings of CTIA, OMTP, and GSM Association which implies a broader adoption beyond Europe, someday. One charger for any mobile phone... where's the catch?

With femtocells slowly but surely making their way out to the major US operators, we'd say it's about time we got a handle on what exactly these things are comprised of. This week, the world's first femtocell standard has been published by the 3GPP, which will supposedly "pave the way for standardized femtocells to be produced in large volumes and enable interoperability between different vendors' access points and femto gateways." The new protocol covers a foursome of areas: network architecture; radio & interference aspects; femtocell management / provisioning and security. For those unaware, a femtocell is a small box that essentially acts as a mini cell tower within the home, piping cellphone signals through the internet and providing great signal in areas where it was previously a struggle to nab a single bar. Now, if only we could get a few of these things in carrier-agnostic form, we'd be set.

[Via PCWorld]

After putting those nasty Bluetooth 2.2 rumors to bed, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group has directly informed Wireless Week that it will indeed look to come out with a "high-speed specification next summer." Of course, we've been waiting on such a thing for, like, ever now, but Executive Director Mike Foley has asserted that when the spec arrives in summer 2009 it will likely be sitting at 3.0. What's 3.0 promising? Faster overall transmission speeds and quicker connections, namely. So, what's the over / under on the Bluetooth SIG actually delivering?

[Via phonescoop]

Merely weeks after a handful of TV broadcasters voiced their approval of the MPH mobile TV standard, the almighty ATSC has elevated its specification for Mobile Digital Television to Candidate Standard status. Or it will early next week, based on the futuristic December 1st date on the press release. Anywho, the thumbs-up brings the standard one huge step closer to actual implementation in the United States, though a final standard isn't apt to be agreed upon until late next year. Not that the delay is really a problem -- after all, a grand total of 19 people in this great nation even care about TV on the go, right?

[Via mocoNews]

Okay, so we saw W3C's Mobile Web Best Practices offered up in "near-final form" in June of 2006, but we're just now (August of 2008, for those parked under a rock or tuning in from a parallel universe) seeing a final release. Talk about taking their sweet time. Hopefully said document has been updated over the past two years, and hopefully webmasters will grab hold and actually implement some of the suggestions. In essence, these guidelines seek to make web browsing easier on more handsets, but we're still in dire need of more robust browsers before any server-side tweaks make a noticeable difference.

[Via the::unwired]

Samsung's UK outpost has sounded the alarm that the all-business i200 candybar imbued with Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Edition is now available at retail. Though not ugly, Sammy certainly didn't put much effort into making this one beautiful -- hence our "all-business" tag -- and the 3.6Mbps HSDPA 2100 should go a long way toward putting it in the breast pockets of a few three-piece suits out there. Interested parties should expect to shell out about €399 ($626) when they go seeking it out.

[Via the::unwired]

Windows Mobile Standard devices are a whole heck of a lot more refined now than they were in the early days, aren't they? Manufacturers have figured out what form factors seem to work best, the quality of the hardware has improved by leaps and bounds (though it admittedly can't ever really be good enough), and the handsets continue to find ways to squeeze blood out of the WinMo 6 stone by way of new capabilities and new skins. The i640v from Samsung -- a Vodafone exclusive for the moment, hence the "v" -- represents the pinnacle of everything Samsung has learned about making these non-touchscreen smartphones over the last several years, and we can honestly say it's one of the most refined and most attractive Windows Mobile phones we've ever used, period. It's pleasantly compact when closed, sliding open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard only when needed, and the mirrored finish with chrome accents gives it a high-end touch without crossing the gaudy line. The nav wheel spins just like the BlackJack II's, but the larger diameter is a welcome addition and makes navigating Vodafone's custom skin a breeze.

Samsung, T-Mobile, AT&T -- we implore you, bring a version of this to the States, preferably one with 3G that we can use, k? Thanks!

Thanks to the good folks at Wireless Imports for the hookup!

Gallery:

Late last year, we were still wondering whether LTE even had the backing to keep up with WiMAX. Fast forward to CTIA 2008, and my, how the tables have turned. Vodafone, which already teamed up with Verizon in order to initiate an LTE trial in 2008, urged the rest of the wireless sector to put its support squarely behind Long Term Evolution. Vodafone Group's CEO, Arun Sarin, suggested that we could all see mobile internet speeds more similar to those enjoyed on the PC today if the industry "rallied around one broadband standard," specifically noting that "we need to look at LTE as an all-encompassing standard." The push comes hot on the heels of Sprint's unfortunate delay of its XOHM WiMAX network, but it should be noted that infrastructure vendors in attendance tended to feel that the two would coexist at least in the short term. Sheesh, let's just forget this whole LTE / WiMAX spat and place our bets on TD-SCDMA.

The GSM Association has been rearing to go for a while now with its Pay-Buy Mobile initiative with the ultimate goal of making contactless payment more the norm than the exception, but naturally, the GSMA isn't the only standards body that wants in on the action. ETSI -- the European Telecommunications Standards Institute -- has just decided on the final piece of what will ultimately become Europe's NFC standard. It seems the little matter of communication between the NFC circuitry and the phone's SIM was the holdup, and now that it's settled, the GSMA says it'll "[enable] mobile operators to prepare for the rollout of contactless payment services and other applications that make use of this flexible short-range radio technology." If there's one surefire way to redouble support for a new technology, it's by standardizing it -- now, let's just hope those standards start to cross borders.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Never mind the silly little internal display for just a moment -- the Windows Mobile 6 Standard-based M930 from ASUS is still a pretty interesting phone in a form factor that doesn't come along every day, and it'll likely get scrutinized for purchase by a good many folks in 2100MHz 3G-friendly parts of the globe over the next few months. TamsWMS had the opportunity to touch one at a recent ASUS press event and compare it side-by-side with a variety of other devices; it appears to be roughly the same size as a Treo 680 (pictured), but don't be fooled -- it also makes the chubby Nokia N71 look like a RAZR. Anyone out there thinking this is their next WinMo device?

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

Although Motorola's market share has been steadily sliding to the delight of Nokia and Samsung, DigiTimes would have you believe that Moto reigns supreme in the global Windows Mobile Smartphone segment. Citing "internal data from Microsoft," the oft-wrong, occasionally correct tattle-rag claims that HTC's share of the WinMo Standard space has declined leaving Moto with the largest market share -- beating Samsung by, "a small margin." This after HTC saw a 50% Smartphone domination during Microsoft's Jul 2006 - Jul 2007 fiscal year. HTC still maintains a 50% market share for WinMo Professional touch-screen devices. Of course, this could be true. After all, Moto has refocused their attention to high-margin, full-featured handsets at the expense of emerging markets and entry level yawners. And you can't swing an HTC Vox without knocking over a dozen Qs. Still, until we hear otherwise, take this rumor with a quarry-sized load of rock salt.

We're not confident that many folks were waiting with bated breath for this to go down, but sure enough, that rumored unlocked Treo 500 we'd told you about is now a reality. Features mirror Vodafone's original -- 256MB of storage, 2 megapixel camera, UMTS, Windows Mobile 6 Standard -- the only difference is that the Vodafone logo is now stone-cold gone from the phone's face, replaced with a more generic Treo logo. Grab it now for £269 (about $528) -- but beware if you're stateside, there's no 850MHz support for GSM and the 3G data resides only on the 2100MHz band.

[Via PHONE Magazine and Reg Hardware]

If you're looking for a multitalented Windows Mobile 6 Standard handset, the follow-on to the nifty S710 Vox from HTC, the S730, is a fine device -- it really is. Only one problem, though: in its current iteration, European 3G is the one and only name of the game. That kinda took us by surprise when we first heard it since HTC's announcement of the S730 promised "worldwide 3G." What they didn't make clear is that the promise would be delivered in the form of two separate models. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the "WING200" -- an homage to the S730's "Wings" codename -- bearing support for US HSDPA on the 850 and 1900MHz bands. No mention of the S730 name is made anywhere in the documentation, but the rear end that we see here clearly resembles the S730's hindquarters, so we're pretty well convinced. Only thing left then is for HTC to start selling this thing, eh?

If you're pleased as punch with the BlackJack II's in-built (and non-free) TeleNav app, you can go ahead and skip over this blurb. Otherwise, take note: the latest release of Microsoft's SDK for Windows Mobile 6 has revealed a little gem that'll change everything. The GPS Intermediate Driver, or GPSID as the cool kids are calling it, now has an on-device configuration utility that allows you to specify that the GPS chipset on your WinMo 6 Standard device be exposed on a particular serial port, allow third party location-based apps to get in on the fun. Of course, downloading, installing, and sifting through the actual SDK doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun, but never fear -- MoDaCo has done us all the favor of boiling it down to the utility alone. Click on!

If we were to pick two smartphones to use as inspiration for our own work, we're not sure we'd go with a curious amalgamation of Motorola's Q and the BlackBerry Curve -- but here it is, AMOI's memorably named "GSM6711A." For what it's worth, the phone actually looks like it could be a solid (if not plain) Windows Mobile 6 Standard handset on account of its utilitarian design, seemingly well-spaced keyboard, BlackJack-esque matte black finish, and trackball navigation. We'll leave it at that since the lack of GSM 850 puts this outside the grasp of our American readers anyhow, but we're still holding out hope we'll manage to get our hands on some legit AMOI kit via AT&T's SMT5700.