Sony Ericsson company has already reported that it is going to turn Walkman and Cyber-shot series into powerful multimedia mobile devices, and Sony Ericsson W995 is a vivid example of that. We daresay everybody will be surprised with its performance both as a camera phone and music mobile phone. As for music, we can say that it is very convenient to use W995 as a player. You don’t even need to take it out of your pocket to change tracks because the size, shape, and position of buttons make it unnecessary for a user to look at the phone – it is possible to control W995 by touch. Video   It is the first time Sony Ericsson gives so much consideration to comfortable video viewing. W995 has a very nice kickstand – you may place the phone on its side and watch it like TV. Unfortunately, this is all that is worth mentioning regarding video. It is really a great pity that the phone doesn’t support DivX and XviD file formats and works as a video camera in WQVGA resolution at the speed of 30 frames per second – this is nothing in comparison with some mobile phones shooting HD video. As you can see, the Sony Ericsson W995 can hardly be named a video player in the full sense of the word, and frankly speaking, we don’t

  There’s a ROM update utility or RUU available on the HTC website. Download and run it if you have one of the following troubles with your HTC Touch Diamond: • The screen becomes black if you turn on the camera while other applications are running on the phone. • When playing a video, a portion of it is cut off. • While listening to music via the speaker the sound turns off (and on but not always) after 10 minutes (you may also hear a buzzing sound). • The phone is not able to receive MMS messages when in standby mode. • The sound turns off and on from time to time when you launch music via the Music tab on TouchFLO 3D. On updating the software all these troubles disappear. The manufacturer warns that all data and device settings are deleted during the update process. Before running the RUU make sure that all applications are closed and the battery is half-charged at least. You must not use the device during the update: don’t press any buttons, make or receive calls or disconnect the phone from your PC.  

  We have updated a new Motorola ZN300 mobile phone specifications and uploaded better quality photos of the device. As far as we have got the information from the official source, we may suppose that the new phone will be announced in the nearest future. The shipping date is unknown so far but we think it’s not that long to wait…  

  The GSMA reported that Mobile World Congress was attended by more than 47,000 visitors from 189 countries with executives from the largest mobile operators, software companies and equipment providers as well as government delegations. Attendees holding C-level positions constituted 50% of visitors and there were more than 2,800 CEOs at the conference. Leaders from companies including AT&T, China Mobile, China Unicom, Ericsson, Microsoft Corp., MySpace, Nokia, Telefonica, Telenor, Verizon Communications and Vodafone gathered to outline the plan to cope with the global economic slowdown and lessen its impact on mobile industry. The Congress featured 1,300 exhibiting companies on more than 57,000 square metres of space, 11% larger than in the previous year. Announcements made at Mobile World Congress were reported by nearly 2,400 international, Web, and broadcast media. Prospects and strategic issues facing the mobile industry will be explored at the Mobile Asia Congress that will be held in Hong Kong in autumn 2009.  

  Seventeen top mobile operators and manufacturers announced that they have decided to team up and create a universal charger for new mobile phones. The project is initiated by the GSMA. The universal charger compatible with all mobile phones will eliminate the manufacturers of making duplicate chargers (all of them have 51,000 tonnes in weight) that can be purchased separately in case the original charger is broken. Environment will only benefit by the reduced production of chargers. Moreover, mobile phone users will find the universal charger very convenient – they won’t have to spend a lot of time looking for a charger compatible with their mobile phones. The universal charging solution (UCS) is scheduled to be included in the package of most mobile phones by the 1st January 2012. A universal charger will be based on the Micro-USB interface. The following companies will work upon the UCS: 3 Group, AT&T, T-Mobile, Vodafone, KTF, LG, Motorola, Mobilkom Austria, Orange, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Telstra, Telecom Italia, Telenor,

  RF Micro Devices today said it is targeting the CDMA components market. The company has already developed power amplifiers, switches and low-noise GPS Modules (LNA). In 2009 RF Micro Devices (RFMD) is going to refresh its CDMA product portfolio launching power amplifiers, discrete switches and GPS low noise amplifier (LNA) modules with integrated filters. The company recently launched the RF73xx family of linear CDMA power amplifiers, the RF1126 and RF1136 discrete switches and the RF2815 GPS LNA module with integrated surface acoustic wave filter that is designed for CDMA mobile devices supporting GPS. The size of the above-named RF2815 GPS LNA module is only 3.3 x 2.1 x 1.0 mm. The module is optimized for both solution size and performance and is suited for battery-powered mobile devices, such as portable navigation devices and CDMA handsets supporting GPS. Samples of the RF1126, RF1136 and RF2815 are available now. Samples of the RF73xx product family will be available in the second half of 2009. RFMD's product portfolio is on display at the GSMA Mobile World

  Torch Mobile today announced the launch of version 1.1.0 of their award-winning Iris Browser™ for mobile devices running Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 and 6. The company simultaneously announced Iris Browser for the Windows CE platform. The new browser is both fast and resource efficient. Torch Mobile also announced future versions of the browser will be available for download in the first quarter of 2009.  

  Nokia and Qualcomm plan to develop advanced UMTS mobile devices initially for North America. Most probably new smartphones will run Symbian S60 and have Qualcomm MSM7xxx and MSM8xxx series chipsets. The first mobile devices are slated to launch in the middle of 2010. Vice president of Qualcomm says that cooperation of such giants like Nokia and Qualcomm would result in an exceptional leap in mobile industry.  

  Media Go™ application debuted together with the Sony Ericsson W995 at Mobile World Congress 2009. By means of this application you can play and organize files in most formats and transfer them between your phone and PC in a very simple way. With the Sony Ericsson W995 you can watch TV shows or movies in premium video quality or see if there are any new videos from YouTube™ using Turbo 3G or Wi-Fi™. With the W995 you will not get bored anywhere, be it a railway station or crowded bus. The mobile phone has Walkman™ player and an 8.1MP camera. You can print photos up to a full A3 size with no loss of quality. This phone brings together the best music and video experiences. The W995 comes with HPM-77 headphones – try them and you’ll feel like you are listening to your favourite band live as thought you are in a recording studio! In selected markets the HPM-77 will be replaced by the HPM-88 noise cancelling headset.    

  The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5320 XpressMusic, Nokia 5220 XpressMusic, Nokia N96, Nokia N85 and Nokia N79 with Comes With Music service will first appear in Singapore. Comes With Music is a revolutionary service of discovering and downloading music. You can buy the Nokia Comes With Music-enabled phone and download a great number of tracks from the Nokia Music Store over the course of a year. Comes With Music is already live in the UK on the Nokia N96, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia 5310 XpressMusic, and will be available on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic later this year.  

  The Nokia Music Store in Austria can be found at http://music.nokia.at and in Switzerland at http://music.nokia.ch respectively. The stores have such a big variety of songs and tracks that it seems to be impossible not to find something you are looking for among five million tracks. You can make a purchase via your PC or from optimized Nokia devices such as the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. You will pay 1.00 EUR per track and 10.00 EUR per album at the Australian store. Speaking about the store in Switzerland, a track costs here 1.50 CHF and an album – 15.00 CHF. There are several payment options, including credit cards and pre-paid vouchers.  

  Tired of contemplating your fingerprints on the glossy iPhone 3G? Well, maybe we are going to meet another iPhone model that will be matte. MacRumors.com has got leaked photos of the next generation iPhone 3G. The pictures were presumably made in China, but this information and authenticity of photos has not been confirmed. The photos show the dark and black backside of a 16GB model with the model number A1303. It is also reported that the new smartphone case will be textured for better gripping.  

  The Blue Earth cell phone will be presented at Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona. Blue Earth is a world’s first full touchscreen mobile phone with the solar battery built in the backside. The phone has already contributed to environmental protection as it is made from recycled plastic extracted from water bottles and the process of extraction is not too harmful to the nature. Owners of Blue Earth will like the ‘eco walk' function that turns on the in-built pedometer and counts your steps, calculating the amount of CO2 emissions that has not got into the atmosphere because you are walking and not driving. You will see saved trees on the display – this is your contribution to the nature. The packaging for the phone is also made from recycled paper. Blue Earth comes with energy efficient charger consuming less than 0.03W.    

  At first sight there is nothing special in the Samsung B2100 mobile phone. Well, you just don’t know what to pay attention to. The B2100 phone has a shock-proof casing and withstands sand, dust, and water. The manufacturer claims that the mobile phone can be run over by a car and there will be no consequences after it. The Samsung B2100 mobile phone will be appreciated by those who like to spend time outdoors. Samsung B2100 has the built-in torch, altimeter and pedometer. As for the battery, the phone can work 14 days without the need for a charge.  

  ZTE is going to present 10 devices at the Mobile World Congress. Some of them are: • Windows Mobile-powered VF 1231 developed for Vodafone. It has a single chip for GSM and EDGE; • the “XIANG” series of 3.5G super slim HSDPA/HSUPA handsets; • the e760 (a GSM-based handset for China Mobile); • the D820/D810 (a CDMA-based handset for China Telecom); • the U981, a top-end smartphone deployed by China Mobile.