Best of MWC 2010 - Most Anticipated Mobiles

The Mobile World Congress that was recently held in Barcelona had all of our favorite mobile manufacturers show off their latest wares. There’s a lot of good stuff coming our way this year in all shapes and sizes. 2010 looks like a great year for mobile technology. Out of the wide range of devices showcased, here are the ones we’re most eager to see hit the Indian shelves this year.

Samsung I8520 Beam

To settle things once and for all, Samsung’s Android (v2.1 Éclair) DLP Pico Projector mobile phone is called the Beam now although it was previously dubbed the Halo. It may be large but who cares, it’s got a projector on board. Not only does it project whatever’s currently visible on your handset’s display, you can also use the camera to project whatever’s underneath the device. The biggest enhancement for the projector is the fact that the handset is equipped to read DivX and XviD file formats for video. It’s a matter of dragging and dropping files for instant playback on a large screen. The main display is scratch resistant and the UI supports multi-touch functionality. Another interesting detail about the display is its Super AMOLED resolution that’s designed to really make colors pop. To run all of this, Samsung has loaded the I8520 with an 800 MHz Processor.

The I8520 Pico Projector Phone also has quite a few more goodies to offer which include

• 3.7-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display with a 480 x 800 pixel resolution
• 3G (with HSDPA and HSUPA), EDGE/GPRS
• Wi-Fi (with DLNA Support), Bluetooth v2.1, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS and support for Google Maps with Geotagging for the camera
• 8 Megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash
• Stereo FM radio
• 3.5mm handsfree socket
• MicroSD card support
• DivX and XviD video codec support, Samsung’s DNSe for enhanced audio

HTC Legend

The Android OS has been gaining ground at a very steady pace and HTC’s custom UI, Sense, has also made quite a bit of progress offering quite a bit more with multi-touch capability. The Legend, their newest Android device runs on v2.1 (also called Éclair) and looks exquisite in its aluminum (single block) casing. It‘s like a perfect balance of style, class and functionality as it incorporates a 600MHz CPU and a HTC Optical Trackball system for navigation. HTC has also designed the phone with their signature ‘chin’ styling.

The Legend also features -

• 3.2-inch AMOLED multi-touch touchscreen display with a 320 x 480 pixel resolution and 16 million colors
• 3G (with HSDPA and HSUPA), EDGE/GPRS
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v2.1, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS and support for Google Maps with Geotagging for the camera
• 5 Megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash
• Stereo FM radio
• 3.5mm handsfree socket
• MicroSD card support

Sagem Puma Phone

Sagem may not be an entirely popular brand for the average mobile customer although at one time their Bleu range was very prominent in the country. The French manufacturer now sticks to designing handsets that fit into the premium luxury class like the two Porsche mobiles and now they’ve revealed a new handset for apparel designer Puma. This simple yet funky looking touchscreen handset comes with a customized UI that looks very simple and easy to use. It’s built for the sporty lot and incorporates plenty of features to keep them happy. Some of those features include a speedometer for when you’re cycling. There’s even a music player that’s designed to look like a DJ’s turn-table and even works as a scratch pad for music. It also has a solar panel at the back for charging.

Other features the Puma comes with include -

• 2.8-inch TFT touchscreen display with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution
• 3G (with HSDPA and HSUPA), EDGE/GPRS
• Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS support, Geotagging for the camera
• 3.2 Megapixel camera with LED flash
• Stereo FM radio
• 3.5mm handsfree socket
• MicroSD card support

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro

SE’s Xperia X10 is already on my list of most anticipated lists this year. It’s another Android powered device that has recently spawned ‘offspring’ – the X10 mini and The Mini Pro. The Mini is just a smaller version of the X10 but Mini Pro is that plus a slide out QWERTY adding a little more functionality. With dimensions of 90 x 52 x 17 mm it’s a small palm sized handset which could be serious trouble for Samsung’s Corby Pro. Running on an Android v1.6 OS, SE has infused their new Timescape UI into the Mini Pro. The new UI is designed to make all forms of mobile access extremely finger friendly.

The Mini Pro also comes with -

• 2.5-inch touchscreen display with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution
• 3G (with HSDPA and HSUPA), EDGE/GPRS
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v2.1, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS and support for Google Maps with Geotagging for the camera
• 5 Megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash
• Stereo FM radio
• 3.5mm handsfree socket
• MicroSD card support

Windows Mobile 7 Handset

Although there’s been no word on the actual handset itself, I’m looking forward to the latest version of the Windows Mobile operating system, namely version 7. The preliminary layout of the OS looks really good and shows tremendous promise. Microsoft themselves have stated that they’ve decided to start from scratch with this new version and that’s a great idea. Previous versions, although feature rich, were a little drab and mostly dependent on the use of a resistive touchscreen and a stylus. All that changed when the HTC HD came along. But version 7 promises to be more finger friendly and the handset’s ‘divorce’ from the stylus is one scenario I’m really looking forward to.

The latest news from the Microsoft camp is that their handset is expected sometime in 2011 and Asus will be the ones designing and building it. That’s a long wait but it’s just the beginning of the year and a lot can change, I’m hoping.

There’s no word when any of these handsets will hit the Indian market officially, but  have a feeling they just might be worth the wait.

Source: Tech2