Samsung has added a new flagship phone for 2008, which will debut formally at the World Mobile Congress next week - and you can bet Susi will be on hand to take a look.

The 'Soul' apparently completes the Ultra Edition handset series which aims to offer style-conscious consumers a fashionable yet powerful phone. Available from April, the 12.9mm slim, lightweight slider features a navigation system that adjusts according to the mode you're using - also known as "Magic Touch".

It's almost time for a dedicated Shiny crew to chuck their comfiest shoes into their suitcase and tread the halls in Barcelona - yes, it's the not-exactly-called-3GSM-anymore GSMA Mobile World Congress, and we'll be snapping up all the news and bringing you video reports a-go-go when the show kicks off on the 11th of February.

In the meantime, LG has given us a teaser of things to come with the announcement of the KF510 touchy-feely slider. Why early? Well, either it's not quite as exciting as everything else, or LG wants to beat the rush. Either way, the skinny, 10.9mm thick handset is quite an elegant offering in Stardust or Sunset - that's grey and red for us non-marketing folk. A three megapixel camera, MP3 player, touch sensitive controls and scratch resistant tempered glass screen give it a higher-end feel than it might otherwise have; all that remains is to decide whether touch sensitive controls fill you with wonderment or frustration.

LG Press Release

Phew. As ever, 3GSM was tiring both physically and mentally, with a barrage of new products and companies, plus an enormous venue to walk around. Honestly, if we believed in wearing pedometers, they'd have exploded by Tuesday.

So now the Shiny team is back in Blighty, what did we learn from this year's 3GSM? It's a chance to spot the hottest new mobile phones and technology, as well as suss out the most important mobile trends for the next 12 months. Here's our main thoughts.

1. There was no big theme this year

3GSM 2006 saw immense hype around mobile TV, with companies queuing up to proclaim it the Next Big Thing in mobile entertainment. The fact that it's since disappointed means that the lack of a single big hype this year isn't necessarily a bad thing. There was lots of buzz, but spread around a bunch of subjects, which is a healthier state of affairs.

I can pick a winning horse, me. I'm not saying they win because I pick 'em, but... Anyway, I stumbled across the Polymer stand at 3GSM, which was demonstrating some new technology that will enable you to pull out a paper-type screen from your mobile phone for viewing all sorts of stuff. And now they've won the Most Innovative Technology Award from 3GSM. Coincidence?

The mobile phone industry has gathered in Barcelona to show off the best of their wares, and Shiny Media is right in the heart of the action. Not only are we blogging about new phones as and when we learn of them, but we're also using our mobiles to audioblog - we speak, and the nifty converter types, so you can hear the uncensored thoughts of the Shiny Media Massive. Represent.

Top Stories

Toshiba launches G900 and E01 smartphones
Top 5 phones of 3GSM
The best of the new Samsung phones
HTC launches Vox/S710 - smartphone with full QWERTY keyboard
HTC launches Advantage (X7500) and P3350 mobile devices
BlackBerry news
Motorola unveils MOTOSLVR L9 multimedia handset
Nokia launches three new Eseries models - E90 Communicator, Nokia E65, and Nokia E61i
Motorola's MOTORIZR Z8 - "fit-to-face" entertainment slider phone
Nokia N77 mobile TV phone
Nokia 3110 classic 'dad phone'

Video

Samsung's F500 multimedia phone
BlackBerry's 8800
Samsung's U100 Size 0 mobile phone
Samsung's F700 Smartphone
Samsung's F300 music phone
Samsung's D840
HTC Advantage
Nokia E61i
Motorola Q9
HTC S710 and P3350
Nokia 3110
Samsung WiMAX Ultra Mobile PC
Motorola KRZR K3
LG Prada phone (part one)
Motorola SLVR L9
Motorola RIZR Z8
A first look at the LG Prada phone

3GSM Live on Spin-My-Blog

3GSM Morning roundup
Nokia at 3GSM: E61i
New Motorolas at 3GSM
Samsung WiMAX at 3GSM
Samsung steal the show at 3GSM
BlackBerry 8800, live from 3GSM
UK mobile TV a lost dream?

All the Tech Digest 3GSM coverage. Shiny Media do 3GSM Live.

Not satisfied with making all sorts of other stuff (you expect me to do my research? Pah! They make stuff, and that should be enough for you.), Toshiba have begun to manoeuvre their way into the smartphone market with the launch of two new phones at 3GSM.

The first phone - and the one everyone's getting their knickers in a twist about - is the G900, which has a QWERTY keyboard on a horizontal slide, super-fast HSDPA goodness, 3-inch WVGA screen, 2 megapixel camera and front-facing video camera, 64MB internal memory (expandable by miniSD card), rear biometric scanner, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB On-The-Go and Windows Mobile 6. The only thing it lacks is pricing and availability info - but that's for plebs, dontcha think?

While 3GSM hasn't been BlackBerry's convention in quite the same way it's been Motorola's, there has been more than a wee bit of BlackBerry-related news following the launch of the 8800, and I thought it would be handy to put it all in one place. Aren't I lovely?

First up comes the news that Vodafone will be the first UK mobile operator to offer the 8800, so all you Crack(Berry) heads had best get down to your local shop and start badgering. Or you could always go to their website for full pricing information, but that would just be lazy.

One of the best, although some cynical bloggers would also say one of the worst, things about Samsung is they always launch so many phones. 3GSM has been no different with around a dozen or so new handsets taking their bow. The downside of this is that some times some phones get lost in the rush.

So to keep things simple here’s a quick trawl through the best of the new Samsung breed, along with our comments and, when appropriate, links to videos.

Samsung F700 - In our books this the one to watch for. Samsung has delivered a large touch screen phone (it has a 2.78 inch display) with its own pull out QWERTY keypad for when you need to do some proper work. Other than its screen it has very impressive looking five mega pixel camera, complete with auto focus, a decent looking web browser and the souped up version of HSDPA which in theory can run up to seven Mbps. The only downside is that you’ll have to wait until Q3 before you can get your mitts on one.

Watch video here

If you're still too attached to your laptop to even contemplate ditching it for the Advantage, then this may be the HTC for you.

The company has announced the Vox (also known as the S710), a smartphone with full QWERTY keyboard, a 2.4-inch QVGA display, a 2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, 128MB of Flash memory, 64MB RAM and microSD support. Like every other smartphone in the whole world (except that one you're thinking of. Pedant!), it runs Windows Mobile 6.

You like? Go see Orange, who'll hook you up with a nice one. Probably for many many pennies, unless you go for the first-born child contract option.

Check out the rest of our 3GSM coverage. And don't forget to check out Tech Digest for more reports.

So you've seen the video of Susi saying goodbye to her laptop for once and for all (or at least until the next high-spec shiny laptop-shaped gadget catches her eye), but how about a write up? After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, so a moving picture is worth at least a million. And all those words will make your eyes hurt, so why not downsize and read 100 or so?

I've not actually been jammy lucky enough to go to Barcelona, or to look at these new toys without a computer screen and many miles of cable in the way, so check out what the Tech Digest boys had to say after covering the new toys in boy cooties: "The HTC Advantage (X7500) is like a miniaturised PC, powered by a 624MHz XScale processor and Windows Mobile 5. It also features an 8GB hard drive, along with tri-band UMTS with HSDPA, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, QWERTY keyboard, 5-inch VGA touchscreen, 3 megapixel camera and built-in GPS. Battery life is good too - up to 8 hours between charges. Expect to see it in the UK as the T-Mobile Ameo next month."

For details of the P3350 see after the jump.

Well, there's another hour or so of the majority of the Shiny Massive's time here at 3GSM (although Hard Core Stu is staying on for more mobile fun); just time enough for a quick reflection on our own personal Top Five Best Things What We've Seen. There's a noteable absence of certain big players, but we've looked deep into our souls and decided that's just the way it is.

1. LG Prada
I was very over-excited to get my hands on the LG Prada phone yesterday, and was not only not disappointed, but positively surprised at just how luxurious it was. The touch screen is a sleek black and white, and navigating it is a doddle. In actual life, I'll be interested to see how easy it is to text, but as an aspirational handset, it's a winner. Check out the video here.

I've just overheard someone in the press room say that if they heard anyone else saying they'd developed a product that was going to mean you could leave your laptop at home, he was going to commit murder. Well, I'm really hoping he doesn't read it, otherwise I might be done for accessory to murder - guess what this does? Yep. You can resign your laptop to The Place Where Technology Goes to Die (under your bed), as this is so cute, and so light, you'll never want to use it again.

I took a look at two of the more friendly phones from the HTC announcements made today here at 3GSM. The first is all about the music, and is hoping to tempt you away from your none converged MP3 player, whilst the second reckons it'll have you IMing your mates on the bus.

It's a bit of a Samsung love-fest here at the moment, as Susi and Ashley are getting hands on with some of the brand's recently announced mobiles. The latest cat out of the bag is this rather sleek F500 multimedia phone, which features a handy swivel function, allowing you to view videos while it's propped up on a table. It can play DivX files, although with the micro SD memory slot, it limits those files to just 2GB. Still, it's a nice piece of kit, one I'd personally love to check out in detail at a later date.

Susi has made a recent discovery over at 3GSM - could this be an LG Shine killer? Samsung have displayed unfortunate timing by announcing their D840, which, whaddyknow, has a highly reflective mirror finish, slide function, and design which resembles something we know all too well by now.

Not to be confused with Nokia's 8800, BlackBerry have just announced their new version, the 8800, which apparently contains 'GPS goodness', according to our woman of the hour, Susi, who obviously needs a long nap, judging by this video. Bless. The mobile appears to be a mash-up of the Pearl, and previous model, the 8700g. Expect to see this glued to your nearest businessman's ear shortly.

Ever the comedian, Susi has pronounced this U100 mobile from Samsung as being so thin, it 'verges on taking up minus space'. Wowsers. If this U100 were a woman, she'd be stumbling down the London Fashion Week catwalks in a semi-drunk-coked-up haze right about now.

Still hovering around the Samsung stand at 3GSM like a hobo 'round The Ivy's garbage cans, Ashley has his mitts firmly clamped on the F300 music phone from Samsung. This hybrid of a mobile phone, and music player on the flip-side is 'quite strokable' according to him, although with the storage capacity of only 2GB, a little disappointing.

Remember that Samsung F700 smartphone I mentioned last week, with the slide-out qwerty keyboard and 5-megapixel camera? Well, Ashley from Tech Digest is a lucky little sod, as he's got within inches of one over in Barcelona for 3GSM. That's right, he got within breathing space of the F700. Try not to fall off your chair next time, readers.

Another launch from Motorola, who have without a doubt been the most active of the big boys here at 3GSM. This one is the Q9, which offers a whole host of serious business functions, all packed into a none-too-ugly design.