Mobile World Congress: A Reporter's Notebook

Much of the talk at MWC was about something we didn't see. An expected plethora of new handsets based on Google's Android OS never materialized. HTC's display of its own branded Android prototype didn't impress many since it looked a lot like the only existing Android phone, the HTC-designed T-Mobile G1. And the non-functioning iPhone clone labeled Android at Chinese telecom giant Huawei's booth (shown here) seemed to symbolize the Android fizzle. Vendors such as Samsung still say they're working on an Android phone, however--maybe they'll turn up in April, at CTIA in Las Vegas?

If Android was MIA, Microsoft was very much on hand. CEO Steve Ballmer gave a keynote and also presided over a news conference to introduce Windows Mobile 6.5, the latest version of Microsoft's operating system for handhelds (which Ballmer says should be called Windows phones from now on).

Windows Mobile 6.5 is designed to be touch friendly (read: compete with the iPhone). These screenshots provided by Microsoft show the new lock screen and the new Start screen. Note the honeycomb layout of the icons, a departure from the neat grids on most other handheld menu screens.

Ballmer also announced the Microsoft app store (one of several mobile app emporia slated to arrive in the next few months) and a sync service called My Phone that will be integrated into Windows Mobile 6.5. This shows how images synced from Windows Mobile phones using My Phone will be accessible via the Web.

Ballmer made a brief guest appearance at LG Electronics' news conference, taking a video call over LG's video watch phone (he looked exactly this blurry at the news conference, but it was definitely his voice on the line). Ballmer's presence came as no surprise, since LG will be one of the first handset vendors to introduce a Windows phone running Windows Mobile 6.5.

LG may be shipping a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone, but the star of its show was its Arena handset, which sports LG's new 3D S-Class touch interface. S-Class involves a series of virtual cubes that you spin with your fingertips (sound familiar?). This photo shows people at LG's booth playing with a virtual version of the S-Class interface, which seems like an odd way to promote a phone UI.

At a show where so much was so heavily influenced by Apple, it was odd not to see Apple in attendance. But I did see a booth where a company called Trexta was showing several iPhones--in the service of showing off its iPhone case equivalent of a bikini. Trexta calls these cases the iHug.

Opera Software's booth was mostly about the company's new Opera Turbo compression technology for speeding up loading of Web pages on all Opera browsers. But the booth also had a cool looking dynamic display showing where Opera Mini page requests were originating in real time. It's shown here; the requests are represented by the red splashes.

I'm not sure why Japanese telecom company NTT DoCoMo has adopted mushrooms as their mascot. But they had some cute stuffed versions at their booth.

Samsung's booth featured a colorful exclamation point the size of an adult human, created by banks of OLED display. The snapshot doesn't do credit to the intensity of the colors, but it gives you an idea of the effect.

More from Mobile World Congress:

Image Overview: Sneak-a-Peak at Windows Mobile 6.5

Next-Gen Cell Phone Stars Shine in Barcelona

Modu: A Mobile Phone With Many Faces