Around SPE for 22 Feb, 2009

It's been quite a week for SPE, we wrapped up a bootload of live coverage of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. With details on Windows Mobile 6.5, the new HTC Magic Android phone, the new Ovi Application Store at Nokia Experts, and even a sneak preview of a GPS App for the iPhone, we were chock full of breaking mobile news.

This week we'll be bringing you more of the same, of course. Be sure you are paying special attention to CrackBerry.com, as this will be a HUGE week for CrackBerry Nation. This coming Thursday, February 26th, the site officially turns 2 years old!! And when CrackBerry.com turns another year older, it doesn't mean a day of celebrating, it means a week birthday festivities! Whether you're a BlackBerry owner or not you'll want to stay glued to the site for great contests, deals and giveaways each and every day. If you're not a daily visitor but want to follow the action, you can always subscribe to the CrackBerry RSS feeds or follow the site on Twitter at @crackberry.

Speaking of giveaways, time is running out for your chances to win a Nokia N85 or E71 at Nokia Experts, so be sure to head over and learn how to enter this week.

Android Central

This was a big week over at Android Central because MWC brought new devices, new features, and so much Android news. The biggest news of the week had to have been the announcement of the HTC Magic--a great looking, full touchscreen device--the Android device that many have been waiting for. We got our hands on it and came away pretty impressed. You can catch up on all of Android Central's MWC coverage here. What was arguably more exciting for current Android users is that paid applications are now available in Android Market! The quality of apps have literally grown overnight! Games like Guitar Hero and apps like Quickoffice are already on the Market with many more exciting apps to come.

Nokia Experts

This past week Dieter sent in reports from Mobile World Congress, including the new Samsung Omnia HD, the Nokia N86, and Nokia E75 and N97. Though it's not as flashy, the most interesting MWC news might have been all the details on Nokia's new app store, the Ovi Store. Nokia Experts is still in the midset of their launch contest too, so be sure to check out your chances to win a new Nokia phone!

PreCentral

PreCentral.net was also in on the Mobile World Congress action, where Dieter got a chance to get his mitts (barely) on the GSM Palm Pre. We also brought you a Full Palm Pre Feature Roundup and learned that Palm and O'Reilly have begun releasing a ton of development information for the webOS. We still don't have a release date for the Palm Pre pinned down, but after getting another chance to see it in person (in GSM no less!), we have to say we're starting to get antsy!

The iPhone Blog

While Mobile World Congress tried to ignore our iPhone, Dieter still scored us a pair of eyes-on DocsToGo for iPhone, and Sygic Turn-by-Turn GPS. Google continued their lovefest with editable spreadsheets and an offline Gmail demo. Multicore processors, likely iPhone-bound were also sneak-peaked, and while Apple was busy wolfing down every scrap of RAM in the world, was the next gen case already leaked?

And with the voting done and your voices heard, why waste time with the Oscars? The TiPb Reader's Choice Awards are being unveiled TODAY!

TreoCentral

Over at TreoCentral we heard that the Treo Pro might be available through Bell Canada on February 27th for as low as $99.95, with a 3-year plan. We also learned that while at MWC, ACCESS announced and demonstrated a broad range of mobile solutions, including Version 3.0 of the Access Linux Platform (ALP), which was announced in October. ALP supports "Hollywood-style" graphics and add LiMo (Linux Mobile) support while retaining compatibility for the legacy Garnet OS.

WMExperts

Life at WMExperts last week could be summed up in three words: Mobile World Congress. And our own Dieter Bohn was there in Barcelona, Spain. The biggest announcement of the event was Microsoft and Windows Mobile 6.5.. HTC also was there, announcing the Touch Pro 2 and the Touch Diamond 2. Dieter logged a total of 528 miles on the showroom floor and saw too much new stuff to round up in this space, but you can find all of the Mobile World Congress coverage here.

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Dieter Bohn