GPS is Social Network at Mobile World Congress
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Many new services put the emphasis on finding your friends, not finding your way, as GPS evolves into a social tool.
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By Andrew Murray-Watson There was deja vu in the air at 3GSM, the annual get-together for the global mobile phone industry. The event in Barcelona is used by mobile executives to discuss the future of their sector and to unveil new products and services.
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There&#39;s something to interest almost everyone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week:For the lostGPS is built in to an increasing number of mobile phones. Nokia is still the most aggressive vendor. This year it plans to sell 35 million phones with GPS. The Finnish phone giant is not alone: its competitors are also embracing navigation, so don&#39;t be surprised if in a few years GPS is as common in phones as cameras are today.Trendsetters: HTC P3470 and Samsung G810For shutterbugsPhone makers also continue to develop cameras. Among the features that popped up during this year&#39;s show are face-detection, image stabilization and the ability to take better pictures in the dark. Phone cameras with a 5-megapixel resolution are also becoming more common, although you still only get a digital zoom.Trendsetters: Sony Ericsson C902 and Samsung F480For LinuxApple isn&#39;t the only company redrawing the mobile phone map. Linux is nothing new in mobile phones, but the launch of Google&#39;s Android has given it a lot of extra attention. On the show floor several chip manufacturers&#160;showed prototypes. The first real phones should be ready before the end of the year. One benefit with Android is the reduction in the time it takes to develop a new phone, according to Texas Instruments.Trendsetters: ARM and Texas InstrumentsFor cineastsIf the mobile phone makers are to be believed, we should also use our next phone to watch movies. Two things that get us there: bigger screens in a widescreen format and larger storage capacity.Trendsetters:&#160;Nokia N96&#160;and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1For globetrottersGeotagging is a feature that combines built-in support for navigation and photography. When you take a picture your location is also saved. Then you can overlay that information on services like Google Maps, and see where you&#39;ve been.Trendsetters: Sony Ericsson C702 and Nokia 6220 ClassicFor CIOsWith Sony Ericsson on board, four out of five of the biggest phone makers have phones based on Microsoft&#39;s Windows Mobile operating system. The last holdout is Nokia and it still has no plans. One interesting thing about a few of the Windows Mobile phones launched at the Mobile World Congress is that they fit just as well at home as at work.Trendsetters: Samsung i200 and LG KS20For speed freaksPhones with support for HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) are arriving at a steady pace. A few phones now support 7.2Mbps&#160;-- but to get the most out of that bandwidth you need a laptop. A few phones also support HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access), an abbreviation that in the real world means faster upload speeds.Trendsetters: Toshiba Portege G810 and LG KF700For speed freaks IITo get more bandwidth to your phone you can also use Wi-Fi. Support for this technology is also becoming more common. One of the advantages with Wi-Fi is that you can sometime sbrowse the Internet for free. Good luck doing that on a mobile network.Trendsetters: Motorola Moto Z6w and Sony Ericsson G900For your carSo how do you listen to your MP3 player without using headphones? One solution is to use the FM transmitter integrated in some new phones, and listen on your car radio. A small step for technology, but a big one for usability according to Nokia.Trendsetters: Nokia N78 and Sony Ericsson W980For the touchyTouch-based user interfaces are fast becoming the norm in mobile phones -- although buttons will still not disappear. The goal is, if all goes well, to make phones easier to use. Only the imagination of the phone makers limits what can be done.Trendsetters: HTC Advantage and&#160;Samsung Soul
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Technology that can converge different wireless gadgets into a single device is discussed at a conference.
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Open-source Linux is coming of age for mobile phones. While Google's Android platform has attracted attention at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain, so has LiMo, another Linux-based platform.
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The most established names in telecoms, Internet and media will come together next week in Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress, one of the world's biggest events for the mobile phone industry.
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New name, same old show The 3GSM World Congress has renamed itself the Mobile World Show, hoping to attract a more sexy media crowd than the middle-aged telecoms executives who usually frequent the place.â¦
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Users of social network sites like Facebook will soon be sharing their exact whereabouts with their friends in real-time, owing to new technology that uses the mobile phone as a tracking device, experts say.
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Users of Google Calendar can now access their schedules from their mobile phones.
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Nokia is making a compelling presentation at the Mobile World Congress today in Barcelona, Spain, unveiling the progeny of its high-end N95, as well as the beta of its new mapping system, and launching Share on Ovi, an integrated media-sharing site.
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When users log onto Google Calendar from their Web-capable mobile phone, they see appointments with date, time, location and description.
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Wireless companies are rolling out new GPS services for employers that can track the physical location of mobile workers.
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Wireless industry players arrive en masse in Barcelona to attend the four-day Mobile World Congress, which gets underway Monday. Mobile broadband is expected to be the hot topic at this year's wireless conference.
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FRANKFURT/LONDON  - British chip designer ARM   will show a prototype mobile phone based on Google's   Android platform next Monday at the Mobile World  Congress wireless show in Barcelona, a source close to the  company said on Thursday.
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InfoWorld - The phone many exhibitors and attendees are talking about won&#39;t even be on display at next week&#39;s 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, the year&#39;s largest mobile industry exhibition.
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The Mobile World Congress, underway February 11-14 in Barcelona, Spain, puts the spotlight on mobile broadband gear, services, software, and strategies. Read CNET's full coverage here.
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TechWeb - A market research company's survey found 24% want GPS on their next cell phone, while 19% want Internet access.