It was a week ago that I returned from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and I’m STILL exhausted. It was truly overwhelming and surely a Gadget Gals paradise, not to mention a “sausage fest” as Sara would put it.

Not only that, but I found myself wifi challenged the first day and a half. Mind you, I arrived there Tuesday morning and went straight to the venue. Despite the Media Wifi card, access was horrible. If you weren’t accessing their ethernet cables then wifi was fickle, for me anyway. I would’ve gotten those Yoigo Pre-Paid data and phone sim cards if I only knew where they were earlier. Luckily, Wednesday afternoon I managed to find a phone house and purchase two. I didn’t want to be caught without wifi ever. NEVER!

It really was too bad though. I was not able to qik or live stream or tweet (much) or especially take photos and twitpic, posterous or facebook them.

Wednesday afternoon was spent trying to see everything (which I didn’t get to do). Thursday was spent seeing the exhibits I really wanted to see and going back and talking to people. Thursday was by far the best day in terms of talking to people. However, by the time I got back to the press area, I only had like 20 minutes to upload photos to flickr …  I had forgotten that the press area closed at 4 pm on the last day. In fact, when I left the press area, the exhibitors were already starting to pack up.

I did manage to take enough photos and enough vids. What I still need to do is to write about all the things I wanted to share. This weekend should be a blogging weekend. Hopefully I’ll get MWC10 squared away before CeBIT next week.

acer beTouch E400

After fondling so many devices, it’s hard to remember which ones felt really good. Of course I’m talking about smartphones, what did you think? Sheesh!

I do remember some devices that were a tad slippery to hold, or maybe that was just some of the grease left over from the burger I had for lunch (oops), but there certainly were devices that were not too ergonomically friendly. I mean, what company does the focus groups for what people best prefer when it comes to the shape, handling and feel of a handheld device?? Since when did our fingers and palms scream out, “Hey handheld manufacturers, give us some flat, slim love!”

I don’t care about what marketing hypes surround some of these gadgets, notice how their descriptions barely mention how the device “feels”.

Look, if you’re going to be holding these babies most of the day or night, while standing in crowded subways or walking down the sidewalk with the gadget in one hand and a grande caramel macchiato in the other, then you better like the way the gadget “feels” in your palm and more over, your fingers and palm better like the way the gadgets are shaped.

Well, you’ll see what I mean when you watch this video … just saying …

While wandering the auditorium halls, I happened to catch Google’s Eric Schmidt, giving his keynote speech. So shoot me for not staying the entire keynote but my tummy was grumbling and when my tummy speaks, I listen.

I did manage to stay for the first 20 minutes, enough to see the demo of Google’s Voice Search and to know that, German was the fourth language to be added to their search. Out of the 20 minutes of EricSpeak time I found one sentence that struck out at me in a good way.

” … mobile first.”

Indeed, developers are no longer placing mobile app development on their roadmap after browsers, but rather developing new apps / software on mobile, FIRST. This statement does not only mark the point of a change in software development but more importantly, signify the start of a truly mobile world – for some, with more possibilities for others.

I’m not going to make a statement that would lock Google as the leader of the mobile world, dare I even think that. I will however,  minutely suggest that Google has definitely upped the anty in terms of “empowerment for the end user”.

Eric Schmidt also mentioned something along the lines of the U.S. being one of the leaders of LTE, in other words, 4G is just a bridge away. I need to emphasize the phrase ‘one of the leaders’ because he also clearly mentioned that the Europeans, who have been known to lead the world in wireless technology, with China close behind, are collaborative partners when it comes to deploying LTE to the world.

I understand that there may be a few snickers at the mention of 4G, as there still needs to be much improvement with 3G, not to mention networks even being able to provide 3G, let alone, reliable 3G, just saying.

But what the world doesn’t know won’t hurt them. One day, humans will wake up to the reality of a standard 4G and perhaps augmented reality apps that have somehow creeped into our devices overnight.

Here’s a video of this keynote:

We’re getting ready to leave for the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. We had such a great response from people wanting “What’s up, Android?” to be present at their exhibit announcements that out heads are spinning on where to go first, since a lot of these presentations take place almost simultaneously. 

We’ll try to cover as much as we can and then of course there are the many “cocktail” invites to try to attend .. so many people to see, so little time. 

There’ll be a separate Mobile World Congress 2010 Category called MWC2010 that will be set up for all things relating to the 4 day event. We’ll have to miss the First day but will be arriving late morning on Tuesday and staying all the way till Thursday.

Do stay tuned for our coverage of the events that are taking place in Barcelona!

Stay tuned for updates, highlights, photos, interviews, tweets and much more.

I was just wondering how many Android devices were given out as Valentine gifts today? I still believe that accessories for women (and for men) are changing, in terms of the actual objects people are using as accessories. For one, a mobile device.

Yesterday I managed to do something I have  not done in awhile …. window shop. The first place I did my window shopping was at the city Saturn store that houses electronics and gadgets of all types. The place was crowded but I did not attribute this fact to it being Valentine’s the following day. Rather, it was probably just another busy Saturday filled with people being ‘good consumers’.

What I was disappointed at was the fact that were was not one Android device in the store … (unless I completely over looked it – which in that case, demonstrates the popularity of Android devices with the retailers).

My next goal now is to find out how to get Android devices into more mainstream stores where the numbers are greater. Who decides this anyway?

I really would like to know if people indeed, gave their loved ones an Android device for Valentine’s, other than a diamond or whatever it is that people give to one another on this fine day, other than an exchange of genital flesh. Just saying.

Seven more days to go and we’re gearing up to take Barcelona by storm. Android PR Gal will be meeting a few other Androidians (@timstrazz @_zero @alsutton @Manupool? @mtrends ) rumored to be invading an area of that Spanish city and who knows what antics will ensue.

First off, definitely a meet up for a much awaited IRL (in real life) #androidcoffee. Next, major hacking and coding in the evening(s) and playing around with some nifty gadgets, slated to make a presence at the designated, rented loft. Third, there’ll be a Mobile Cocktail event .. I don’t know about you, but cocktails .. and mobile? Sounds good to me, just as long as they are not moving at such high velocities, that would make my head spin into unimaginable g-forces (imagined only be me).

We’ll also be attending the Android Developer Lab on the 17th of February. Really looking forward to meeting some of the Barcelona devs as well as others from around the world.  Be sure that there’ll be lots of photos and vids taken during this time.

For the early birds, there will be the 5th annual Mobile Sunday (February 14th) Meet Up – a gathering of mobile bloggers and the like. Be sure to look into attending if you’ll be arriving on Sunday. You’ll need to reserve your tickets on Amiando (€25).

If you plan to attend this years Mobile World Congress, please let us know so that we can meet up!

Ping us at prgal@whatsupandroid.com or send us a tweet at @whatsupandroid

Barcelona, here we come!

“… to sleep, perchance to dream …”

I don’t know about many of you, but I often have trouble sleeping. I don’t think it’s an insomniac thing, as much as I believe that I really am a “night person”, forced to adjust my natural body clock to the “rat race” world. This obviously has some repercussions on my sleep and wake modes.

The only thing that has managed to appease this inherently “my body is not a happy camper” situation is to use a device aid, or rather, an android app that runs on a device. I love you my “Lightning Bug!”.

I never had problems getting to sleep .. oh .. at say, about 6 am in the morning (that’s standard night person schedule) but for reasons just described I find I need all the coaxing and help I can get.

Lightning Bug comes with the following features:

- 6 screen modes

- customizable sounds per screen mode

- customizable volume settings per sound

- sleep timer (I love this)

- alarm mode with lots of different alarm ring tones to suit everyone’s wake up mode (I am not kidding you on this)

- option to turn on and off the clock display

- large, simple and self explanatory icons (for those with well endowed fingers)

- regular updates that keep up with each android os upgrade

- that ever elusive EXIT button that’s so easy to spot

- cool, friendly, “cute” developers.

Lightning Bug is also one of the TOP APPS of the Android Market in the Health Category!

The version I have been using was 1.0.12. There is now an upgrade, 1.0.13 that offers even more options.

Here is a video demo of “Lightning Bug“, created by the team behind 1908 Media.

Developer: 1908 Media
Version: 1.0.12

Demo’d on handset: T-Mobile Pulse
Firmware version: 1.5
Kernel version: 2.6.27-perf

Update 1.0.13 now available!

I must apologize for the video quality. The camera was trying to auto focus but holding it with my left hand, navigating a device with my right and then trying to talk in some kind of organized fashion was a bit too challenging for me.

Hello World!

2010 will mark the tipping point for Mobile Technology. Mobile operating systems have taken a large leap in defining an empowered future by abandoning the old ways of “what’s our’s is our’s and you can’t have any” to turning the other cheek and going “open source”.

Yesterday marked the entry of yet another big player, the world of  the Symbian OS. Opening its doors to the developer world, the platform will surely be going over a radical make-over, even if it only involves the acquisition of “accessories” in terms of apps.

But what does this all mean? Why didn’t the Symbian Gods open their pearly gates earlier? Why now?

Did Android have something to do with influencing this “turn over a new leaf” or ?

Right before our social media consciousness, we are witnessing the future of mobile unfold into an exciting platform of possibilities. Where this will lead only time will tell.

One thing is for sure.  If we’ve ever been really connected, we will be even more connected now, in ways that will make us think “Now, this is more like it.”

Never mind that Apple decided to call their new baby (the iPAD)  a name which makes women cringe and “LOL” in such cynical ways. Never mind that Google is handing out FREE Nexus Ones to as many anxious and ambitious developers worldwide. Never mind the the Symbian OS has emerged from an obviously “productive” brain storming session .. the question is, “How will Microsoft’s new phone, fare when entering the game?”