14 DAY TRIAL // The first week of March has come and gone, bringing forth a series of new announcements in the mobile area, along with software releases, leaked info and photos and more. Mobile phone makers and wireless carrier are preparing the launch of fresh mobile phones that were officially announced during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month, yet some novelties also emerged on the market, such as Nokia's new C5 handset, the first in the just introduced Cseries from the Finnish handset vendor.
During this week, Nokia has had its Nokia X6 16GB mobile phone launched on the market in the UK via wireless carrier 3, and via Vodafone, and also announced the launch of Nokia 5230 Nuron, which will arrive at T-Mobile USA soon. Users of a Nokia handset can also enjoy an updated Gig Finer app from the Nokia Beta Labs, an Ovi Mail 2.0 with Ovi Contacts integration, as well as a Skype for Symbian app included now in the Ovi Store (something that O2 UK disapproves), along with the Qik Premium software solution.
Sunnyvale-based mobile phone maker Palm has made it to the headlines a few times during this week, as it delivered the webOS 1.4 operating system to more users out there, including those owning a Pre Plus or Pixi Plus on Verizon Wireless. There are a great deal of enhancements the software solution comes around with, including the possibility to change the default search engine of the handsets from Google to Bing. Moreover, Palm released the webOS 1.4.0 Doctor for its users, as well as the webOS SDK 1.4.
The outing of these software updates was meant to enhance the experience users receive from Palm's webOS-based devices, especially at a time when sales do not go as well as planned. However, the company resumed the manufacturing of both phones in China, and Verizon Wireless customers are able to purchase them without the mail-in rebate initially put in place for them. Palm needs to attract users on its side so as to regain its foothold on the market, and some even suggested that it might deliver a WiMAX phone for Sprint, yet this remains only in the rumor side for the time being.
The first Windows Phone 7 Series device was unveiled during this week, an LG mobile phone, and we also learned that no Windows Mobile-based devices would be upgradeable to Windows Phone 7 OS. However, Windows Mobile users can install a leaked Windows Phone 7 Series UI on their devices, though developers will need to rewrite their applications for the new mobile platform, with full details on the matter expected to be unveiled during the MIX10 conference in mid-March. Microsoft also announced that it would continue the development of Windows Mobile 6.5.
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini has been spotted in a video hands-on this week, while Motorola DROID was spotted with HTC Sense on board via a ported ROM. We also spotted new photos of HTC Incredible for Verizon, as well as some images with T-Mobile's Motorola CLIQ XT, along with an unboxing video for AT&T's Motorola Backflip. At the same time, we learned that Vodafone UK should soon launch the HTC Legend on its airwaves, while discontinuing sales of HTC Magic, that Sony Ericsson Satio is set to soon receive a software update, and that Firefox for Android was seen on Nexus One and DROID.
Among the other pieces of news that might be of interest, we can count the fact that T-Mobile USA has replaced Yahoo search with Google, that the carrier might launch HTC HD2 in mid-March, and that price tags and release dates of soon to be launched handsets for T-Mobile leaked into the wild. Android users can enjoy a HootSuite app on their devices, Adobe has detailed what Flash Player 10.1 installation and updates are all about, Motorola announced plans to out three new Android phones in Canada, while Apple sued HTC for patent infringement, while targeting only the company's Android handsets with the complaint.
