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A few days at Mobile World Congress…

February each year, for one week, the entire mobile phone industry camps out in the tapas bars of Barcelona.

Occasionally, some people might stray into the Mobile World Congress, a magnificent event in which the likes of Microsoft, Nokia and Research in Motion try to convince us that the products they showed us last year are somehow newer and shinier this year.

Those sober enough to make it to RIM’s developer event on Monday were treated to a free PlayBook each. Meanwhile, Nokia had a beach party. The Far Eastern companies, like Samsung and LG, were less imaginative. Rather than trying to disguise their lack of innovation with cunning free gadgets and liquor, they actually had some new products. “Phablets” are all the rage. Not quite a phone and not quite a tablet, a phablet is, essentially, a very, very big phone. Samsung’s Galaxy Note has a 5.3 inch screen (compare to 3.5 inches on the iPhone). Some of you will be glad to know that the stylus is back. Sorry, I mean “S-Pen”.

Here at eSAY, we’re dedicated followers of fashion, so expect to see WorkMobile® on the PlayBook real soon, and optimized for tablet and phablet Android devices later this year. Now, if you’ll excuse me, these patatas bravas won’t eat themselves…

Graham (Senior Developer)

PaperPhone makes use of bend, flex and e-ink writing functions.

Canadian researchers have shown off a new flexible mobile device built using e-paper technology that can perform all the functions of a normal hard-cased smartphone.

Dubbed the PaperPhone, the gadget can take calls, send messages, play music or display e-books when users bend or flex the unit, or write on it using the same e-ink technology found in devices like Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader.

Still at the prohibitively expensive prototyping stage, the PaperPhone’s developers claim that mass production could be as close as five to 10 years away.

“This is definitely going to replace the iPhone, there’s no doubt about that,” said the phone’s outspoken creator Dr Roel Vertegaal in an interview with US network ABC News.

The device itself is the result of collaboration between researchers at the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University, Canada and Arizona State University’s Motivational Environments Research group. About the thickness of a credit card, the prototype has a 3.7in diagonal screen and, in its current form, is around one-sixth the weight of an iPhone 4.

“This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper,” said Vertegaal. “You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen.”

The PaperPhone uses less electricity and is said to be more durable than a conventional smartphone. It can even be “hit with a hammer” according to Vertegaal. This is definitely going to replace the iPhone, there’s no doubt about that.

Instead of button controls and touch-based features, the phone’s final version might work by users bending down both sides of the phone to open up an application ,or ‘dog-earing’ the top right corner to scroll forward.

Vertegaal’s group is not the only team working on flexible electronics for the mobile device sector. Mountain View, California-based Plastic Logic is a said to be working on a comparable offering.

“I don’t think it’s the future of [smartphones], but I think it will be a component of it,” said Greg Harper, president of technology consulting firm HarperVision. “It will be there, but there is still work to be done.”

The product is still very much at the prototype phase, costing somewhere around £5,000 for a single unit. Although the unit can use flexible batteries, at this stage, the processor, cables and other more rigid electronic elements are still connected as add ons.

Apple releases iPhone and iPad software update to fix user location tracking

Apple has pushed out a software update to fix a location-tracking bug on its iPhone and iPad devices. The company came under fire after claims the Apple products had been tracking users’ locations, containing a record on the “devices” file of everywhere iPhone and iPad users had been.

Apple’s software update 4.3.3 makes changes to the iOS crowd-sourced location database cache, including reducing the size of the cache, not backing up the cache to iTunes and deleting the cache when location services are turned off.

Apple previously said a bug was responsible for updating Wi-Fi data even when consumers turned off its location services. Apple says it had never tracked users’ locations and has no plans to ever do so.

“The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested,” said Apple.

The update is available to download via iTunes for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and iPod touch (4th and 3rd generation).

BlackBerry maker RIM has taken the wraps off the latest iteration of its Bold smartphone, the Bold 9900

RIM has unveiled the newest version of its BlackBerry Bold smartphone, claiming this latest generation boasts improved performance and a beefed up software platform. The Bold 9900 (also known as the 9930) will run on BlackBerry 7 OS and feature a 1.2GHz processor, in addition to a 2.8in screen and physical QWERTY keyboard.

“The new BlackBerry Bold smartphones and BlackBerry 7 OS are inspired by millions of customers around the world who want the ultimate combination of performance, functionality and style,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and co-chief executive of RIM.

“These fully-loaded and beautifully crafted smartphones offer a highly refined user experience with blazingly fast performance, a brilliant touch screen and an outstanding typing experience.”

RIM also said it will manage corporate and government communications sent using Apple’s iPhone and iPad, as well as devices running Google’s Android software, through its secure BlackBerry Enterprise Server. It’s an implicit acknowledgment by RIM that its grip on the sector has weakened.

The company aims to capitalise on the BlackBerry’s enhanced security features and its established role controlling employee access to corporate data while out of the office.

Sony unveils its S1 and S2 tablets running Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS

Consumer electronics giant Sony has taken the wrappers off its first two tablet devices, which will be taking on Apple’s iPad 2 from this Autumn.

The two devices are codenamed the S1 and S2, and will both run Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb software, which is powering an increasing number of tablets in 2011. The S1 will have a 9.4-inch touchscreen, while the S2 will have two 5.5-inch displays that fold up, in a similar way to Nintendo’s DS and 3DS handheld gaming devices.

Both devices will be tightly integrated with Sony’s cloud entertainment services, including its Qriocity music and video offerings, and its PlayStation Suite gaming service. The Sony Reader e-books store will also be preloaded on the devices, and they’ll be able to stream music and video to TVs and wireless speakers.

“Sony Tablet delivers an entertainment experience where users can enjoy cloud-based services on-the-go at any time,” says Kunimasa Suzuki, SVP and deputy president of Sony’s consumer products & services division. “We’re aiming to create a new lifestyle by integrating consumer hardware, including Sony Tablet with content and network.”

Co-incidentally (or perhaps not) the announcement comes as Sony faces high-profile outages for Qriocity and PlayStation Network – both services were taken offline last Wednesday after what the company describes as an “external intrusion”, and have yet to come back online.

Apple sues Samsung for “copying” its tablets and phones

Apple has sued Samsung for “slavishly” copying its handset and tablet designs. Apple said that Samsung’s Galaxy S handset and Galaxy Tab violated ten of its patents around the look and design of its iPhone and iPad.

“Instead of pursuing independent product development, Samsung has chosen to slavishly copy Apple’s innovative technology, distinctive user interfaces, and elegant and distinctive product and packaging design,” the suit argues, according to the Financial Times.

The suit notes says the Samsung devices too closely mimic the rounded corners of Apple’s devices, as well as the design of its app icons.

The suit is the latest in a string of patent arguments between mobile leaders, and Samsung has already suggested it plans a counter suit. “Samsung will respond actively to this legal action taken against us through appropriate legal measures to protect our intellectual property,” a spokesperson said.

The move didn’t come as a surprise to some analysts. “There has already been criticism that Samsung copied too much from Apple [in its Galaxy phones],” Bae Sung-young, a market analyst at Hyundai Securities, told Reuters.

However, as Samsung is a major supplier of chips to Apple, he doesn’t expect the suit to be too damaging. “Whether they like it or not, [Apple and Samsung] have to work together.”

Fifth of Smartphones NFC enabled by 2014

One in five smartphones will feature Near Field Communications (NFC) within the next three years, according to Juniper Research. NFC, which enables among other things mobile payments, looks set to gather pace over the next three years, with one in five smartphones expected to feature the technology by 2014.

So claims research by Juniper Research that predicts there will be almost 300 million NFC-enabled smartphones in use in three years’ time. Services in early adopter countries over the next year or so will help fuel this growth, according to the research firm. North America will lead the charge come 2014 with half of all NFC smartphones, and Western Europe will take second place.

“Juniper’s market analysis highlighted that, although there are still hurdles ahead, NFC prospects have been boosted by the succession of mobile operator and device vendor announcements,” said Howard Wilcox, NFC retail marketing and mobile payments report author.

“France is a case in point where operators expect to sell one million NFC devices this year.”

Windows Phone 7 delays down to manufacturers

Microsoft claims handset manufacturers are partly to blame for Windows Phone 7 update delays. Microsoft explained the delay in updating its new phone software yesterday, partly blaming handset manufacturers for the problem.

Windows Phone 7, launched last October as Microsoft’s attempted to catch up with Apple and Google in the smartphone market, was well received but criticised for lack of some basic functions – such as cut and paste.

Microsoft initially said an update to the software would be available early in 2011, but many users are still without it. “We had expected it to be earlier than now,” Joe Belfiore, head of Microsoft’s Windows phone program, said at a software developer conference in Las Vegas on yesterday.

Belfiore said the company had started the update, but ran into problems on some newly manufactured phones that would not function properly afterwards. He did not name any manufacturers involved. Samsung, HTC and LG are the main handset makers of Windows phones.

Once the company found the problems, it overhauled its update procedure, said Belfiore. “We felt it would be better to be a little bit patient, make sure that when we get updates out that they would happen reliably, and unfortunately that caused a delay in getting things out,” he said.

Belfiore said he was now “optimistic” that there will not be similar problems with future updates. A more comprehensive update, code-named Mango, will be available later this year, he said.

Microsoft still has only a four per cent share of the worldwide smartphone software market, according to research firm Gartner, but it is expected to be a major player once its deal to provide the operating system for leading handset maker Nokia takes effect.

A Nokia developer onstage at the Las Vegas conference said there was still no date for when the new Microsoft-powered phones will hit the market.

Cloud computing is here and making us happy, according to a CIF survey.

Nearly half of UK organisations are already dabbling in some form of cloud computing, according to a new survey from the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF).

The research, part of a comprehensive review of the UK’s cloud computing landscape, revealed 48 per cent of organisations already had some form of cloud service, using business Apps like WorkMobile™, with larger private companies leading the charge towards the technology.

And, contrary to received wisdom, the survey revealed the main driver for change was not the need to keep costs low but the desire for greater flexibility within organisations. This was particularly true for smaller organisations, as 63 per cent of companies with fewer than 20 employees cited flexibility as the main driver.

Perhaps the starkest indication of the growing enthusiasm for cloud computing was the high rate of satisfaction with the technology. According to the survey, 94 per cent of cloud users were satisfied with the service and looking to expand the technology into other parts of the operations. By contrast, 52 per cent of the companies yet to invest in cloud nearly all had the intention of doing so – just two per cent of these companies had no plans to go down this route.

According to Andy Burton, chairman of CIF, the results of the survey were very encouraging to the cloud industry. “I’m very encouraged by these results,” he said. “The reality is that customers are trying the cloud, they’re doing it for a purpose and they’re very happy with it.”

He went on to say there was more caution in the public sector and in smaller businesses, but added there was interest from these sectors too. Burton also said he was encouraged by the fact it was IT departments leading the charge towards the cloud. He said it was widely held that much of the interest in cloud was being led by business leaders, but the survey revealed that 65 per cent of the companies moving to cloud had the decision taken by IT managers.

“It’s clear that cloud is on the increase and is part of a coherent IT strategy,” he concluded.

New rumour says iPhone 5 will make June release

A fresh rumour originating from South Korea is suggesting that the iPhone 5 will make the usual June release window after all.

In recent weeks it’s all been doom and gloom for Apple fans and early adopters looking forward to the iPhone 5. All signs appear to be pointing towards a late 2011 or – gasp – early 2012 release for the next generation Apple smartphone.

This latest Korean rumour claims that the iPhone 5 will maintain the tradition of launching in June. While it’s acknowledged that WWDC won’t be the venue for the iPhone 5 announcement (as it was for the iPhone 4) it will make a showing shortly after. ETNews claims that KT and SK Telecom have the new handset lined up, and that it’ll arrive in South Korea shortly after the usual front runners (like the US and UK).

Sounds promising, right? Well, not really. There are a number of problems with this rumour, meaning it doesn’t stand up as well as those that point to a late arrival for the iPhone 5.

For one thing, the iPhone 4 has only recently been released in South Korea. We know technology moves fast in the land of Samsung, but three months in between iterations? We can’t see it happening.

Then there’s the fact that there’s no precedent here, either for such a swift release in South Korea or for an additional Apple show so soon after WWDC.

That’s not to write off this rumour entirely, but the weight of evidence is still behind a launch in time for Christmas. Unfortunately.