Google announced at the Mobile Money: Delivering Innovative Mobile Payment Services panel during Mobile World Congress that Sprint will introduce “at least 10 additional phones” with Google Wallet support in 2012, Fierce Mobile Content reported on Thursday. The Samsung Nexus S 4G is the only smartphone currently offered by the carrier that supports Google’s NFC mobile payment system. Both the Galaxy Nexus and the LG Viper will launch with Wallet support later this year, however, and Osama Bedier, vice president of Google Wallet and Payments, said Google is continuing talks with other carriers, device manufacturers, banks, financial service providers and point-of-sale technology vendors to further extend the company’s Wallet network.

Read

This year’s Mobile World Congress is now behind us. And it was quite a show. Android phones got a bump to four cores, camera phones got a bump to 41 megapixels, and reporters and bloggers were run ragged as the wireless industry gave us a glimpse at the stars of their respective portfolios for the first half of 2012. The highlight of the show for us was definitely Microsoft taking the wraps off its Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and our favorite smartphones introduced at the show were HTC’s ultra-sleek One X and its ultra-slim One S. But Mobile World Congress isn’t all about looking forward, it’s also about looking back at some of the mobile technology that has changed our lives in recent history. With that in mind, the GSMA handed out its Global Mobile Awards for 2012 earlier this week. Read on for more.

A number of top companies received honors at this year’s awards. Nokia’s C3-00 won best feature phone of the year, Apple’s iPad 2 won best mobile tablet, Google Maps for Android was named best consumer mobile service, WhatsApp was named best overall mobile app of the year and Rovio’s Angry Birds Rio was named best mobile app for consumers.

Top honors, however, went to Samsung this year as the South Korea-based consumer electronics giant took home awards for best device manufacturer of the year and for best smartphone thanks to its wildly popular Galaxy S II series of handsets.

“We are pleased to receive this honor from GSMA and believe that it’s a testament to Samsung’s innovation, quality products, and attention to consumer preferences,” Samsung’s mobile boss JK Shin said in response to the awards. “We sold over 97 million smartphones in 2011, demonstrating that this is the right approach.”

The Galaxy S II was undoubtedly an iconic smartphone that sent Samsung’s smartphone business soaring in 2011, but the company is hardly done leading the pack. The world’s top Android vendor is expected to launch its next-generation Galaxy S III smartphone in April and according to an exclusive report from BGR earlier this week, Samsung has no plans to slow down in 2012.

Today is the day you can finally reach out and touch Windows 8. Well, the vast majority of you won’t be able to physically touch it — Windows 8 tablets aren’t yet in the market, but you’re free to download the Consumer Preview on your PC. We spent a bunch of time with a reference version tablet device and were impressed with what we saw — plus this is only the beginning. The download comes in around 3GB and if you don’t feel like jumping on your neighbor’s super speedy unsecured Wi-Fi connection, you could always… take your laptop to an Apple store and use their insanely fast Wi-Fi. Oh, yeah.

Read

The term “entry-level” immediately reduces the appeal of smartphones in markets like the U.S. these days, as flagship phones are typically far more exciting and innovative. Still, it’s notable when a manufacturer goes to some length to differentiate an entry-level line of smartphones, and LG has done just that with its new L series. The L3, L5 and L7 are a new family of devices targeted at budget-conscious consumers that still want a solid Android experience. The L3 has a tiny 3.2-inch screen, an 800MHz processor and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The L5 is slightly more impressive, with a 4-inch screen and Ice Cream Sandwich, and the L7 tops out the line with a 4.3-inch display, a 1Ghz processor and Android 4.0. Check out our hands-on photos of these three new wallet-friendly smartphones in the gallery linked below.

You would think that, given the impressive specs of its new CloudMobile smartphone, Acer would want to place this thing front and center at Mobile World Congress. Think again. For some reason, the company decided to hide its new flagship model within the Google booth. Location aside, the handset’s specs are nothing to scoff at. A 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon chip powers this monster, which sports a 4.3-inch 1,280 x 800-pixel HD screen with a truly incredible range viewing angles, and a really well-engineered tooled metal exterior. The CloudMobile software itself is heavily guarded at the moment, and Acer wouldn’t give us so much as a peek at any screens related to its upcoming cloud service, but company reps assured us that we would be “impressed” when launch time comes around. Let’s hope the software lives up to the promise of the hardware. In the meantime, be sure to check out our hands-on photos, which are linked below.

These three new devices announced by Samsung at Mobile World Congress are each intended to occupy different spaces in the mobile market. The Galaxy Mini 2 is a diminutive little smartphone with pretty unimpressive specs, but it is aimed at the entry-level crowd where it may fare well. The 3.27-inch small handset sports a single-core 800mhz processor, Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread with TouchWiz, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a positively terrible HVGA display. It feels odd to use the word “terrible” when describing a Samsung display, but Samsung cut some corners to keep this phone’s cost down and the display was definitely one of them. Performance in use was lackluster as well, but then again, if you’re in the market for a phone like the Mini 2 you’re probably not very concerned with the latest and greatest. Hit the jump for more.

The Galaxy Ace 2 is the European version of the Blaze 4G and, as such, slots in between the last-generation Galaxy S and the current Galaxy II. A dual-core 800MHz processor powers a TouchWiz-skinned version of Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread, and the WVGA display is far less impressive than the Super AMOLED screens used in other Samsung devices.

Finally, the Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 provides an alternative for those who don’t need a device with embedded cellular connectivity. Sporting Wi-Fi only, the Galaxy WiFi 4.2 has a nice glossy white finish and it is extremely responsive. It’s also just 9 millimeters thick, and the TFT IPS screen is quite beautiful. It only has a 2-megapixel camera though, so you’re not going to be shooting any Leibowitz-grade images with this puppy, but all told it’s a nice entry into the PMP game.

Be sure to check out our hands-on photos of the Samsung Galaxy Mini 2, the Galaxy Ace 2 and the Galaxy S WiFi 4.2, which are linked above.

Samsung has a number of new devices on hand at this year’s Mobile World Congress, and one of them was the Galaxy S Blaze 4G set to launch on T-Mobile later this year. We got a chance to check out the Blaze 4G, and we left relatively unimpressed. To be fair, the Blaze is a lightning-fast smartphone on par with a number of recent additions to Samsung’s Galaxy line, but it’s hard to get excited over a phone that is only a modest upgrade compared to T-Mobile’s current Galaxy S II. The Blaze 4G features a 1.5Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, a 5-megapixel camera and Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread. It’s certainly a solid phone but with HTC’s One S heading to T-Mobile in April and Samsung’s full-HD Galaxy S III on the way as well, T-Mobile subscribers looking for the latest and greatest may want to sit tight and wait another month or so. The Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G launches in March for $149.99 on contract, and our hands-on photos of the handset follow below.

It may seem odd that Microsoft is hosting a media event at the annual Mobile World Congress trade show this year that will focus on its upcoming desktop operating system, but it couldn’t be more appropriate: Windows 8 is a complete acknowledgement from Microsoft that the future is mobile. Mobile doesn’t have to mean limited, however, and the Redmond-based technology giant’s next-generation OS is its first attempt to marry a touch-focused mobile platform with the robust desktop operating system that made the company famous. We saw the Developer Preview of Windows 8 several months ago, and now it’s finally time to see how much progress Microsoft has made since then.

Bookmark this link, which will go live shortly before the event begins tomorrow morning, and make sure to head there for our live coverage of Microsoft’s press conference! Coverage will begin just before 9:00 a.m. EST / 6:00 a.m. PST (3:00 p.m. local time in Barcelona).

To say that the past 12 months have been a bit rocky for RIM and the Blackberry eco-system in general would be grossly understating the obvious. The once great manufacturer has seen record capitol losses and watched its market share slide at an increasing rate. One of several reasons for the slip has been a lack of developers attention for the BlackBerry platform, especially relative to competitors such as iOS and Android. The Blackberry Playbook, RIM’s attempt at entering the tablet world, has floundered for just this reason. Ignoring the myriad other concerns about the company’s current state for the current moment, the lack of apps available for the PlayBook rendered it more or less DOA. Read on for more.

As just one of its many attempts to plug a hole (or 20) in a sinking ship, RIM put together a small panel today at Mobile World Congress to outline some of its plans for both the upcoming BlackBerry OS 10 in general and, more specifically, future plans to reinforce and improve the PlayBook itself.

The company spoke specifically about its excitement over Cascades, the TAT-built development GUI for OS 10, and it noted that many developers are currently being included in conversations about specific plans for the next-gen operating system. While we didn’t hear many specific promises with regard to improvements or OS evolution, RIM does seem committed to listening to its user base as the company presses forward.

Gaming and social features will, of course, remain paramount, and RIM plans to enhance existing staples such as BBM with a more robust feature set. For example, BMM will soon include a “share page,” allowing users to share a page of an eBooks with a connected BBM friend. Social reading, if you will. A cool touch, but nothing terribly revolutionary. As we said, however, this is just one example of how RIM is trying to re-embrace social.

All told, we certainly didn’t see anything that screamed “RIM is saved!” but we are comforted a bit by the company’s seemingly genuine understanding of its mistakes, a willingness to acknowledge errors, and a desire to improve relations with both consumers and, most importantly, developers. This latter point is crucial, as the potential extinction of the BlackBerry brand has scared off developers wary of pouring time into programming complex apps for an eco-system that may or may not still be around in 12 months.

The message from RIM seems to be this: be patient with us and we will reward you with a stable, well supported, and complex platform to showcase your apps. Great message, but as always, implementation and follow through is the challenge. Will RIM rise to the occasion? That remains to be seen.

Samsung on Monday admitted that it has failed to gain ground in the tablet market while Apple’s iPad continues to proliferate at an increasing pace. Speaking with reporters at Mobile World Congress, a Samsung product strategy executive stated plainly that Samsung has a lot of work to do if it hopes to gain ground with its tablet portfolio. “Honestly, we’re not doing very well in the tablet market,” Samsung’s Hankil Yoon said, according to CNET. Read on for more.

Yoon seemed confident that Samsung’s new Galaxy Note would be a huge hit — he said he believes Samsung will ship 10 million 5-inch Notes — but despite its supersized stature, the Galaxy Note is still a smartphone. The executive also thinks the larger Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet will be a success, and he says original Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners will upgrade to the Note.

“The best thing to survive in the market is to kill your products,” Yoon told CNET. “We want to stay competitive in the market.” The only problem, however, is that the Galaxy Note 10.1 isn’t really a Tab 10.1 killer. It’s basically a Galaxy Tab 10.1 with a faster processor and an S Pen.

We were fans of Samsung’s S Pen stylus when we reviewed the original Galaxy Note, and the technology is even better suited for a full-sized tablet like the Note 10.1. The S Pen itself might not be a big enough draw for the mass market, however, and the Note tablet doesn’t have much in the way of innovation to offer users beyond its stylus technology.

Samsung also announced its Galaxy Tab 10.1 sequel from Mobile World Congress this week, the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1), and we were not impressed with that slate either. The updated version of the original Tab 10.1 is hardly worthy of the term “update,” and it even moves backward in some respects.

It’s good to know that Samsung recognizes that it has some serious work to do if it hopes to truly compete in the tablet space, but we don’t view its device announcements this week as a good start. Samsung still has a surprise up its sleeve, however, and we’re hoping it can manage some substantial specification and design updates to support what should be an amazing display in its upcoming flagship tablet.

Huawei is making quite a splash at this year’s Mobile World Congress. The company announced one quad-core handset — the Ascend D quad, which is built on the company’s proprietary in-house processor platform — in addition to a dual-core TI OMAP-based device, the Ascend D1. We got a chance to play with both models and, especially in the case of the D quad, we left quite impressed. These things move fast. Really fast. What’s more, these handsets mark Huawei’s entry into the chip making game, and place the company in direct competition with other smartphone vendors that moonlight as chip makers, like Samsung and Apple. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming year. That said, the handsets themselves will be the stars of Huawei’s lineup for at least the first half of 2012. The D quad sports 8GB of on-board storage, 1 GB of RAM, Android 4.0, Huawei’s 1.2Ghz quad-core chip, a 4.5-inch display and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The Ascend D1 is externally identical to the D quad, but it will hit a much lower price point thanks largely to its 1.2Ghz dual-core chip, which replaces the D quad’s quad-core processor. Check out our hands-on shots in the gallery below.

Intel on Monday detailed a number new products and partnerships during the company’s Mobile World Congress press event. “We are very pleased to add new, important customers and capabilities to our phone offerings today. We remain focused on delivering exciting new features and outstanding performance to smartphone customers around the world.” said Intel CEO Paul Otellini. UK service provider Orange will launch an Atom-powered smartphone based on the Z2460 reference design. The device will feature a sleek body that will enable “rich entertainment experiences [to] Orange services, including Orange TV, Daily Motion, Deezer, Orange Wednesdays and Orange Gestures.” The handset is scheduled for a late summer launch and will be available in the United Kingdom and France. Read on for more.

Intel has partnered with Lava International to offer smartphones in India. Like Orange’s device, the XOLO X900 is based on Intel’s reference design and will be the first Atom-powered smartphone to reach the Indian market. The device will be available in the second quarter and will support major Indian cellular networks. In an agreement similar to the previously announced partnership with Motorola, Intel also announced a multi-year partnership for smartphones and tablets with ZTE. The Chinese manufacturer’s first Intel-powered device is scheduled to debut in the second half of 2012.

In addition to Intel’s Atom Z2460 “Medfield” processor, the company announced the Atom Z2580 CPU that will feature an advanced multi-mode LTE/3G/2G solution and will double the performance of the Z2640. To address the growing low-end market, Intel revealed plans for the Atom Z2000 processor as well. The company will begin testing both chipsets in the second half of 2012, with consumer products carrying the Z2580 and Z2000 expected to launch in first half of 2013.

Lastly, Intel has entered into a multi-year alliance with Visa to “develop mobile commerce solutions tailored to consumers in developed and developing countries.” Intel’s smartphone reference design has been named the first handset to be certified for Visa payWave mobile payment system.

Intel Expands Smartphone Portfolio: New Customers, Products, Software and Services

Announces Smartphone Device Engagements with Orange*, Lava*, ZTE* and Visa*

Discloses Range of New Smartphone SoCs and Communications Products

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS, Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 27, 2012 – Intel Corporation President and CEO Paul Otellini today detailed a number of announcements and plans aimed at expanding the company’s smartphone product portfolio and customer ecosystem, including strategic new engagements with Orange*, Lava International Ltd.*, ZTE*, and Visa*.

“We are very pleased to add new, important customers and capabilities to our phone offerings today. We remain focused on delivering exciting new features and outstanding performance to smartphone customers around the world.” said Otellini.

Otellini made the announcements during an Intel news conference at Mobile World Congress. He also highlighted the company’s plans to expand its smartphone SoC and communications product roadmaps for the performance and value smartphone market segments.

New Smartphone Customer Engagements
Building on strategic engagements with Motorola Mobility Inc.* and Lenovo*, Intel detailed new device relationships with Orange, Lava International Ltd. and ZTE.

Yves Maitre, Orange senior vice president of Mobile Multimedia and Devices, joined Otellini to discuss a new Orange smartphone based on the Intel® Atom™ processor Z2460 reference design. Housed in a sleek body, the design enables rich entertainment experiences and Orange services, including Orange TV, Daily Motion, Deezer, Orange Wednesdays and Orange Gestures. The Orange smartphone will be available in the United Kingdom and France later this summer.

Intel also announced plans to enter the high-growth market for smartphones in India through an alliance with Lava International Ltd., one of the fastest-growing Indian mobile handset companies.Vishal Sehgal, Lava co-founder and board director, announced the launch of XOLO Smartphone by Lava. The XOLO X900 is based on Intel’s smartphone reference design and will be the first Intel technology-based smartphone in the India market. The device will be available from top retail outlets early in the second quarter of 2012 and will support major Indian cellular networks.

Similar to its previously announced partnership with Motorola Mobility, Intel also announced a multi-year mobile device collaboration across smartphones and tablets with global handset maker ZTE. Mr. He Shiyou, executive vice president and head of the Terminal Division of ZTE, discussed how his company’s alliance with Intel will enable ZTE to move faster and create unique and differentiated products for wireless operators. He also announced that ZTE’s first Intel-powered mobile device is scheduled to debut in the second half of 2012.

Expanding Smartphone SoC and Communications Roadmaps
Building on its ecosystem engagements, Intel announced plans for three new smartphone SoC products that expand the company’s portfolio from the performance-to-value market segments.

Extending the leading performance and energy efficiency of the Intel™ Atom® processor Z2460, formerly codenamed “Medfield,” Intel announced that the platform will now support speeds up to 2GHz.

Intel also announced the Atom™ Z2580 processor that doubles the performance of the Atom processor Z2460, and features an advanced multimode LTE/3G/2G solution. Intel will sample the Z2580 in the second half of the year with customer products scheduled in the first half of 2013.

Addressing the growing handset opportunity in emerging markets where consumers look for more value at lower prices, Intel disclosed plans for the Intel® Atom™ processor Z2000.

The Z2000 is aimed squarely at the value smartphone market segment, which industry sources predict could reach up to 500 million units by 20151.The platform includes a 1.0 GHz Atom CPU offering great graphics and video performance, and the ability to access the Web and play Google Android* games. It also supports the Intel® XMM 6265 3G HSPA+ modem with Dual-SIM 2G/3G, offering flexibility on data/voice calling plans to save on costs. Intel will sample the Z2000 in mid-2012 with customer products scheduled by early 2013.

Building on these 32nm announcements, Otellini discussed how the Atom™ processor will outpace Moore’s Law and announced that Intel will ship 22nm SoCs for carrier certification next year, and is already in development on 14nm SoC technology.

In 2011, Intel shipped in more than 400 million cellular platforms. Building on this market segment position, Intel announced the XMM 7160, an advanced multimode LTE/3G/2G platform with support for 100Mbps downlink and 50Mbps uplink, and support for HSPA+ 42Mbps. Intel will sample the product in the second quarter with customer designs scheduled to launch by the end of 2012.

Intel also announced that it is sampling the XMM 6360 platform, a new slim modem 3G HSPA+ solution supporting 42Mbps downlink and 11.5Mbps uplink for small form factors.

Building Better Experiences on Intel Architecture
Intel’s strategy is to create and enable engaging, consistent, aware and secure user experiences across a range of mobile devices.

An emerging trend is the use of mobile devices to enable secure online and retail commerce. Otellini welcomed John Partridge, President, Visa Inc., who announced a strategic multi-year alliance to develop mobile commerce solutions tailored to consumers in developed and developing countries.

The effort includes collaboration across a range of Visa mobile services and Intel® Atom™-based smartphones and tablets to deliver compelling and secure user services. As a first step, Partridge announced that Intel’s smartphone reference design is now certified for Visa payWave* mobile financial transactions. This means that customer products based on Intel’s smartphone reference design will have time-to-market support of Visa mobile services.

Building on its collaboration with Google, Intel continues to work closely with ISVs to help ensure the majority of Android apps run on Intel Atom processor-based devices. Otellini discussed how Intel has all the right tools and expertise to support the robust mobile application developer ecosystem.

ViewSonic is doing its best to make splash here at Mobile World Congress with a number of tablet-related announcements. In addition to specific hardware launches, the company has also made some significant inroads with running Windows 7 Pro on its slates, mainly as proof of concept in anticipation of the upcoming Windows 8 launch. We liked a lot of what we saw but the P100, running both Android 2.3 and Windows 7 (theoretically upgradeable to both Ice Cream Sandwich and Windows 8) was the undisputed star of the show for ViewSonic. This dual-booting beast separates the two operating systems by way of a disc partition, and it seems to run both platforms at lightening speed. Check out our gallery below for hands-on images of the entire ViewSonic tablet line including the P100, the E10 Pro, the E70, the E100 and the G70, and stay tuned to see what ViewSonic brings to the table once Windows 8 launches later this year.

HTC made no mention of Windows Phone during the company’s Mobile World Congress 2012 press conference on Sunday, instead focusing on its Android-powered “One” smartphones. HTC most certainly has not given up on the emerging platform, however —the vendor’s chief product officer Kouji Kodera has confirmed that the company plans to launch a new Windows Phone once Microsoft releases the “Apollo” operating system update, reports Pocket-Lint. “For Windows Phone we haven’t decided on the branding yet, but you will see a new range of Windows Phones from us when Microsoft release their new Apollo operating system,” said Kodera. HTC was previously a big player in the Windows Phone platform, however the company has has slowed things down recently while Nokia’s Lumia phones have gained ground.

Read

Corning announced on Monday that the first shipments of Gorilla Glass 2 have been sent to the company’s partners. Corning’s second-generation of Gorilla Glass is 20% thinner than the original without sacrificing performance or strength. “Corning’s new glass composition, Gorilla Glass 2, enables slimmer and sleeker devices, brighter images, and greater touch sensitivity, providing an ideal solution for the newest, most sophisticated smartphones, tablets, and personal computers,” Corning’s global director of marketing and commercial operations, David R. Velasquez said. The company expects the first Gorilla Glass 2-equipped devices to be available in April or May. Corning Gorilla Glass is used by more than 30 major brands and has been featured in more than 600 product models, spanning over 600 million units worldwide. Read on for the company’s press release.

Corning Delivering Corning® Gorilla® Glass 2 for Next Generation Consumer Electronic Devices

CORNING, N.Y., February 27, 2012 – Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) today announced the first shipments of Corning® Gorilla® Glass 2 to key device makers who plan to utilize the glass in new consumer electronics devices planned for release in 2012.

“Corning’s new glass composition, Gorilla Glass 2, enables slimmer and sleeker devices, brighter images, and greater touch sensitivity, providing an ideal solution for the newest, most sophisticated smartphones, tablets, and personal computers,” said David R. Velasquez, global director, Marketing and Commercial Operations, Corning® Gorilla® Glass.“

Since we launched Gorilla Glass 2 just last month at CES, we’ve qualified the glass with more than half of our current customers, and have shipped our first orders to customers who plan to start production and release product in the first quarter this year.”

Corning Gorilla Glass 2 is the next generation of the widely accepted damage-resistant cover glass for consumer electronic devices, enabling up to 20% reduction in cover glass thickness without sacrificing the performance consumers have come to expect from the world’s most widely deployed strengthened cover glass.

Introduced in 2007, Corning Gorilla Glass set the industry standard for damage-resistant cover glass. Today it is the most widely deployed cover glass, used by more than 30 major brands and has been designed into more than 600 product models, spanning over 600 million units worldwide.

Corning will demonstrate the new glass performance at the Pepcom event, MobileFocus Global, on Feb. 27, in Barcelona, Spain.