Top Mobile World Congress rumours

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As Barcelona readies for Mobile World Congress next week, we examine the top rumours floating around ahead of the massive mobile show.

Windows Mobile 6.5

A new mobile Windows platform has been rumoured for a while. It has been almost a year since Windows Mobile 6.1 was announced, so it’s about time the mobile platform was updated.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer accidentally name-dropped the platform in Australia late last year, suggesting it will largely contain tweaks and optimisation enhancements rather than a full-blown overhaul.

From pictures, we can see that the menu system takes on a redesigned honeycomb look menu screen, new look home screen and Internet Explorer search application which looks similar to Google Search.

Microsoft has also announced three new services that will be launched at the same time as Windows Mobile 6.1. SkyBox syncs phone information such as contacts, calendar, emails and SMS to a cloud storage system that allows automatic backup and retrieval. SkyLine is the business version of SkyBox with the additional option of hosting business Exchange servers with Microsoft, and SkyMarket is the online store for Windows Mobile apps.

Samsung

As always, hardware launches will take centre stage at Mobile World Congress. Samsung’s launches are probably the most exciting, as it shows the company is moving its focus to smartphones.

The Samsung Pivot will apparently run on Windows Mobile 6.5, and is expected to boast a 5.0-megapixel camera, Qwerty keyboard, LED flash, aGPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

The Louve will run on Windows Mobile 6.1, and features a 3.2-megapixel camera, tilting screen, with a fully customisable Samsung-skinned interface.

Samsung has also pre-launched it application store, offering 1,100 applications for S60 and Windows Mobile devices from launch. At the moment, 11 handsets are supported, including the i8510, G810 and i900 Omnia, but more will follow soon.

HTC

As the whole of HTC’s roadmap was inadvertently leaked at the beginning of the year, it’s pretty hit and miss to judge which ones will launch at Mobile World Congress.

The Touch Cruise 09 is a pretty safe bet as one device to pop up. The Cruise 09 follows up on the original Cruise and is said to feature HTC’s TouchFLO interface, a 2.8-inch 65K colour QVGA touchscreen, 3G with HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a 3.2 megapixel fixed focus camera. It is also the first of HTC’s phones to include Advanced Navigation System and HTC Footprints location-based services.

Android

New launches on Google's Android will always be the talk of the town as the newest platform, especially as up to now there’s only been one handset available running on Google’s OS.

One company that will definitely be launching a new device on Google’s system will be General Mobile. The DSTL1 will feature a 3-inch touchscreen WQVGA display, Sharp-branded 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, Wi-Fi/GPRS/EDGE, 4GB internal memory which is expandable to 12GB with an 8GB microSD memory card, and a whole range of preloaded software.

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