Samsung Electronics a leading provider of mobile phones and telecom systems underlines its commitment to the telecommunications industry by showcasing an extensive portfolio of mobile handsets and technology at this year’s 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona.

Diverse, innovative and market-leading handsets and technologies, including a brand new Ultra Edition II range and the first European demo of Mobile WiMAX, further strengthen Samsung’s position as a design-led, forward-thinking company that heavily invests in research and development to advance the market and fuel consumer demand for innovative new technologies. Samsung’s design-driven, premium multimedia handsets are epitomized in its Ultra Edition II and Ultra Special ranges, which will be available during the first half of this year. Whilst its involvement in Europe’s first mobile WiMAX demonstration, due to be showcased by Samsung and partners, illustrates Samsung’s dedication to mobile technology leadership and investment in market-leading standards. Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunication Network Business, said: “It is always exciting to be part of such an important industry event, particularly because it is my first time attending as the President of Samsung’s Telecommunication Business. Our strategic focus on premium line-ups will be further enhanced this year by the introduction of our new Ultra Edition II and Ultra Special ranges.

In addition, the realization of Samsung’s vision for future mobile technology is clearly supported with our Mobile WiMAX demonstration, putting converged, mobile device at the hub of all communications. In 2007, you will see a continued commitment from myself and Samsung to listen to and respond to the needs of our customers even more closely and ensure we are producing devices that further enhance lifestyles, whether at work or at play.

Today at ITU Telecom World 2006, Samsung Electronics and Microsoft launched the Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 powered by Microsoft ® Windows Mobile ® 5.0, the first 3G smartphone with HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) support. Measuring only 11.8mm and weighing a mere 99g, the Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 is the world’s thinnest 3G smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard.

It blends the feature-rich, desktop functionality of the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform with multimedia capabilities to help people work on the go, stay in touch with family and friends or just have fun.” I am proud to introduce the Ultra Messaging i600 Windows Mobile smartphone with Microsoft. It represents the best innovation from both Samsung and Microsoft and makes it a perfect solution for today’s mobile professional,” said Kitae Lee, President, Samsung Telecommunication Network Business.

“Samsung will continue to explore new market opportunities with Microsoft and we look forward to collaborating together to bring more innovative products to market.” The Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 is the first smartphone in Asia Pacific and Europe that supports the HSDPA network for faster data transfer speeds, as well as seamless communications through high-speed connectivity via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR. It is also the first smartphone to support web applications such as podcasting and RSS Feeder.

Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 users can listen to stereo-quality music and view high quality video clips with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile and a Bluetooth stereo headset. Internet browsing rivals the PC experience due to the device’s large 2.3” high quality color screen and wireless broadband capabilities. The Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 also includes a speakerphone, built-in voice recognition and support for a 1.3 megapixel digital camera that can record video. Built-in Pocket MSN offers consumers the consistent and familiar user experience that they currently enjoy with MSN Messenger on their desktops. With this offering, users will automatically have a separate Inbox for Hotmail messages on their device.

After the success of the MOTO A 1200, Motorola has announced that version 2 is on its way. The new MING, the A1600, appears to have a similar design but is a bit squarish with a similar transparent flip casing.

It will be 3G-enabled, come equipped with Wi-Fi and AGPS, and retain its touchscreen feature, but will have a newer Linux UI. Another upgrade is with the camera. The A1600 will boast a 3.2 megapixel, auto-focus camera with an LED flash. The CPU has also undergone an upgrade, so it should naturally be faster. The phone will be approximately 17.5 mm thick, so it’s going to be slimmer than the original. No pricing or availability has been announced yet.

The K660 is a new launch from Sony Ericsson that hasn’t yet made it officially into the Indian market. But being who I am and knowing the people I do, I managed to get my paws on a prototype test piece. Of course it didn’t come with the full kit, so I can give you only a preview. Here’s what I can let you in on for now. The K660 is a good-looking candybar phone that’s available in some cool colors. It has a certain good-to-hold feeling, so it’s not like other Sony Ericssons. Thankfully there’s no sticky joystick but a very easy-to-maneuver 5 way nav-pad. The buttons and keys are very well placed and easily accessible.

The phone is lightweight and the 2-inch display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels is really crisp. The K660 doesn’t have any features that will make it stand out amidst other Sony Ericsson phones. It comes with regular business features like calendar, notes, schedules, stopwatch, timer etc. As for connectivity, it’s 3G-enabled with HSDPA and has a VGA camera in front for video calls. Also available are EDGE and Bluetooth with A2DP compatibility. It comes with Google Maps preinstalled.

Motorola has introduced the MOTO Q 8, the GSM version of the original CDMA-based MOTO Q, as well as the flagship, quad-band 3G QWERTY, the MOTO Q 9h, in India. The MOTO Q 9h, based on the Windows Mobile 6 operating system, features a dual-processor HSDPA/UMTS engine, enabling downloads at up to 3.6Mbps. Moto Q 8 is a quad band GPRS/EDGE1 QWERTY device that is also based on Windows Mobile 6 operating system.”

Motorola is expanding its range in the enterprise segment in India with the launch of  MOTO Q 8 and MOTO Q 9h’” said Lloyd Mathias, Director Marketing, India & South West Asia for Motorola Mobile Devices. “The MOTO Q 9h was developed as a multi-purpose communication device that is easy to use and doesn’t compromise on experiences. This smartphone offers state-of-the art voice quality technology, messaging, and speed, processing power, keyboard and display packaged within a sleek design for the modern consumer.

A complete productivity and entertainment-on-the-go device.” Both MOTO Q 8 and MOTO Q9h are preloaded with Documents To Go application which enables user to create, edit and view Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint slides and view PDF files.

Nokia’s 8800 series has always embodied class, elegance and a very artful feel and has always managed to make the very traditional, simplistic design look like something that’s more of a status symbol than a mobile phone. The latest additions to the series are the Nokia 8800 Arte (art) and Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte. Both phones are essentially the same, except for the fact that the Sapphire Arte version has a genuine sapphire gemstone embedded in the center of the 5 way nav-pad. Aside from their traditional metal and glass bodies the surfaces now have an Anti-fingerprint coating (about time guys). Both these new models have taken the series to whole new level being equipped with a 3 megapixel, auto-focus cameras, 3G capabilities and having 1GB of internal memory. They also come with 2 inch, QVGA, 240×320 pixels resolution, OLED displays with up to 16 million colors.

Apart from the physical traits that clearly make these models in the series stand out, Nokia has also incorporated some fancy new technology into these Arte pieces. First off is the “turn-to-mute” feature wherein all you need to do if you want to silence an incoming call is simply flip the phone over on it’s back. Another new feature is a Tap for Time function. By lightly tapping the metal portion under the screen an analogue clock appears on the screen.

Swisscom Mobile has successfully applied WaveSight to improve performance of its UMTS network and HSDPA throughput. WaveSight has been successfully employed with an automatic cellular tool to improve the performance of existing Swisscom Mobile 3G sites within the city of Basel, Switzerland, to enhance coverage and service. The measured results showed an improvement in quality and coverage area by as much as eight percent (8%) which can be translated into a reduced, or delayed, requirement for additional sites whilst increases the 3G traffic per user. The network changes were limited to the remote adjustment of the antenna electrical tilt (RET) and the transmitted power, during an overnight switchover. This ensured that all the observed improvements resulted from the new changes.

There is potential for further optimization and revenue as the national network expands, by further usage of the WaveSight tool to keep the number of blocked and dropped calls to a minimum and, improve coverage of trouble spots. The success of applying WaveSight to SwisscomÂ’ s network was enabled by a recent breakthrough in the toolÂ’ s computation performance, whereby the processing speed was increased by over 10 times, allowing more sites to be included in the optimization process without sacrificing the accuracy. Such results were achieved with no need for costly and time-consuming drive test data.Dr. Karim Rizk Founder and CEO of Wavecall,  Â“It cannot be a better reward to our pioneering work in the field of radio wave prediction techniques to be able to deliver reliable solutions to our valued customer Swisscom. We will continue to lead the way in providing breakthroughs in radio wave prediction a critical field in wireless network design and optimization. Swisscom is the natural partner to first realize the impact of WavecallÂ’ s technology”

The specifications of Samsung’s F490 multimedia phone slash another iPhone wannabe, have been released. This 3G ready, HSDPA and EDGE enabled tri band mobile features a large 3.2 inch TFT touch screen display and sports a resolution of 240 x 432 pixels, so it still falls a bit short of Apple’s created benchmark. On the plus side the display actually features a 16:9 widescreen ratio, which does have merit when it comes to videos. Where it would do better than the iPhone would be in the camera section as the F490 features a 5 megapixel camera (no auto-focus) that runs a on the Croix UI. It also has an LED flash and is capable of recording video in MPEG4 format with QVGA resolution at 15 frames per second.

From the multimedia angle the F490 supports Bluetooth with an A2DP profile as well so it supports wireless stereo Bluetooth headsets. But in case that seems like too much for an average users it also has a 3.5mm earphone socket so you’re free to use any headset you may already own. The video player supports WMV, MPEG4, H.263, H.264 file formats in up to VGA resolution at 30fps. The F490 has a 130MB of internal space that can be extended with the support of microSD cards.

Cellcast plc announced that its subsidiary, SUMO.tv, UK’s video sharing community, has extended its overseas network by signing important new mobile distribution agreements with Mobibase in France and Tapuz Mobile in Israel on the Orange networks in those countries. Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with more than 100 million customers on five continents. The mobile distribution agreement with Mobibase in France means that SUMO.tv is now part of the One TV bouquet of Mobile channels on the Orange Gallery. Orange has over 3.5 million high-speed users (3G, 3G+ and EDGE) and the agreement with Mobibase is a significant opportunity for SUMO.tv to grow its community of European users.

In Israel, SUMO.tv will be available via the Orange Network portal through an exclusive agreement for mobile distribution with Tapuz Mobile. Since its establishment in 2001, TAPUZ MOBILE has gained vast experience in development, deployment, production and adaptation of mobile content specific for 3G, GSM, CDMA and TDMA cellular networks. Discussions are progressing on further mobile distribution deals in a number of markets including Australia, Malaysia and South Africa, where SUMO.tv participated in a three-month DVB-H Mobile TV trial in partnership with MTN. SUMO.tv is the world’s first media network to seamlessly integrate user-generated content (UGC) into television programming, internet and mobile services, using its proprietary technical services architecture.

InterDigital announced that the English High Court issued a judgment finding that European Patent (UK) 0,515,610 (the ‘610 patent), owned by InterDigital Technology Corporation, is essential to the 3G UMTS WCDMA European standard promulgated by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and that this patented invention is infringed by carrying out the method described in the standard. The ‘610 patent relates to open loop power control, a fundamental aspect of 3G technology.

Foreign counterparts having identical or similar claim language to the ‘610 patent have been issued in many parts of the world, including the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Sweden. The judicial determination of essentiality is in addition to Nokia’s withdrawal of its challenge to the essentiality of another patent, European Patent (UK) 0,515,675 relating to pilot codes, effectively conceding that that patent is essential as well.“We are pleased to receive a ruling that the ‘610 patent is essential to the UMTS WCDMA standard,” commented Lawrence F. Shay, Chief Legal Officer for InterDigital.

“Indeed, we believe this is the first ruling by a court of law finding any patent to be essential to the 3G standard. While we believe our patent portfolio includes a number of patents and patent applications that are or may become essential to the UMTS WCDMA standard, having a Court confirm our position on the ‘610 patent after a long and thorough litigation, and coupled with Nokia’s withdrawal of its challenge against another of our patents, provides added strength to our licensing program.”In bringing the action in July 2005, Nokia sought a declaration that 31 of InterDigital’s UMTS patents registered in the UK are not essential to the standard.

Generally, under the ETSI rules, a patent is essential to a standard if the patent cannot be avoided in producing a product compliant with the applicable standard. In addition, the ETSI rules provide that a patent is essential if it claims an invention that is among a limited set of solutions that the manufacturer can choose from in producing a product compliant with the standard, and all such solutions are patented.