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One of the cool (and painful) things about GSMA Mobile World Congress is that you get to see some of the best mobile devices available around the world. I say painful because often these products aren't available in the United States and probably never will be, unless you find them online and buy them unlocked for a hefty price.

If you're a glutton for punishment or just plain curious, then take a look at these international Windows Mobile smartphones that I saw while touring the Microsoft booth.

At the ginormous 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, this week, dozens of new devices and wireless services made their debut, many of which are already garnering a ton of buzz.

Though many of the hot new handsets won't be available for a while, it's never too early to make a wish list. And while you're waiting around for the phone of your dreams to appear, let us know which of the most-discussed stories from the Mobile World Congress got your bell ringing. If we've neglected to give one of your top picks as … Read more

BARCELONA--So what's a big CDMA operator like Verizon Wireless doing at a conference hosted by the GSM Association?

Well, it looks like the old technology wars that divided the wireless industry are being laid to rest as operators begin marching toward building the next-generation 4G networks. While there are still technology debates, most of the world's mobile operators, including nearly every GSM provider, are planning to use the same technology to build their 4G networks.

This is a very big deal for the wireless industry, which has suffered from infighting and technology incompatibilities over the years.

As one … Read more

Since I can read United Airline's in-flight magazine only so many times on a 10-hour flight between San Francisco and Frankfurt, Germany, I took a few minutes to leaf through the ubiquitous Skymall catalog as well.

Normally, for every one thing I would consider buying in Skymall, I find 20 completely useless things (seriously...who really wants to make a bulletin board out of wine corks?). But this issue of the catalog had the fancy Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 on its cover.

As you may recall, the touch-screen smartphone debuted at the 2008 GSMA World Congress. And even as … Read more

As we wrap up our coverage of the GSMA World Congress and prepare to head home to San Francisco and New York City, we invite you to take a look at sights from the show floor in Barcelona. Indeed, GSMA is a massive, frenetic show that spreads over eight buildings and several outdoor pavilions. At first, it can be overwhelming and difficult to find your way about, but you learn quickly which areas of the show are worth visiting. Our GSMA show floor photo gallery gives you a guided tour, from the show grounds to the company's booths to … Read more

This week, at the GSMA Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, LG Electronics announced the launch of its new Netbook, following on the heels of the LG-X110 Netbook released last year.

Offering an integrated 3G HSPA connection and a 160GB hard drive, the LG-X120 appears to be a worthy contender in the Netbook market.

LG includes what the company refers to as a "Smart-On" interface, which basically allows the user to access the most frequently used programs just a few seconds after hitting the power button, without waiting for the operating system to completely load on the desktop. … Read more

The GMSA Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona could have been a great place for Google to demonstrate progress establishing Android in the industry, but instead the open-source operating system showed only a slightly larger toehold.

Google has high hopes for Android, which the company launched in an effort to spur smartphone development, mobile use of the Web, and new search advertising. Although Android certainly isn't vaporware, and Google's clout makes the effort a serious challenge to other operating systems, so far Android's potential exceeds its real-world presence.

The biggest Android news from the show was the debut of the HTC Magic. This new Android model is the second Android model from the Taiwanese company; the first, HTC's Dream, is better known as the T-Mobile G1. … Read more

At the GSMA World Congress here in Barcelona, there's a lot more to see than just the brand new cell phones. We also relish the chance to check out models that are rather rare in the United States.

Take the Nokia 5630 Xpress Music, for example. As one of Nokia's newest Xpress Music phones, it hasn't made much of a stateside appearance. So when we spied it sitting next to the new Nokia E75, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to give it a test drive and capture it on video.

Its thin candy bar design … Read more

Showing that its Web application priorities extend to the mobile world, Google on Wednesday demonstrated a version of Gmail for the iPhone that could be used even when the phone had no network connection.

Vic Gundotra, Google's vice president of engineering, showed off at the 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona what he called a "technical concept" of Gmail even when the iPhone was offline. In January, Google released an offline version of Gmail for desktops and laptops, and like it, the mobile phone incarnation runs in a Web browser, not as a native application.

The software let Gundotra browse and read e-mail even after he switched the phone into airplane mode, which shuts off the wireless network. To watch a demonstration, check the demo video on iPhone Buzz.

Offline applications can't of course retrieve new data from the network, but they do synchronize when network access is restored. Meanwhile, e-mail is stored in a local database on the phone, even when online.

"You'll note that it's very, very fast because it's using that local database," Gundotra said. The application also showed a floating toolbar that was visible even as he scrolled through his in-box. … Read more