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• The phones of MWC: HTC

  March 1, 2012 @ 9:48 pm | by Ciara O'Brien

  HTC’s big announcement at Mobile World Congress was the HTC One family. The new range of phones come with Android’s latest version, Ice Cream Sandwich, and the new version of HTC’s  Sense interface.

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• That awkward moment when…

  February 28, 2012 @ 10:15 pm | by Ciara O'Brien

  Microsoft is continuing its Windows Phone face-off at Mobile World Congress. If you haven’t heard of it before, Microsoft offers €100 to anyone whose smartphone can beat Windows Phone in certain tasks.

  The challenger picks the task and they do it live in front of an audience.

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• Mobile World Congress 2012

  February 27, 2012 @ 7:48 am | by Ciara O'Brien

  It’s that time of year again. Mobile World Congress is kicking off this morning in Barcelona for what looks likely to be an interesting few days.

  

  We’ve already seen some decent announcements. Chinese mobile firm Huawei is touting what it claims is the world’s fastest phone, the quad core Ascend D, while LG is also showing a new quad core Optimus. More on these later, with some photos.

  Telefonica Digital, meanwhile, has just announced a partnership with Mozilla to develop new smartphones on an open platform based on HTML5. At the moment, many apps already use HTML5 features, but the new platform will give it access to core phone APIs. Messaging, web browsing, media players, games etc will all be developed as HTML 5 apps.

  The good news? Cheaper smartphones because the open platform has lower hardware requirements. Good for markets where smartphones haven’t taken off due to the high cost of the handsets.

  Also, it means that users have a truly open platform. So it’s easier for developers to deploy their applications And reach a wider audience.

  There’ll be many ways to access to apps, but there will also be an official marketplace for apps.

• 3 Ireland and the Cydia block

  February 14, 2011 @ 8:10 am | by Ciara O'Brien

  Yesterday, it emerged through Twitter (via @stroughtonsmith on my own feed, and others) that Cydia was being blocked from being accessed on 3 Ireland and 3 UK’s network.

  Why? Well, I asked. And given that you can only fit 140 characters on Twitter, here’s the full response from 3 Ireland.

  “3 was not aware that Cydia was being blocked and the fact that it is being blocked is an error. It is due to the 3rd party internet filtering system we use called Bluecoat. Bluecoat is used to block sites of an adult nature.

  “We are now working on getting the Cydia servers unblocked and this should be done as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers.”

  Anything else while we’re at it?

  UPDATE: Cydia should be unblocked now, Redsn0w has also been flagged.

• MWC: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy S II

  @ 6:57 am | by Ciara O'Brien

  For a long time, critics of the Tab have said the device is too small, especially compared with the iPhones screen real estate. Last night in Barcelona, Samsung took that argument away, unveiling their new 10.1-inch device.

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• Mobile World Congress

  February 13, 2011 @ 11:06 pm | by Ciara O'Brien

  It’s that time of year again – Mobile World Congress, Barcelona. For the next few days, I’ll be here, playing with mobile phones, tablets and seeing what new gadgets and accessories are around.

  As it is every year, there should be a mix of useful gadgets, interesting announcements and downright weird things.

  Aside from writing about it here (and in the paper) I’ll also be updating and putting photos up on Twitter (@ciaraobrien).

• ‘Don’t roll your eyes at me…’

  February 15, 2010 @ 11:14 pm | by Ciara O'Brien

  There’s always a few weird and wonderful products at these things. My favourite this year was the eye controlled headphones at NTT Docomo’s stand.

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• MWC: Nokia and Intel team up, create MeeGo

  @ 11:19 am | by Ciara O'Brien

  Nokia and Intel announced today that they would team up to create a joint platform that can be rolled out across a range of devices, from mobiles and netbooks to TV systems and ‘infotainment’ platforms in cars.

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• MWC: Opera unveiled for iPhone

  February 14, 2010 @ 11:29 pm | by Ciara O'Brien

  There might be a bit of competition for Safari on the iPhone. Today, Opera demonstrated its iPhone browser at Mobile World Congress’ Showstoppers event.

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• Mobile World Congress kicks off

  @ 11:11 pm | by Ciara O'Brien

  At this moment in time I am sitting in a hotel room in Barcelona. My plans for actually getting out and exploring the city a little today are in ruins for two reasons: it’s colder than it is at home right now; and I’m shattered from an early morning flight to make the Showstoppers event ahead of Mobile World Congress.

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