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.”

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading provider and innovator of mobile phones, launches a terrestrial Digital Media Broadcasting phone (Model: SPH-B5800) that supports Transport Protocol Experts Group (TPEG) feature. TPEG feature is a transportation information service based on terrestrial DMB data broadcasting. Personal Media Players or navigation devices that support the TPEG service have been released in the past, but SPH-B5800 is the first mobile phone to support the TPEG service.

The Samsung SPH-B5800 provides users with traffic information updated every five minutes, as well as information about famous local restaurants and travel guides via terrestrial DMB channels. Existing Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are limited to guiding drivers on a specific route using an embedded map, but Samsung’s B5800 shows current traffic conditions as “cleared”, “sluggish” or “congested,” and guides drivers with the optimal route to their destinations. Users can also compare routes that reflect traffic conditions.

Moreover, unlike GPS in the past, there is no longer a need to access servers: Traffic information received via terrestrial broadcasting can be used to determine routes. The B5800 supports a feature that allows users to view all channel lists while viewing DMB programs and thus, enables users to easily browse and find desired programs. Users can also enjoy User Created Contents (UCC) via ‘Photo Movie Maker’, which saves picture slides as videos, and can send and receive text messages while playing a MP3. It also includes a 2-mega-pixel camera, a 330,000 word electronic dictionary, ‘My Pet’ function, file viewer, and audio book.

Samsung today announced a new addition to its Ultra portfolio with the introduction of Ultra Smart F700. This revolutionary mobile phone will be showcased at 3GSM World Congress, the largest telecommunications event, next week. The F700 features unrivalled design and bring a superior range of multimedia experiences to consumers. The Ultra Smart is a part of Samsung’s Ultra portfolio, which boasts a full touch screen as well as QWERTY keypad.

It reflects the recent trend in telecommunications industry of touch screen user interface and, for users who are not yet familiar with a touch-screen-only user interface, it also implements a QWERTY keypad and VibeTonz technology, which allows them to feel the buttons, accompanied by responsive vibrations. A “Drag and drop” method of touch screen was adopted for easier menu navigation along with music play list control for an expanded multimedia experience. Volume, play lists, brightness of screens as well as other menu control can be controlled utilizing the touch screen. As speed is becoming crucial for data are able to view content on a stunning 2.78″ color display.

The device features first class entertainment with a top-of-the-line 5 mega-pixel camera with auto focus and Bluetooth. With 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, it makes it easier to watch videos, listen to songs, share high-quality photos, or catch up on email on the move.” The introduction of our Ultra Smart F700 reflects the needs of today’s consumers by including features such as touch screen, enhanced connectivity to mobile internet, and access to an array of multimedia content,” said Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunications Network Business. “The Ultra Smart F700 is a good example of communications, Samsung has included the latest trends in mobile to the Ultra Smart F700.

The Ultra Smart reflects the latest speed of 7.2 Mbps under the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) network. Once the 7.2 Mbps HSDPA network completely deployed, F700 users can download an mp3 song (about 4MB each) in 4.4 seconds. A full HTML browser along with the QWERTY keypad enables easy access to the Internet for e-mail and data services.

Sales of smartphones are expected to overtake those of laptops in the next 12 to 18 months as the mobile phone completes its transition from voice communications device to multimedia computer. Convergence has been the Holy Grail for mobile phone makers, software and hardware partners, as well as consumers, for more than a decade.

And for the first time the rhetoric of companies like Nokia, Samsung and Motorola, who have boasted of putting a multimedia computer in your pocket, no longer seems far fetched.” Converged devices are always with you and always connected,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia chief executive at last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Last year Nokia sold almost 200m camera phones and about 146m music phones, making it the world’s biggest seller of digital cameras and MP3 players.

In the coming year the firm predicts it will sell 35 million GPS-enabled phones as personal navigation becomes the latest feature to be assimilated into the mobile phone. Form and functionNigel Clifford, chief executive of Symbian, said: “All of those single use devices - MP3 players, digital camera, GPS - are collapsing onto the phone.” We are going past the point where this was a phone with a few other things,” he said. Symbian’s operating system shipped on 188 million phones last year and a third of those came with GPlS. “We see mobile phones evolving into multi-functional devices that now support consumer electronics, multimedia entertainment and mobile professional enterprise applications; all converging,” said Luis Pineda, from mobile phone chip firm Qualcomm.

Cricket, a subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, has just added another phone to its lineup and it’s about as stereotypical a Samsung phone as it gets. After all, the SCH-r610 is a skinny slider phone with a healthy complement of multimedia functions. At first glance, the Samsung SCH-r610 looks almost the same as some older Samsung sliders like the D900 (Ultra Edition 12.1). It would have been nice if Cricket grabbed a more current-looking phone like the U600. Anyways, the Samsung SCH-r610 is equipped with all the usual doo-dahs that you’ve come to expect from an entertainment-minded handset.

The display is a standard 262k TFT number, and it gets backed up by a microSD expansion slot, MP3 player, 1.3 megapixel camera, WAP 2.0, and stereo Bluetooth. It can handle the whole mobile web and wireless download thing too, so you’ll never be without a hot new cell phone game.

Marvell, , a leader in storage, communications, and consumer silicon solutions, and Samsung, announced the availability of the Samsung SPH-M4650 PDA phone with the Marvell(R) PXA 300 application processor running on Korea’s LG Telecom network. The Marvell PXA 300 application processor enables high-end graphics, gaming, and multimedia capabilities for the Samsung SPH-M4650 as well as delivering optimal business applications while consuming ultra-low levels of power. The Samsung SPH-M4650 runs on the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional operating system. The new Samsung SPH-M4650 is designed to offer outstanding multimedia capabilities as well as the advanced functions of a PDA phone.

The attractive slim design and full LCD screen makes it an attractive device for work or play,” said Hun Bae Kim, senior vice president, Samsung Mobile CDMA Team. “Marvell’s PXA 300 application processor is designed to allow gaming and multimedia functions, while enabling business functionality and PC synchronization.”The Samsung SPH-M4650 features terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (T-DMB) for mobile television, a 2.0 megapixel camera, and Bluetooth technology housed in a thin form factor with an LCD touch screen.

“The Samsung SPH-M4650 is an exciting new device that will provide a robust mobile experience for business functionality as well as gaming and multimedia for consumers,” said David Young, vice president and general manager of Marvell’s Mobile Cellular Business Group. “We are pleased that Samsung has chosen our PXA 300 application processor to enhance the consumer experience by providing optimal performance and power savings, enhancing the overall multimedia capabilities.”

Nova media has released version 5.1 of its iSync phone plug-ins. A free update for users who purchased the software within the past year, Nova’s iSync plug-ins cost 9.95 euros (US$14.65).

The plug-ins enable your Mac to exchange Address Book and iCal information with cell phones that Apple doesn’t support from the factory with Mac OS X v10.4 or v10.5. They extend the number of compatible phones to include 130 additional models from Ben, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. New to this release is support for Nokia’s 3500 Classic, 7900, E51, N82 and N95 8GB cell phones. The plug-ins require Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later, including Leopard.

Dimming Wall Street hopes for a profit, Motorola Inc. said on Wednesday it will post an operating loss in the current quarter because its mobile phone business is taking longer to turn around than expected. The company, whose weak cell phone product line caused it to lose customers to rivals like Nokia and Samsung Electronics in 2007, warned of further market share losses this quarter and back pedaled off its forecast for its mobile devices division to return to profitability in 2008. Motorola forecast a first-quarter loss per share from continuing operations of 5 U.S. cents to 7 cents, before any reorganization charges. Analysts had expected a profit of 9 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. “The figures had us scratching our heads, checking the date to see if we were looking at an earnings release from 2002,” JPMorgan analyst Ehud Gelblum said in a note to clients. Some analysts questioned if Motorola would stay intact after its outlook overshadowed quarterly results that were in line with expectations.

Activist shareholder Carl Icahn has called for a break-up of the company. He was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. “They’re flirting with the handset death spiral. They’re losing share, which makes them smaller, which makes them less competitive on costs, which makes their phones less compelling, which loses more share,” said Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder. Asked about the potential for a company break-up, Motorola Chief Executive Greg Brown would only say he was focused on cutting costs, getting mobile devices back to profit and expanding the set-top box and enterprise mobility units.

Samsung today gave owners of the original AT&T-branded BlackJack smartphone a window mobile. The patch brings the phone up to the same Windows Mobile 6 Standard base OS as the more recent black jack supplying it with an improved web browser, “push” Exchange e-mail with HTML support, and Office Mobile for basic editing on the road. The update also provides AT&T-specific features previously locked out of the device; one-way Video Share calls on the carrier’s 3G cell network are now possible.The update is free for any owners of the initial BlackJack on AT&T’s network and should go live as of 5PM today from Samsung’s website. Applying the upgrade currently demands a Windows 2000 or XP system with the latest version of ActiveSync and is said to wipe the phone’s data clean before its changes take effect.

Another CES is in the bag, and we’ve successfully fled Las Vegas for San Francisco. Though fewer new cell phones debuted at the show than in the past couple years, we can say that the 2008 show was all about quality over quantity. Also, when compared with the last couple of years, we had some serious competition for the Best of CES award in the cell phones and smart phones category.

But after it was said and done, the Motorola took that prize. Its innovative morphing keyboard gave it the needed mojo to lap the Sony ericsson super world phone. It was a good fight, and we hope we’ll see a similar high-pitched battle in 2009. Motorola also introduced a high-end video phone with the MOTO and it gave us two new entry-level models with the W230 and W270 besides the W760, Sony Ericsson introduced two other new cell phones. The Z551 is a design-centric handset with a new “gesture-control” feature, and the W350 is a low-end Walkman model.

Though Samsung didn’t offer any new phones for North America, it did show some existing models it wasn’t planning to bring here including the  5-megapixel camera-phone. Also sitting pretty in Samsung’s booth was the company’s phone. Nokia didn’t have anything new, either, but we did see the Nokia3110, which is made partially from renewable materials. Nokia also had a couple cell phone speakers in its booth, and Samsung showed speakers of its own. And over in the most far-flung booths on the show floor, Neonode was offering its N2PHONE and Haier offered the dual SIM-card HG-499.