The Sony Ericsson Satio, for those who do not know, is a smart phone that was first announced at the MWC in 2009 and has some very interesting features including a 12.1 MP camera with Xenon flash and video LED flash, a 3.5″ resistive TFT touchscreen, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity (HSPA class).

The Sony Ericsson Satio cellphone which comes bundled with an 8 GB microSD card has support for up to 32 GB expandable memory.

Many were excited about the Sony Ericsson Satio mobile phone and rightly so for its technical specifications and features are (even today) pretty impressive but the phone released in the UK suffered from some problems due mainly to carrier modifications to the UI and software.

The use of Symbian too put no few people off of the Sony Ericsson Satio cellphone but this latest update from Sony Ericsson promises some interesting new features.

The update for the Sony Ericsson Satio smart phone available through the Update Service client includes the following new features: WVGA recording (864 x 480 pixels), the option to upload pictures to Facebook directly from the picture menu and videos to Youtube from the media menu, DLNA support, UI improvements and the Facebook application is also available in the update.

To download the update for the Sony Ericsson Satio smart phone please click here.

So far, what little we do know of the LG Cookie Fresh GS290 mobile phone clearly indicates that it is a low-end phone quite likely catering to the needs of the masses.Amongst the known technical specifications for the LG Cookie Fresh GS290 cellphone are the following: a 2 MP camera, Bluetooth, FM radio, a 3.5 mm audio jack and like the LG Cookie Plus GS500 features a 3″ WQVGA touchscreen.

As with the LG Cookie Plus GS500 we have reviewed earlier, the LG Cookie Fresh GS290 smart phone also sports a fun “cartoon”-ish UI which according to LG should be a nice change from the regular fare and also features social networking connectivity out of the box.

Like the old Cookie and unlike the Cookie Plus, the LG Cookie Fresh GS290 mobile phone does not feature 3G connectivity but on the other hand should consequently be cheaper compared to the Cookie Plus.

In this age of recession and cutbacks, perhaps LG’s tactics of releasing low end phones with fun features like touchscreens and cartoon interfaces such as the LG Cookie Fresh GS290 smart phone might very well be the recipe for success.

Nokia Ovi was first announced August 29th 2007 and a public beta version for the desktop was released August 28th 2008, since then Nokia has expanded its Nokia Ovi services by developing new application internally and by taking over other companies such as Navteq, Starfish Software, Intellisync, Plazes and others.

Recently, Nokia released the latest version of Ovi Mail and with Ovi Mail 2.0 Arabic is now a supported language and Nokia Ovi Mail contacts and Ovi Contacts are now merged into one list. In addition to that, you can now also sync your phonebook with the Nokia Ovi Mail contacts or Ovi Contacts list.

To install Nokia Ovi Mail 2.0 onto your Nokia smart phone click here.

MeeGo, first announced the MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2010 held during February in Barcelona, Spain is a joint effort by Nokia and Intel combining their existing Maemo and Moblin Linux based mobile platforms into one.

Recent updates from the MeeGo site suggest that the Meego code repository may well be made public by the end of this month and during the same time we may actually see a MeeGo device at the end of the same period.

One thing is for sure though, MeeGo will not be ready for mass production for a while yet and poses no serious threat to the Symbian platform.

Rather cheekily it must be said, a sales manager at Innocomm said that Windows is nice but can’t beat the price of Android. Which is of course true as Android is free and open source whereas Windows Mobile or Windows Phone 7 are both closed source and no doubt have to be purchased by manufacturers to use in their devices. The picture above shows the Innocomm Skate featured at the MWC in 2009.

The Innocomm Shark is the device closest to launch at the moment and besides running on Android has some impressive technical specifications including a 3.2″ touchscreen with 800 x 400 px resolution, 8 MP camera with flash, GPS, 3G (HSPA class), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a MicroSD slot compatible with microSDHC and capable of supporting up to 32 GB of expandable memory.

The Innocomm Shark will also feature an analog TV receiver with a digital TV receiver planned for future models. Innocomm reckons that the Innocomm Shark should retail for somewhere between $500-$600 although they suspect that it might be cheaper when it finally hits the markets later this year.

Other than the Innocomm Shark, there are other models in the pipeline including the Innocomm Raja (scheduled for release in the second half of this year), Innocomm Gemini, Innocomm Shadow (will feature a 4.3″ touchscreen) and Innocomm Scorpion.

The Gresso Grand Monaco on the other hand has nothing but looks to recommend it and will leave tech-geeks rather puzzled with its $2800 price tag. On the other hand, ladies of high society will be very glad to receive this crocodile leather, jewel encrusted slab which also doubles as a cellphone known as the Gresso Grand Monaco.

The Gresso Grand Monaco mobile phone has Bluetooth, EDGE and Java support and is rather like a run of the mill cellphone. On the other hand the Gresso Grand Monaco casing is made with an ultra-strong and ultra-light Titanium alloy and several layers of high-tech ceramics for a shiny finish.

The display of the Gresso Grand Monaco is framed with a 42k sapphire crystal which is hand polished and the casing also features red crocodile skin to complete its truly elite status, need more be said?

AT&T is a mobile carrier as well as a mobile cellular service provider and recently made an announcement that it will enforce new guidelines for equipment manufacturers to improve packaging (in terms of environmental friendliness) and also to comply with GSMA universal charging solution by the end of 2011. In addition to this 75% of devices from the manufacturers must at least be 65% recyclable.

All this means that even by the end of 2010, at least 200 tonnes of plastic and paper material will be saved not to mention the newer packaging itself will be greener (more environmentally friendly).

Next, Opera Mini, the mobile web browser that is compatible with virtually every cellphone has now become compatible for Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6 devices without the need for Java.

Java is the reason that Opera Mini is so readily compatible with most mobile phones but this update means that it will operate on native resources in Windows Mobile and in addition to providing the same features and services as before, may actually load up slightly faster.

To download Opera Mini for your Windows Mobile based device please click here.

Last but not least, T-Mobile is set to launch what it calls “Very Fast Mobile Web” but is actually HSPA+ and what most people expected to be called 4G on March the 14th. 4G or HSPA+ allows for speeds of up to 21 Mbps  which is faster than many home broadband or DSL connections.

Co-incidentally (not) T-Mobile is also set to launch the webConnect Rocket on March 14th in areas which will have HSPA+ enabled and by the year’s end should also have a HSPA+ compatible handset released and as the Huawei U8800 is currently the only HSPA+ handset in the world, we very much expect that that will be it.

The Samsung S7070 smart phone and the Samsung S5150 flip phone both have “embossed quilted looks” according to Samsung and they have quite a few interesting features.

The Samsung Diva S7070 smart phone is a candybar form phone and has a 3.2 MP camera with “Beauty Effect” and “Lomo Effect” which enables users to take flawless pictures of themselves or other people.

Other than that the Samsung Diva S7070 cellphone is also geared towards social networking and has a feature that displays pop-up messages for when your friends or contacts update their social networking site profiles or statuses.

The Samsung Diva S7070 mobile phone also has an “Etiquette Mode” which can be quickly enabled and effectively silences the phone at occasions or social gatherings as required.

The Samsung Diva S5150 flip phone on the other hand also has similar features but the main difference lies in the “glittering LED” which lights up to display incoming calls or messages and of course the Samsung Diva S5150 has a clamshell form factor.

As both the Samsung Diva S7070 and S5150 mobile phones are designed for women, they also have security features such as enabling “fake calls” or “SOS messages” which users can send directly to assigned public security services.

Interestingly enough the Samsung Diva phones available from Carphone Warehouse come with free goodie bags (limited amount) that contain items such as mini-concealers, foundation creams, etc.

To clear things up a bit the Samsung Clutch W9500 is available in South Korea under the brand name Anycall, hence the photo above. On the reverse side, the Samsung Clutch W9500 sort of resembles a bezel gem (or do I mean multi-faceted?) and on the front side the Samsung Clutch W9500 mobile phone has a diamond like home button.

The Samsung Clutch W9500 cellphone is available in Romantic Pink, Beige Silver and Black Gold and on the hardware side of things packs some decent features amongst its technical specifications. This includes a 3.2″ touchscreen display, a 3 MP camera and a secondary 1.3 MP camera on the front side for video-conferencing, 3G connectivity and T-DMB (Mobile TV), GPS, Bluetooth and a microSD/microSDHC slot supporting up to 16 GB of expandable memory.

On the software side, the Samsung Clutch W9500 smart phone sports what Samsung calls Lady UI whch amongst other things has a meeting planner, SOS function, calories calculator and our personal favourite, a function that allows you to turn your LCD into a mirror. Now why this feature would be specific to Lady UI beats us because we think a mirror is a mirror and it is very useful in any case.

The Samsung Clutch W9500 mobile phone seems to us rather like the Samsung S7070 Diva cellphone with changes to the design and UI which seem to be rather stereotypical in our opinion. The Samsung Clutch W9500 smart phone itself is a closer to mid than low-end device and should do fairly well based on function alone.

As we mentioned in our earlier post, LG seems to be a step ahead of the competition and set to launch a Windows Phone 7 series based device later this year before anyone else. The LG smart phone that was handled at the Engadget show is clearly a side-slide QWERTY type device with a touchscreen.

As to the rest of the specifications it is hard to fathom although the LG Windows Phone 7 series device will of course fulfill the minimum requirements set by Microsoft for Windows Phone 7 series based handsets.

One thing we do know is that the LG Windows Phone 7 series based prototype has a 5 MP camera, what we do not know is if this will also be true for the final product. Regardless, LG seems to have set September this year as the time for the launch of this device and it will be interesting to see it in action, even if it is for no other reason than that it will be the first Windows Phone 7 series based device.

As you can see in the picture above, your handwriting need not be perfect and even so the Gesture Search application will try to work out the closest match possible.

In this set of images from the official Google Mobile blog, you can see that the user was trying to search out first “A” and then “N” using Google Gesture Search. Although to be perfectly honest the A looks more like an “H and the n is rather looks like an “h”.

But as you can see in the next picture, it all works out and Gesture Search manages to go through your contacts, applications, bookmarks, music, etc and find a result suitable for your query.

To download Google Gesture Search, go to the Android marketplace or if you have the Barcode Scanner application installed click here and follow the instructions at the Google Gesture Search download page.

The you could be a Nokia 5230 Nuron cellphone like the original you could be a Nokia 5230 mobile phone features a 3.2″ touchscreen with a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. The touchscreen itself is resistive so that might put some people off but the Nokia 5230 Nuron has other features that will make it quite an attractive phone to have.

Ever since Nokia took over Navteq, a company that produces maps that work in a wide array of applications, software and other areas besides, it has slowly been improving its GPS navigation application, Nokia Ovi Maps. Nokia Ovi Maps is featured on the Nokia 5230 Nuron smart phone and it is now a navigation system that rivals Google Maps Navigation and even some paid navigation solutions.

Other than that, the Nokia 5230 Nuron mobile phone has some interesting features amongst its technical specifications including the following: quad-band GSM and tri-band UMTS (850/1700/2100 MHz) for HSPA class 3G access, a 2 MP camera with digital zoom, Bluetooth, FM radio, A-GPS and an accelerometer.

Furthermore with microSD and microSDHC compatible slot, the Nokia 5230 Nuron makes for a great music player and supports many audio and video formats. You can also share your location with the help of Nokia Ovi Maps navigation through the Nokia 5230 Nuron smart phone.

But clearly, at this point in time, the advantage of owning the Nokia 5230 Nuron cellphone which runs Symbian^1 would mainly lie with the free navigation through Nokia Ovi Maps and with other smart phone manufacturers in the market launching various devices that are highly competitive and (so to speak) “future friendly” the Nokia 5230 Nuron looks like a weak bargain.