3GSM blog

Adios, Barcelona.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

It's Valentine's Day and the GSMA World Congress is coming to a close. It's been a busy few days for the CNET team. Bonnie Cha and I journeyed from San Francisco with CNET TV's Ariel Nunez, CNET UK's Andrew Lim flew in from London, and John Chan of CNET Asia came all the way from Singapore. As one of the biggest mobile shows on the planet with more than 55,000 attendees, GSMA produced a lot of interesting news, from new smartphones to the first prototypes of the Android platform. Barcelona was a good host, which is impressive considering just how the show took over the town. So as we pack our bags and escape for a few days of rest, we're proud to bring you the highlights of the show. And be sure to check out our full GSMA coverage and watch the GSMA videos.

Sony Ericsson W980

(Credit: Sony Ericsson)

Handset news dominated the show, of course. Sony Ericsson and Nokia battled it out for the most high-profile announcements. Sony Ericsson unveiled a new Walkman phone, the W980, two new Cyber-shot models, the C702 and C902, and it introduced its new G-series line with the G700 and G900. The latter two models are especially noteworthy as they make interesting use of their touch screens. And last but not least, Sony Ericsson showed off the Z770, which is a super slim flip phone with an emphasis on Web browsing.

Meanwhile, Nokia wasn't any slouch, either. It rolled out the Nokia 6220, which brings a 5-megapixel camera to a midrange phone. And speaking of touch screens, LG showed off the LG KF600 and the LG KF700. Both offer lots of touchy-feely action, and the KF600 is the GSM version of the LG Venus.

The Samsung Soul is eye-catching.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

Samsung wasn't a wallflower, however. The company did its best to make its new Soul (SGH-U900) the talk of the show (posters advertising the phone were all over town). The Soul also has a navigation touchpad that takes a cue from the Motorola Rokr E8. As you move through different functions, the icons on the touchpad change. Samsung also introduce the SGH-F400, SGH-F490, and F480, and also the SGH-G810 and SGH-P960. On the other hand, Motorola had a quiet show. It only introduced a new Wi-Fi phone, the Motorola Z6w, and two entry-level phones, the W161 and W181. It was certainly a change from CES last month where Moto dominated the mobile in Las Vegas with the Rokr E8 introduction.

We also got the chance to check out some carrier and service news. T-Mobile dropped that the carrier would switch on its 3G network in the United States by this summer. Also, by the end of the year, T-Mobile said it would bring the Apple iPhone to Austria and that one of its markets would get an Android cell phone. Speaking of Android, we took a test drive at the ARM booth. Though it doesn't look like much yet, it is taking shape. The LiMo Foundation is another open-source alliance from mobile phones. It showed off its first supported handsets. Another interesting stop was Modu, which is a company that's produced an intriguing modular phone.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

(Credit: Sony Ericsson)

GSMA 2008 saw plenty of smartphone action. Nokia released two new additions to its N series of multimedia computers: the geotagging Nokia N78 and, to everyone's delight, the Nokia N96, which now comes with 16GB of internal memory and a revamped design. Sony Ericsson stole some of the spotlight when the company revealed that it will start developing Windows Mobile smartphone and debuted the first such device, the Sony Ericsson EXPERIA X1. If you had to judge by the number of people swarming around the X1 at the Sony Ericsson booth, there's plenty of interest in this phone. Speaking of Windows Mobile, Microsoft announced that it will acquire Danger Inc., the manufacturer of the Sidekick handhelds, and made available MSN Direct services on Windows Mobile phones. And last but not least, HTC came out with a couple of new devices: an updated HTC Advantage X7501 and the GPS-enabled HTC P3470.

Nokia N96

(Credit: Nokia)

GPS was also big at the GSMA Mobile World Congress. We saw a number of handsets with integrated GPS at the show, including a number of the previously mentioned smartphones and the Symbian-based LG KT610. In addition, Nokia released a beta version of its mobile mapping and navigation application. Nokia Maps 2.0 adds even more navigation capabilities with a pedestrian mode and multimedia city guides. Finally, we got a hands-on look (sort of, anyway) at the Garmin Nuvifone with full video for your viewing pleasure.

After attending CES four times, CTIA eight times, Macworld two times, and several smaller show in between, I thought I have the whole trade thing mastered. You spend the day meeting with companies, wandering the show floor, and battling crowds before returning to your hotel for a night of work. You also go a few days without enough sleep or a decent meal. As I prepared for the GSMA World Congress, I knew it would be different--a different continent, a different culture, a different language, and an international focus. I had no idea of just how different it would be.

Now that GSMA is over, I can say without a doubt that it was the best trade show I've attended. In almost every way, GSMA is better organized than anything we have in the United States, particularly the huge and uberhyped CES. Follow along as I keep score.

T-Mobile's snazzy stand.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

Booths:
At GSMA, company booths are called stands. Though such terminology kept me thinking of a lemonade stand, the stands can be massive with a full set of amenities (Nokia even had a doctor on staff). For instance, consider the T-Mobile stand, which was its own building. Floor-to-ceiling windows looked out on a reflecting pool with a sculpture. There was a terrace where you could get a drink. Worried about the chilly weather? Don't be, they installed heating lamps there to keep you warm.

Nokia's hospitality suite.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

But best of all, GSMA introduced me to the concept of a hospitality suite. This is something unheard of at American trade shows, which is an awful shame. A hospitality suite is a separate area away from the riffraff of the show floor. It is where journalists and analysts can get product demos and talk with company executives in peace. You can sit down, relax, have a snack, or sip a refreshing beverage (some companies even offered booze). It was a very civilized way to conduct your business of the day. Nokia's hospitality suite spanned almost the entire second floor of the company's stand and was larger than my first apartment. I wondered why the idea developed at European trade shows and I just couldn't figure it out; maybe European journalists are just fussier. One thing GSMA doesn't have, and not that this is a bad thing, are scantily-clad booth babes milling about. Perhaps it's because "stand babes" sounds pretty silly.
GSMA 1
CES 0

Fira de Barcelona With Montjuic above.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

Location:
This is a no brainer. Instead of the generic and relatively sterile Las Vegas Convention Center, GSMA is held at the Fira de Barcelona, which sits at the foot of the city's Montjuic area (site of the 1992 Olympics). In between the show buildings is a very cool fountain, while towering above is the beautiful Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. The show buildings were pleasant, and some even had natural light inside. But best of all, the Fira de Barcelona is near the center of town with easy access via the city's bus and Metro network. And as show attendee, I was given free use of the Metro for five days. CES on the other hand is held in Las Vegas with little public transit outside of the Disneyland-esque monorail. Getting anywhere in Vegas during CES is a gigantic hassle with taxi lines that stretch for days. While I love Vegas for a weekend trip, it can't compete with the beauty and atmosphere of Barcelona. The only downsides of GSMA were the distance (a long flight from San Francisco) and that the area around the show seemed to be rife with pickpockets--poor Bonnie Cha even fell victim--but GSMA still wins this round.
GSMA 2
CES 0

Hotels:
I have to give it to CES for this category as Las Vegas just seems to have more hotels rooms to support the show. When I tried to book a Barcelona room six months ago, almost everything was taken. For those rooms that were available, the rates could cost as much as 800 euros a night (about $1,177). I ended up renting an apartment that lacked a working heater, so it was frigid at night. While Bonnie found a hotel, the Wi-Fi kept breaking.
GSMA 2
CES 1

One of the on-site table-service restaurants.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

On-site food:
GSMA wins again here. At CES, the convention center eating options are limited to overpriced fast food stands. GSMA has sit-down restaurants with table service and real menus. Here again, you can get alcohol. The food at the stands was better as well. Yahoo offered several candy bins and gelato.
GSMA 3
CES 1

Show news:
Of course, I have to rate the show news. Yes, I'm comparing apples and oranges here, but GSMA's international focus makes it much more interesting. It puts CES to shame as far as mobile news, which makes sense considering it's a mobile show, but also there seemed to be more a focus on substance rather than hype.
GSMA 4
CES 1

So CES, there several things you could do to make yourself more bearable. You can start by taking lessons from your European friends. After all, it beat you four to one.

(Credit: Crave UK)

While wandering through the mobile theme park that is the 3GSMA Mobile World Congress, we stumbled across a strangely familiar-looking phone at the Spyker stand. Spyker is mostly known for making cars, which gave us pause.

There was no model name on the handset, but of course the first thing we thought of when we saw it was the iPhone. The available press materials failed to shed any light on its name, but when we asked the man at the stand whether or not it belonged to the Spyker portfolio, he responded with a straightforward "yes." Click here for more.

(Source: Crave UK)

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Yesterday, I finally got a chance just to walk around the vast halls of Fira de Barcelona and really take in the sights of 2008 GSMA Mobile World Congress. While doing so, I stumbled upon NTT DoCoMo's booth and ended up spending a fair bit of time there, wandering in awe. For those of you who don't know, NTT DoCoMo is Japan's leading cell phone provider, and they have got some amazing devices. There are ones that you can fully submerge in water. There are gaming and mobile TV handsets, and I know we've got those in the United States too, but I would actually use the DoCoMo ones for those purposes; the features aren't half-baked. There are high-fashion phones, wellness phones (don't ask), and fitness phones. Hell, even some of the models for youth are more advanced than the ones we have. We all know that Japan and Asia in general are ahead of the times when it comes to technology, but you get a sense that they've really embraced how technology can enrich their lives. It seems as if the cell phone manufacturers have developed devices for every type of lifestyle.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

To that end, I've been trying to observe some of the cell phone habits here in Barcelona, and it seems that the Spaniards use their mobiles much like we do in the United States. They're mostly ways to keep in touch with family and friends, whether it be through text messages or calls. No one has anything fancy--a good mix of slider, flip, and candy bar style phones. Anyway, if you're curious or feel like torturing yourself, I'll be putting together a slide show next week of some of the cool DoCoMo phones I saw here at GSMA.

Vodafone makes itself known at GSMA.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

The GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, is winding to a close, but that doesn't mean mobile phone news have stopped streaming in. The third day of GSMA 2008 saw AMD announcing big plans for mobile phone processors, RIM's co-CEO downplaying the recent BlackBerry outage, and the LiMo Foundation possibly giving Google's Android a run for its money with its own effort at an open, Linux-based operating system. Of course, we also took the opportunity to look at phones and carriers off the beaten path.

For starters, Senior Editor Kent German explored the large Vodafone plaza (Vodafone is a UK-based carrier) and took a look at their phones, such as the Nokia 5310 and the Samsung SGH-P110, which we'll never get here. He also lamented the lackluster Alcatel presence, despite their big showing in 2007. NEC is a big phone manufacturer outside of the U.S., and Kent gave us a good look at the NEC FOMA N705i for NTT DoCoMo in Japan, which also happens to be one of the first LiMo Foundation phones.

Nokia's Remade uses recycled and renewable materials to lessen its environmental impact.

(Credit: Nokia)

In an effort to go green, Nokia has unveiled Remade, a phone that is made entirely out of renewable and recycled parts. Senior Editor Bonnie Cha also got a look at the much talked about Garmin Nuvifone, a touch screen phone with a lot of GPS functionality. Andrew Lim from CNET UK gave us a hands-on look at the luscious LG KF600 and KF700 touch screen phones as well.

One of the different devices we saw is the Polymer Vision's Readius, a phone that is also an e-book reader--the display can even be rolled up like paper. Another phone that looks very different from the rest is the Modu, which has different "sleeves" that can add to the functionality of the phone. Even though iRiver is more known for their MP3 players, this year in Barcelona, iRiver Europe announced it's breaking into the cell phone business with its first ever mobile phone, called the iRiver W7.

Readius e-book reader that's also a phone.

(Credit: Crave Asia)

ZTE, which doesn't have much of a presence in the U.S. market, is one of the largest cell phone manufacturers in China, so we had to take a look at the company's phones. Overall, we're pretty impressed--their phones ranged from the keyboard-equipped smartphone to the simple flip phone. A lot of their devices are high-end megapixel phones that support HSDPA. As for companies that the U.S. is familiar with, Palm is unfortunately rather quiet at GSMA 2008, but news is that it might debut a white version of the Palm Centro on February 19th.

We'll have more as the week goes on, but please take a look at our complete coverage of GSMA Mobile World Congress 2008 for plenty of product slide shows, videos, and more.

Though Google's Android platform is getting a lot of attention at the GSMA World Congress, the LiMo Foundation is making news of its own. LiMo is a consortium of companies working to create the an open, hardware-independent, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices. The foundation has about 30 members including Motorola, NEC, Samsung, Vodafone, Orange, LG, and NTT DoCoMo.

LiMo made several announcements at the show. Besides signing up new member companies, it showed off a number of cell phones using LiMo. They include the Motorola U9, Motorola Z6w (announced at GSMA), Motorola Rarz2 V8, Motorola Rokr E8 (announced at CES), NTT DoCoMo FOMA N905i, NTT DoCoMo FOMA N705i, and Samsung SGH-i800.

Palm at GSMA

(Credit: CNET Networks)

There's a lot of Windows Mobile and Symbian news at GSMA Mobile World Congress, but things have been pretty quiet in Palm-land. Still, the company is here at the show, and there was a wee bit news. First, a GSM version of the Palm Centro will be coming to Europe. According to Treonauts, the unlocked Centro will be available in the United Kingdom on February 14, and at the end of the month for the rest of Europe with a price tag of 299 euros. A Web site called TamsWMS also has what appears to be the first unboxing of an unlocked Palm Treo 500 for Vodafone, though we haven't heard anything official about this product yet.

Back here in the States, rumors are starting to pick up that AT&T will start selling the Palm Centro on February 19. It will carry the same attractive $99 price tag as its Sprint counterpart, but will come in a fresh white color. Stay tuned for more.

Chinese cell phone manufacturer ZTE has a sizable presence at the GSMA World Congress. Not only did it supply almost every show attendee with a canvas bag, but also its large booth in one of the main halls faced off with the likes of Samsung and Sony Ericsson. I toured the ZTE area to see the cell phones available in China and found a few that caught my eye.

ZTE i766

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

The ZTE i766 is a candy bar phone with a 2.4-inch, 262,00-color touchscreen. Primed for multimedia, it plays broadcast TV, has an MP3 player, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and an FM radio. It also offers e-mail, a Web browser, Bluetooth, a microSD card slot, and USB capability. To me, the navigation array was a bit cramped and the TV quality was just average.

ZTE D800

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

The ZTE D800 is a keyboard-equipped smartphone that looks a bit like a cross a between a RIM BlackBerry device and a Samsung BlackJack. It offers dualmode GSM/CDMA functionality, a Linux OS, a touchscreen, a 2-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, push e-mail, a Web browser, and an MP3 player.

ZTE F858

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

The ZTE F858 is a HSDPA flip phone, which somewhat resembles a Motorola Razr. Inside you'll find video streaming, Bluetooth, USB support, a 2-megapixel camera, an MP3 player, a Web browser, e-mail, and a microSD card slot.

ZTE F912

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

The last model I checked out was the ZTE F912. It's a flip phone with a rotating display like the Samsung FlipShot SCH-U900. It offers HSDPA, streamig video, a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a microSD card slot, USB support, an MP3 players, a Web browser, and e-mail.

iRiver's first cell phone.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

In the United States, iRiver is more well known for its MP3 players and PVPs, but in Europe, it's hoping to break into the cell phone market. With a small booth at GSMA Mobile World Congress, iRiver showed off its first GSM handset. Though a bit mysterious with no official name (it bears a striking resemblance to the iRiver W7, one of the company's PVPs) and spec list, we do know it features a 3-inch touchscreen and Linux-based operating system. iRiver also showcased its GPS capabilities and multimedia functions, which was one of the better highlights--not surprising considering the company's roots. I played with the user interface a bit, and I wasn't terribly impressed. I found it lackluster, and it wasn't intuitive. The company plans to bring it to the European market in the third quarter. When asked about U.S. availability, the iRiver representative said he didn't know.

The diminutive Modu phone.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

Modu has generated a lot of buzz for itself at the GSMA World Congress. The Israeli company has developed a concept for a modular cell phone that can be placed into "jackets" that change the both the appearance and the functionality of the handset. I got the chance to check out the Modu phone today, and I admit it's an intriguing concept that could prove to be successful if it evolves as Modu promises.

The overall concept is quite simple. The primary device is a small black cell phone, aka a Modu (clever name, huh?), that's smaller than a credit card and weighs only 1.5 grams. There's only a tiny display, a couple of controls, a mini-USB port, and a charger jack. So what's so exciting about that? Well, there's more than meets the eye with this one. Though call can be made on the Modu, it's really designed to be inserted into one of the jackets, which basically are the shells of a candy bar phone. The Modu slides easily into the top of the jacket and once it clicks into place, the jacket's display will activate and the phone can be used. The role of the jacket, which is about the size of a standard candy bar phone, is multifold. Not only does it give users a normal-sized color screen, a keyboard, and a full set of navigation controls, but it also activates certain functions on the Modu. Of course, the jacket makes the Modu look like an actual cell phone with a bright color skin (several designs will be available).

Just slide the Modiu into the jacket.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

The jacket I saw was music themed and included a speaker for broadcasting the Modu's tunes. There's no working parts inside the jacket, so all functionality comes from the Modu itself. As my colleague Andrew Lim said, users can think of the Modu as a big SIM/memory card. Though Modu does not offer camera functionality at this time, it does come with Bluetooth and the aforementioned music player. The memory size is an impressive 1GB, and the Modu is quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) with GPRS.

In essence the Modu is similar to Curiel's Identity phone from a couple years ago. Yet Modu goes a few steps further than the Identity. The company has several design concepts where the Modu phone could be inserted into a car stereo to play music, or combined to make a gaming, or GPS device. That's where I think it's true appeal lies. While Modu says the jackets as fashion accessories, I'm not really certain many people would do that. But if the phone's functionally could be used in different devices, then that has potential.

The Modu is inserted and the jacket is activated.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

The best thing about Modu is that it isn't vaporware. In Barcelona, the company announced it had secured carriers in Italy, Russia, and Israel. The Modu is sold in a package with two jackets for 200 euros (about $291). Users'll be able to buy additional jackets individually.