Those who rise at MWC '09

The hype and buzz from Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2009 have just starting to cool down as we begin yet another long weekend. Even though there were plenty of mobile phones covered during the event, not every each one of them have left deep impressions.

Tech blogs and websites on the net have reported almost every mobile devices shown at MWC '09 in every hours and days since it started, it's impossible to keep track every one of them. And since I'm still out of town, chained down with limited access to computer to keep you guys posted with what was happening, I think it's better if I keep you updated with a recap of what gadgets that were most interesting at MWC '09. Just in case you've missed some of them last weekend.

For sure, the most anticipated news for all of us and everyone else from MWC '09 was the Palm Prē™. But unfortunately, Palm's lips are still closed tight and had only revealed a little tidbits about its upcoming smartphone which is powered by the new webOS™. Because of this, some even say the MWC event this year was kinda stale with less excitement compared to last year. Sammy has done a great job at keeping us inform with news of Palm Prē™ during MWC '09, you can re-read them all again at PalmAddict weblog (using the search feature).

Let's start shall we?

HTC Magic

Let's start with the most exciting smartphone from all of the other: the HTC Magic, the second Android-powered handset coming out from HTC's wonder factory. Android was surprisingly lay low at the big event, there was no huge announcement and even shared the spotlight with HTC, and also with Vodafone as the wireless carrier who will exclusively be the first to sell the HTC Magic. Although later, Engadget Mobile reported that the wireless carrier logo shown in the demo video is T-Mobile, not Vodafone. So it wouldn't be a surprise anymore if the HTC Magic will become T-Mobile's G2 soon.

The HTC Magic is not much of a different from HTC Dream (or more famously known as G1), the obvious difference is there's no physical keyboard. But it has the same "chin", and Gizmodo managed to ask HTC and the answer is for: personality. The "chin" also allows the trackball to pull out more than competing devices, making them easier to use while at the same time protecting them. Here's the quick list of HTC Magic's specs:

• HSDPA connection
• 3.2-inch touchscreen (320x480 pixels)
• 192 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
• Qualcomm MSM7201A 528Mhz processor
• Android OS
• 3.1MP camera
• WiFi & Bluetooth v2.0
• microSD
• GPS
• accelerometer
• miniUSB
• 118.5gr weight

HTC Touch Pro2

Besides the HTC Magic, the other note worthy handset from HTC was the Touch Pro2. It is the successor of the first gen Touch Pro, but what really makes it to stand out from other HTC handsets is its slide-and-tilt screen design. HTC begins to ditch the D-pad navigation button and starts placing the Zoom bar, for scrolling (horizontal & vertical based on the screen orientation) and zoom in/out. Here's the quick rundown of the specs:

• HSDPA connection
• 3.6-inch touchscreen (480x800 pixels)
• 288 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
• Qualcomm MSM7201A 528Mhz processor
• Windows Mobile Pro 6.1
• 3.1MP camera with secondary VGA camera at front
• WiFi & Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• microSD
• GPS
• accelerometer
• miniUSB
• 3D Flo UI
• 175gr weight

Toshiba TG01

One of the show-stealers at MWC '09 is Toshiba's TG01, which I've told you before. It's a super slim handset with large screen, in fact TG01 screen is larger than iPhone and Samsung Omnia HD. Although TG01 biggest attraction is also its biggest disadvantage, users will have difficulty using TG01 with one hand only. But Toshiba managed to customised its own UI that sits on top of Windows Mobile OS in TG01, making use all of the pixels on that big screen. Here's the list of TG01 specs:

• HSDPA connection
• 4.1-inch touchscreen (480x800 pixels)
• 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
• Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD2850 1 GHz processor
• Windows Mobile Pro 6.1
• 3.1MP camera
• WiFi & Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• microSD
• A-GPS
• microUSB
• 129gr weight

Sony Ericsson Idou

Sony Ericsson surprisingly was able to grabbed everyone's attention by introducing a break through new handset codenamed Idou, but unfortunately it is still introduced as a concept phone and there seems to be more changes when Idou finally hits production gate in around 6 months. To be honest, the Idou exterior design is almost like any other Sony Ericsson handsets, but the real attention grabber is its fresh UI we've never seen before in Sony Ericsson phone line-ups. Let's take a look at Idou scarce specs:

• HSDPA connection
• 3.5-inch touchscreen (360x640 pixels)
• accelerometer
• WiFi & Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• Symbian OS
• 12MP camera & secondary VGA camera at front
• A-GPS

Nokia N86

Nokia was doing what it does best; promoting and marketing a new all-in-one wonder flagship at MWC '09. Although I must say, I'm wondering why this new N86 doesn't have much of a killer look and still stick to Nokia's handsets look trademark. But hey, like the saying goes: don't judge the book by its cover. It's the beast inside the N86 that should amazed us all:

• HSDPA connection
• 2.6-inch screen (240x320 pixels)
• 8GB internal memory
• ARM 11 434MHz processor
• microSD
• microUSB
• WiFi & Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• Symbian OS S60 v3.2
• A-GPS
• 8MP camera & secondary VGA camera at front
• kickstand on the back
• 149gr weight

LG KM900 Arena

Like I've told you before about LG Arena, this mobile phone can really gives Apple a headache over its gorgeous S-class UI. The menus & the animations were all looking so smooth and eye-catchy when captured in video during its MWC '09 presentation, and the specs inside also show some promises:

• HSDPA connection
• 3-inch touchscreen (400x800 pixels)
• 8GB internal memory
• microSD
• WiFi & Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• GPS
• 5MP camera & secondary VGA camera at front
• 105gr weight

LG GD900

There isn't much of information regarding this phone, except that it sports a unique transparent slide-keypad. Seems like LG was planning to announce the GD900 in next months, the phone will packaged with a Bluetooth handsfree. Click the image on the right to enlarge it.

LG GD910

LG first teased us with this Watch Phone at CES 2009, and then the company revealed it at MWC '09 along with more specs:

• HSDPA connection
• 1.43-inch touchscreen (176x220 pixels)
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• SMS & MMS
• Speech recognition
• Text-to-speech feature
• 84gr weight

For more information regarding this GD910/Watch Phone, you can read it at my CES 2009 post.

Samsung i8910 Omnia HD

Large touchscreen is definetely becoming a standard in high-end mobile phones, and Samsung has just given "HD" a new definition to its rising star Omnia. Even though this phone is powered by Symbian OS, Samsung has done an amazing job by modified the UI with the user friendly TouchWiz. Here's a quick look at Omnia HD specs:

• HSDPA connection
• 3.7-inch touchscreen (360x640 pixels)
• accelerometer
• 8/16GB internal memory
• microSD
• microUSB
• WiFi & Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• A-GPS
• 8MP camera with geo-tagging & secondary VGA camera at front
• Symbian OS S60 v5.0
• 149gr weight

Samsung M7600

Music and phone, these two are now have become one entity in modern gadget. And like Sony Ericsson, Samsung also seeks to get more share of phone market with introducing a uniquely shaped M7600; or also known as Beat DJ phone. These are the quick specs of M7600:

• UMTS connection
• 2.8-inch touchscreen (240x400 pixels)
• accelerometer
• 50MB internal memory
• microSD
• microUSB
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• 3.1MP camera with LED flash & geo-tagging
• A-GPS
• 3.5mm AV jack
• 99.7gr weight
• Bang&Olufsen audio amplifiers

ACER M900

ACER has stepped into smartphone competition with not only one, but four Windows Mobile-powered smartphones which were introduced at MWC '09. And when ACER starts to put finger-scan sensor into its new smartphone line-up, I'm sensing it'll soon become a new standard to secure data in phones. From the four, the M900 is the baddest and the most powerful among the others, here are just the few reasons why:

• HSDPA connection
• 3.8-inch touchscreen (400x800 pixels)
• microSD
• miniUSB
• Samsung S3C 6410 mobile 533 MHz processor
• WiFi & Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• Windows Mobile Pro 6.1
• GPS
• 5MP camera & secondary VGA camera at front
• 188gr weight

Windows Mobile 6.5

The least announcement to be expected in MWC '09 was coming from Microsoft: Windows Mobile 6.5, instead of speeding up the release of the most awaited Windows Mobile 7 (dubbed as the iPhone-killer ever since introduced), Microsoft is trying to prolong the life-span of its old dated Windows Mobile 6.x OS. The WinMo 6.5 announcement didn't exactly surprised us at all, because days before MWC '09 there had been leaks of its screenshots on the net. Click on the image to enlarge it.

WinMo 6.5 is revamped with new UI concept: honeycomb menu, and a more clean home screen that shows essential infos (clock, miss calls, incoming messages & emails, to dos, appointments, etc.). It is said WinMo 6.5 will only available in new devices, no hope for old devices to get an update. And Microsoft has also dictated physical Start button to be present in every new devices powered with WinMo 6.5 OS.

MWC '09 best handset: 3 INQ1

3 UK's INQ1 has been crowned as the best handset in 2009 by MWC, winners of the Best Mobile Handset or Device to be exact. INQ1 beats tough contenders such as LG KS360, T-Mobile G1, BlackBerry Storm 9500 and Nokia E71.

And what made INQ1 won is because of its social networking features; like integrated Facebook and last.fm, also supports popular messengers like Skype and Windows Live Messenger. Click on the image to enlarge it.

So, where's Palm Prē?

Oh, Palm was around the other corner of MWC '09 event. Palm's booth, or it's more like a small cottage to me, it was just right next to ACCESS System's booth. And because entering into Palm's booth was so strict and limited, plus there were not much of new infos regarding the Prē from Palm directly, the coverage was quite scarce.

It's kinda dissapointing to hear so little about Palm Prē, espcially since we are expecting to hear more about the hot upcoming new smartphone. But hey, at least the sight of Palm's booth may cheers you up. ;-)

Sources are from:

• GSMArena
• Gizmodo
• TamsPalm