A peek at where the world of mobile phones is headed

Barcelona: The three-day Mobile World Congress that came closed on Thursday saw thousands of mobile phone worshippers descend on Barcelona to witness the launch of cutting-edge handsets and the unveiling of next-generation technology.

Top companies in the telecom sector and an army of CEOs offered a peek at the future and explained where the sector is headed.

Touch screens, navigation, high-end digital cameras, multimedia capabilities and high-speed broadband support are the key features of the latest mobile gadgets.

Nokia, Samsung, LG Electronics and Sony Ericsson all unveiled new, stylish models.

Nokia, which believes users will increasingly look for handsets that offer a rounded and more personal experience, launched four new devices, includng the N78 features on the extreme left.

Growth area

The company says navigation will represent a big area of growth, and in line with those expectations Nokia's new handsets can provide driving and even walking directions.

According to research firm iSupply, GPS-enabled mobile phone shipments will increase from 109.6 million units in 2006 to 444 million units by 2011.

Sony Ericsson offered a surprise last week with the Xperia X1, a Windows Mobile smartphone with built-in GPS. It also has a touch screen overlay and a full keyboard.

Another notable launch was that of Samsung's touch-screen Soul, which is part of the company's Ultra Edition series. The company said the series offers a balance of design and features.

The phone adapts to the application that runs through Magic Touch technology.

Touch screen techonology was also on prominent display at the congress. Multimedia Intelligence predicts that the number of phones with touch screens will reach almost 200 million 2011.

As for Google, the search giant unveiled a prototype of Android (right), it mobile phone platform.

The congress attracted more than 50,000 visitors. More than 200 CEOs from top companies were also on hand.

The event has become the world's premier telecom conference in just a few years.

Nokia N 78

One of the four handsets that Nokia unveiled at the Barcelona congress, the N78 combines music, navigation, and photography with the benefits of photography.

The N78 is designed to take advantage of the new suite of Nokia services, including the Nokia Music Store, Nokia Maps, and Share on Ovi. The handset is expected to start shipping during the second quarter of 2008.

Google android

Google unveiled a prototype of Android, its mobile phone platform, at the congress. Android is based on the Linux operating system and has been developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. The demonstrations were by a handful of chip makers - ARM, Marvell, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and NEC and ST Microelectronics. When released in 2008, most of the Android platform will be made available under the Apache free-software and open-source licence.

Toshiba portege G450

The Portege G450 was designed for quick internet access. It is a phone and modem in one. It's even an MP3 player. The device can can be connected to your UMPCs, laptops, or notebooks via USB and can support both GPRS/EDGE and 3G capability with HSDPA. It has 160MB of built-in memory and a very basic 96x39 pixel resolution OLED display. The Toshiba Portege G450 measures 98x36x16mm, weighs 16g, and will be available in black, white and red.

Sony Ericsson G700

The G700 personal organiser keeps contacts, calendars, notes, pictures and websites in one place. Users can jot down a note on the screen with a stylus, as with a pen on paper, and save it on the phone's desktop - as with a note on the fridge. They can draw a map to the local shop or doodle personal notes to send them to loved ones. The handset offers touch screen text input, web surfing and phone navigation.

By touching the relevant name in the phonebook, all of the contact options appear onscreen. Users can browse the photo album with a fingertip.

The G700i also has dedicated keys for messaging, notes and a key lock on the side of the phone. With the G900i, consumers can frame their shot and decide where they want to focus the camera by simply touching the screen. Also, with Camera Multi-Shot, users can just hold down the camera key and take as many pictures as they like.