Last night BlackBerry threw an awesome (if not slightly short) party, which was jolly decent of them, since they hadn't actually launched anything at the show. Still, it was nice to be there, and they even invited everyone's favourite Jazz-Lite Hobbit, Jamie Cullum. He had very very very strange hair. And because I was so dedicated I spent the duration of his Singing in the rain/Rhianna Umberella mash up standing on a chair with a camera, just so you could get some Jamie Cullum type enjoyment on a Friday afternoon.

Don't say I never give you anything.

You might have missed this announcement in all the new handset-shaped commotion, but Nokia have announced a whole new service which they hope is going to set them apart from other hardware manufacturers. The service is called Ovi, and it's designed as somewhere to dump and access all your phone-based media, such as songs, photos and movies.

It's going to tie together Nokia's Comes With Music service, N-Gage gaming and the photos you take, on one easy to use dashboard. You can then choose which of your contacts can view which bits, and you can create channels containing certain things, further personalising it. It's web 2.0 meets content creating meets flickrmeetingxbox meets probablysomethingelseaswell.

This service is being made available on the recently announced N96 and the N78 and the currently available N95, N73 and N82.

Like that? Read this: Nokia N78 launched |N98 launched

After attempting a part-recycled design with the Evolve, the Finnish communications giant set itself a challenge to keep in Greenpeace's good books make a phone constructed entirely of "nothing new".

Presumably this applies to the case more than the innards, but said case is made from aluminium cans, car tyres and old plastic bottles; the phone also features backlighting with reduced power consumption, thus improving the battery life substantially. Unfortunately it doesn't actually work and is unlikely to hit the shops soon, but if it inspires any company to get moving and turn prototypes into a greener reality, then it's all good. There's even a product video showing you the phone up close.

Nokia [via Smartplanet]

Like that? Read this: CES 2008: Nokia Eco Sensor Project

Can't be bothered to read at length but want to look informed on the latest and greatest mobiles that have come out of the Mobile World Congress this year? This is the site for you. We cater for the lazy, incapable and just plain busy, by providing you with the top ten phones wot we have seen, all ranked IMHO.

1. Sony Ericsson Xperia X1
My, what a pretty and yet totally functional phone. It's the star of the show, thanks to it's ergonomic design, full QWERTY keyboard, WiFi and Windows Mobile OS. In fact, its almost enough to make me want to ditch the Converses in exchange for something all together more business-like.

2. Sony Ericsson Cybershot C902
I thought Sony Ericsson had the best product line-up by a country mile, and this Cybershot confirmed it. The camera emerges when you pull the two ends of the phone apart, and it boasts 5 megapixels, touchscreen controls, face detection and multi-point focus.

Clearly the music industry is hoping that making a few DRM-free concessions and pleading with the government to put anti-piracy measures in place that have more holes in them than swiss cheese is going to save them from a lurching, painful death. Clearly the first step is somewhat more helpful than than the second, and that's where Jamba, the company behind Jamster, comes in.

The Berlin-based company is the first European provider to offer its DRM-free collection to both PCs and handsets. You'd get a higher quality MP3 delivery to your PC, and a smaller AAC+ compressed file to your handset, ensuring a balance of quality and effective use of storage. Eventually the whole catalogue of over 1.5 million EMI DRM-free tracks will be available across Jamba and Jamster portals in Europe and beyond.

Jamster

Like that? Read this: DRM: We don't want it, and it looks like we don't need it either | DRM-free iTunes at long last - living up to Steve Jobs' open letter

Susi and the crew in (fairly) sunny Barcelona are scooping up the mobile announcements and grabbing video previews just for YOU. Here's what we've seen so far:

We learned all about the future of mobile Internet through HSPA here.
We embraced an alternative mobile searching option from Taptu here.
We analysed what we've learned from this year's show here.
We tried out three different input methods with the LG KF700 here.
We got very up close and personal with the "hawt" Nokia N78 here.
We got colourful with the BlackBerry Pearl here.
We gave a nod to the entry-level with Samsung here.
We signed up for unlimited music downloads with MusicStation Max here.
We found our way with Nokia's Navigator and Classic phones here.
We poked at the glass case concealing LG's phone watch concept here.
We checked out the new addition to Toshiba's Portégé range here.
We tested Ashley's breath with DoCoMo's fitness handset here.
We got hands on with the Nokia N96 here.
We got in a touchscreen frenzy with LG here.
We pitted the iPhone and the Nokia N96 against each other here.
We celebrated the European release of the HTC Shift here.
We caught the Sony Ericsson W980 on camera here

New buzzword alert!! HSPA! HSUPA! Horizon phones!!! Don't panic - it's all about getting the internet anywhere you please, and Ashley is here to talk you through it in calm and measured tones. He's also showing off the first of these Horizon phones from the folks at LG.

It's good to see that there are people out there who haven't just accepted Google as the only option when it comes to internet searches. In particular, Taptu have vowed to take on mobile searching, with their easy peasy service. Entering the site from your browser, you can search for anything, and the results will be easily categorised into video, wiki, image, song and the like. As well as being super-fast and easy, there's an additional service called 1-Tap. 1-Tap allows you to send the stuff you find to friends, as well as sharing to your Twitter account.

Having given it a go, it works really well with the Blackberry browser, and they promise it's totally accessible from any standard mobile browser - it doesn't involve any installation of software. And the best news of all? It's as free as the air you breath (you're not reading this in one of those oxygen bars are you?). And it must be good, because they won the Global Community Award at the MoMo Peer Awards last night. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds pretty impressive.

Try Taptu here.

It's nearing the end of our time here in Barcelona, and it's been real. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that it's been informative. It's always a good chance to do some future predicting, hopefully allowing you to act all "oh yeah, I *totally* predicted that" in about six months time. Here's the heads up on what you should look out for in 2008:

Multiple inputs
If last year was all about full on touchscreens, this year all the manufacturers seemed to be beating somewhat of a retreat. Both Samsung and LG debuted a half touchscreen half 'normal' screen, and LG went one better with the KF700, which had a touchscreen, numeric keyboard and jog wheel. Anyone who's used a dedicated touchscreen will no doubt be pleased by the about turn.

Connectivity
It's all about being able to use the internet anywhere. We were talking about HSDPA last year, and now they're all about HSUPA. That's uploading content, versus the downloading of content with HSDPA. In fact, they're now just talking about HSPA, which is every which way. There's also announcements like Gobi and the Horizon phones, which not only give you HSPA, but have no geographical boundaries since they work across all frequencies.

This is the LG phone which comes with three different input menus - your bog standard numeric keyboard, the touchscreen and the jog wheel. They're very excited about it, we're quite liking it. But we are suffering from mobile fatigue, so excuse our level-headedness. We'll be back to normal tomorrow.

So, there was much excitement at the Nokia stand, when they announced the N78. It's like the N81, but... better. There's GPS, there's geotagging, there's some swanky menu systems. It's hawt. PS This is the one where Ashley holds the camera absurdly close to my face.

We're pretty sure this is mostly old news, but while all the other phone announcements are raging from Mobile World Congress, BlackBerry was feeling left out and thought it would swish its skirts and pinch its cheeks to get everyone's attention.

So here's a lovely visual reminder of the fact that you can get a BlackBerry Pearl in shiny, classy black (guess which colour mine is?), elegant titanium, blue, sunset red, amethyst and that colour absolutely no-one is interested in on Shiny Shiny. No-one. Ever. *whispers* You know... the P-word.

Enjoy the fashion show.

BlackBerry Pearl

For more mobile news check out our Mobile World Congress category.

Samsung might be getting Soul, but it's also not forgetting the entry-level handset market, with three budget models hoving into view at the MWC according to Tech Digest.

The J700 slider (left), packs a 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD expansion, FM radio, music player and a 2" display, set into a mirrored finish. This is arriving next month for about 130-140 Euros.

According to the guys at Qualcomm, mobile TV is not quite dead. In fact, it's very much alive, albeit not in the UK. We were unimpressed by the 3G services, and DAB meant nothing to us, so how are we ever going to get over the nasty taste these things left in our mouth?

We won't put up with anything sub-standard. We're used to 60 channels in our homes, of a decent quality, with a full Electronic Programme Guide - why would we settle for anything less when mobile? In the Far East, DVB-H pick up is huge, and there are thousands of people who watch full programs on their mobile. The problem over here is that there's a lack of spectrum available, so there's just not the room to host 30+ channels on that service.

Qualcomm are purveyors of all things techy and complicated, but once in a while they present a product that even I can appreciate. The latest announcement is that they've partnered with HP to put their Gobi technology in HP's laptops. It's nice to see such a serious company have a sense of humour with their product names.

It basically means that wherever you are in the world, you'll have full HSPA, so whether you're in a CDMA or a UMTS zone, you'll be able to use the same laptop, same interface and same connectivity package. It could even make hotspots a thing of the past. They are currently working with Vodafone as the data supplier, and the technology should be seen in HP business laptops released from now on.

Yay for internet with no geographical boundaries! Yay for international internet love!

When DoCoMo isn't busy helping you to track how smelly your breath is, it's offering you remote access to your house via your mobile phone. There are all sorts of security applications (and, if you're prone to losing your phone, implications), up to and including checking on the kids.

For more mobile news check out our Mobile World Congress category.

You have to have dancing at every trade show as we discovered with Sharp's Aquos dancers last year. The choreography is pretty demure, and thankfully there's no accompanying song / rap, but at one point the backwards kicks put me in mind of a classic Eurovision number...

For more mobile news check out our Mobile World Congress category.

Omnifone has announced a partnership with LG to produce the first handset in the newly launched MusicStation Max unlimited mobile music handset programme.

With other major handset manufacturers set to follow, MusicStation Max provides the user with a pre-licensed phone meaning unlimited downloads, playback and sharing of music for free. The new handset, which will appear in the first half of this year, will have 3G/HSDPA support and will feature a touchscreen interface.

Once users sign up to a special music, voice and data plan for 12 or 18 months, no more payment will be required to access unlimited amounts of musical content.

Nokia has unveiled a brace of handsets packing a collection of advanced navigation and mulitmedia features.

The Nokia 6210 Navigator is the company's first phone to incorporate GPS with an integrated compass, allowing for a much more advanced navigation service for pedestrian use. Bundled with the newly announced Nokia Maps 2.0, the phone utilises an accelerometer which should allow for accurate guidance based on changes in the user's orientation.

The 6210 works on 3.5G networks, and takes advantage of that by marrying navigation and the Web to give information about points of interest. The phone can also be used just as easily as a sat-nav in car, with one-touch navigation and the usual features you'd expect from a dedicated system.

LG have some watches behind a case, above which says 'Phone Watch'. How's it communicate via your phone? No idea. Does it have any internal storage (it looked like it was playing music)? Not a clue. But stick a watch behind some glass, give it a futuristic name, and journalists/Ashley is putty in your hands.