gsma (3gsm)

It's the first day of the GSMA World Congress and the big players are already battling it out to steal the show. Nokia was one of the first companies out of the gate when it announced four new devices at a 10am press conference on Monday morning (that's just 1am for you West Coast folks). We've wrapped all the announcements up into a Nokia GSMA slide show.

Of the new phones, two are additions to the company's N-series line. The Nokia N96 is an update to the Nokia N95 and the Nokia N78 offers a raft … Read more

It's no surprise that at GSMA we're seeing a lot of cool things. Since the show is geared toward the worldwide market (Europe in particular), the phones on display are a lot more exciting than the usual sort we see at home. But on the other hand, there's no guarantee that any of the devices will come to North America. Drool as we may, we're also green with envy.

Take, for example, the Nokia N96. As a slicker, stronger update to the already powerful Nokia N95, the N96 has just about every feature you could want … Read more

Nokia already has the N95, so its no stranger to high-resolution camera phones. But now it's aiming to take that functionality to a broader audience with the Nokia 6220 Classic. Announced today at the GSMA World Congress in Barcelona, the 6220 takes is a somewhat scaled down version of the N95. Not only does it use Nokia's Series 60 user interface instead of Symbian, but also it sports a minimalist candy bar design (4.25 inches tall by 1.8 inches wide by 0.59 inches thick; it weighs 3.2 grams). It will be available in purple, … Read more

Sony Ericsson couldn't very well come to the GSMA World Congress and not give us a couple high-end camera phones. Since we've been fans of the Cyber-shot series ever since the K790a, we were hoping for a couple news models to examine. Fortunately, Sony Ericsson didn't disappoint us. The new C702 and C902 offer snazzy photo features, each in a candy bar design. We're not sure why Sony Ericsson is now designating its Cyber-shot handset model numbers the letter "C" (it makes more sense than "K" when you think about it), but … Read more

As the GSMA World Congress begins, Sony Ericsson has proven again that it can surprise us. While we expected that it would spend much of its time in Barcelona concentrating on its strong points, like a new Walkman phone, it instead introduced a completely new cell phone line with its G700 and G900.

Designed as "touch-screen organizers with a broad appeal," the G700 and G900 are Symbian smartphones that are designed a busy, on-the-go audience. The company said it was trying to snag a new segment of customers with the two handsets, and from I can tell, it … Read more

Sony Ericsson kicked off the GSMA World Congress by sneaking in a press conference the day before the show actually began. Held at a cramped but painfully hip studio far off the Barcelona tourist trail, the event included an solidly international audience and some of the most interesting appetizers I've ever seen (squid Catalan style anyone?).

But I digress, because I'm sure you just care about the phones. Sony Ericsson's announcements solidly illustrate its GSMA themes of music, imaging, and the Web. First to hit the stage was the Sony Ericsson W980. As a Walkman phone, it … Read more

Sony Ericsson unleashed a platoon of cell phones and smartphones at GSMA 2008 tonight, including this sleek number, the Sony Ericsson Z770. The clamshell phone is as slim as can be but the handset manufacturer doesn't want its size to fool you. The Z770 is optimized for Web surfing with HSDPA data speeds and has a snazzy browser that features a mouselike cursor for easier navigation. In addition, there's support for RSS feeds and widgets. E-mail is also a key feature, whether you just need to access your Web accounts such as Yahoo and Hotmail, or hook it … Read more

You'd be forgiven if you thought for a moment that the new Samsung Soul was the only cell phone on display at GSMA in Barcelona. Indeed, Samsung Electronics has peppered the city with countless signs promoting its slick new handset. And in its press release, Samsung called the Soul its "flagship product" for 2008.

As my CNET UK colleague Andrew Lim said on Friday, the Soul (aka the SGH-U900) is the newest edition to Samsung's Ultra Edition line. Sporting an all-metal silver casing and measuring just half an inch thick, the Soul has a decidedly sleek … Read more

Well, I made it to Barcelona for GSMA (formerly 3GSM), and the excitement, my friends, has already begun. As my colleague Kent German described earlier, Fira de Barcelona is abuzz with activity in preparation for the world's largest mobile phone show; however, my news comes from outside the wireless world. You see, I got my wallet stolen today. I've spent the better half of the afternoon calling my credit card companies, and shuttling between local police stations. On Monday, I'll get a nice look at the U.S. Embassy. I've been really lucky to travel quite … Read more