Top 10 Mobile World Congress 2010 rumours

• Sony Ericsson Android Qwerty

  The two key high-end smartphones from Sony Ericsson – namely the Xperia X2 and Satio – didn’t have great luck in 2009. The delays and software issues that blighted these devices left a bitter taste in the mouth. Hopefully Sony Ericsson’s new Qwerty-packing Android phone won’t suffer from these same issues.

  Unlike most Qwerty-equipped Androids, this Sony Ericsson will feature a Blackberry-style mini-Qwerty. If it sits at a low price point, this device could prove a serious worry for lower-end BlackBerry devices like the 8520 Curve. However, if it has high-end aspirations, it’ll have to be pretty spectacular to keep up with the excellent Bold 9700.

• Windows Mobile 7

  We may not see Windows Mobile 7 outside of the Zune phone but its appearance is likely to be the most important OS unveiling of Mobile World Congress. Windows 6.5 improved on the faulty formula of Windows Mobile 6.1, but Windows Mobile 7 needs to up its game if it’s to retain any grasp on the business smartphone sector.

  Windows Mobile 7 is designed for use with high-end devices, while Windows 6.5 will continue to make an appearance on low cost handsets. A new mobile version of Microsoft Office is planned for the OS, but the first hurdle for 7 to cross is the user interface. Scratch away Windows Mobile 6.5’s surface layer and you’re faced with the ugly face of Windows Mobile 6.1. Yuck.

• Samsung to unveil Bada

  Bada is Samsung's new SDK designed to let developers make apps for the latest version of the TouchWiz OS, which will feature on the S8500 and S8200 handsets at MWC. Both are high-end devices with OLED displays, and will be sold at a suitably premium price point. Apps produced with Bada should help push Touchwiz handsets up the smartphone scale, to compete with high-end handsets like the Google Nexus One.

  Screenshots of the latest version of TouchWiz were leaked in December, revealing that it's something of a mix of Android and Symbian. We’ll be back with our impressions of it in action following MWC.

• More Maemo Nokias

  Nokia has bowed out of making a big appearance at Mobile World Congress, but announcements may still be made remotely during the conference. Our gaze is locked on Nokia’s involvement with the Maemo platform, as used in the flagship Nokia N900 phone. MWC would be the perfect platform for Nokia to announce its next handset powered by Maemo.

  Sadly, the N87 that was leaked as one of Nokia's next Maemo devices turned out to be a fake, so we'll have to wait to see exactly what Nokia handsets will show up.

• LG Arena Max

  The LG Arena Max has already been spotted, so we’d be surprised if it doesn’t make an appearance during the MWC period. It’s a high-end device with two particular features that we like a lot – a 3.5-inch touchscreen and the 1GHz Snapdragon processor.

  We’re yet to discover what OS it uses though, and that’s perhaps the most important thing to know about any smartphone. So, will it be an S-Class device like the Arena, or perhaps a skinned version of Windows Mobile 6.5?
  
  We’ll have to wait until next week to find out. The LG Arena Max also features a 5-megapixel camera, GPS and Wi-Fi

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