After the success of the MOTO A 1200, Motorola has announced that version 2 is on its way. The new MING, the A1600, appears to have a similar design but is a bit squarish with a similar transparent flip casing.

It will be 3G-enabled, come equipped with Wi-Fi and AGPS, and retain its touchscreen feature, but will have a newer Linux UI. Another upgrade is with the camera. The A1600 will boast a 3.2 megapixel, auto-focus camera with an LED flash. The CPU has also undergone an upgrade, so it should naturally be faster. The phone will be approximately 17.5 mm thick, so it’s going to be slimmer than the original. No pricing or availability has been announced yet.

The K660 is a new launch from Sony Ericsson that hasn’t yet made it officially into the Indian market. But being who I am and knowing the people I do, I managed to get my paws on a prototype test piece. Of course it didn’t come with the full kit, so I can give you only a preview. Here’s what I can let you in on for now. The K660 is a good-looking candybar phone that’s available in some cool colors. It has a certain good-to-hold feeling, so it’s not like other Sony Ericssons. Thankfully there’s no sticky joystick but a very easy-to-maneuver 5 way nav-pad. The buttons and keys are very well placed and easily accessible.

The phone is lightweight and the 2-inch display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels is really crisp. The K660 doesn’t have any features that will make it stand out amidst other Sony Ericsson phones. It comes with regular business features like calendar, notes, schedules, stopwatch, timer etc. As for connectivity, it’s 3G-enabled with HSDPA and has a VGA camera in front for video calls. Also available are EDGE and Bluetooth with A2DP compatibility. It comes with Google Maps preinstalled.

Apple Inc. is negotiating with Japan’s top mobile phone carrier to launch the iPhone in Japan, though the cut of subscriber revenue that Apple wants has been a sticking point, according to a report published Tuesday. NTT DoCoMo spokesman Shuichiro Ichikoshi said company President Masao Nakamura met recently with Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs. Shuichiro declined to comment further. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, reported Tuesday that Jobs and Nakamura discussed launching the iPhone in Japan. Apple has said it plans to launch the device in Asia in 2008 but has not provided details.

NTT DoCoMo had nearly 53 million subscribers and commanded more than half of Japan’s mobile phone market at the end of September, but has struggled to add new users in recent months amid fierce competition from KDDI Corp. and Softbank Corp., which have slashed rates and launched aggressive sales promotions. Apple and NTT DoCoMo are still negotiating the terms of a deal, with one stumbling block being Apple’s demands to receive the same percentage of subscriber revenue from NTT DoCoMo that it receives from other carriers, according to the Journal.

If a deal with NTT DoCoMo falls through, Apple is also talking with Softbank, according to the report. Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock declined to comment. The introduction of the combination iPod-cell phone-Internet surfing device to the world’s second-largest economy would be a tremendous boon for Cupertino-based Apple, which hopes to sell about 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.

Motorola has introduced the MOTO Q 8, the GSM version of the original CDMA-based MOTO Q, as well as the flagship, quad-band 3G QWERTY, the MOTO Q 9h, in India. The MOTO Q 9h, based on the Windows Mobile 6 operating system, features a dual-processor HSDPA/UMTS engine, enabling downloads at up to 3.6Mbps. Moto Q 8 is a quad band GPRS/EDGE1 QWERTY device that is also based on Windows Mobile 6 operating system.”

Motorola is expanding its range in the enterprise segment in India with the launch of  MOTO Q 8 and MOTO Q 9h’” said Lloyd Mathias, Director Marketing, India & South West Asia for Motorola Mobile Devices. “The MOTO Q 9h was developed as a multi-purpose communication device that is easy to use and doesn’t compromise on experiences. This smartphone offers state-of-the art voice quality technology, messaging, and speed, processing power, keyboard and display packaged within a sleek design for the modern consumer.

A complete productivity and entertainment-on-the-go device.” Both MOTO Q 8 and MOTO Q9h are preloaded with Documents To Go application which enables user to create, edit and view Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint slides and view PDF files.

T-Mobile and Vodafone signed a common, self-regulating code of ethics to make mobile usage of early teens and children safer. Signing the document was proceeded by almost half a year joint preparation which in Hungary was coordinated by Vodafone. The use of mobile telephones is widespread by now and ever more children and young teens have mobile phones also in Hungary. Terminals enjoying the highest popularity among youth are capable of using multimedia services and downloading versatile contents.

Content primarily targeting adult audience is also available to children ñ the importance of this problem and the need to work out efficient solutions is paid special attention to both in Hungary and abroad. Based on the recently signed code on self regulation all three mobile operators agree that protecting young users bears special importance. Therefore the companies grant their support to controlling access to adult content, creating campaigns, fighting illegal content reaching users through mobile phones and they provide for means to classify commercial content in a transparent way.

The companies started the preparation of the code of ethics already last year, however the document was only signed now as details needed to be finalised. The three operators will review the code annually and they may amend it if necessary. Mobile operators jointly with content providers have also established the code of ethics concerning premium rate services already in 2007, with the primary objective of providing accurate, comprehensive and correct information on such services and putting in place a unified regulation scheme.

3D graphics benchmarks aren’t the ‘be all and end all’ when it comes to games playing performance, but they’re a good clue as to how capable a device is. So it was interesting to find out about a regularly updated and bookmarkable table of OpenGL ES benchmarked smartphones. It’s topped by the ‘if you believe Nokia’ obsolete N93 and the N-Gage 1st access smartphone, the N81, comes in a lowly 22nd. Read on for comment. As evidenced by the ‘where’s the N93 update?’ outcry when we announce news of new firmware for other devices, the N93 does seem to be ‘the device that Nokia has forgotten’, despite the stellar showing here and despite the fabulous video recording and (recorded) sound quality.

Nokia - this used to be THE flagship, it’s still the fastest and best for many applications, even in 2008, and yet we haven’t had a firmware update for years! Also high up in the 3D benchmark table are the N93i (essentially the same as the N93 under the hood), the N82 and N95 variants, followed shortly by the VGA-screened Dell Axims, the UIQ 3-powered Motorola Z8 and the Nokia E90. Everything else, on all platforms, is a long, long way behind….The necessity for 3D graphics acceleration hardware (as in the N95, N93, N82 and E90 above) for gaming is a moot point. You’d have thought that this would be a requirement for next-gen N-Gage games, but it seems that most titles are built around software-rendered graphics and have the likes of the N81 and N73 as their baseline.

Nokia and PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, will bring connected mobile Java(TM) games to the SNAP Mobile platform. The award winning Chuzzle(TM) is the first game to be re-developed by PopCap under a multi-game agreement.”SNAP Mobile is all about bringing fun multiplayer Java games to the masses,” said Paul Whitaker, Head of Business Development for SNAP Mobile, Nokia. “With a catalog of broadly appealing games, PopCap titles are a perfect addition to our growing portfolio.”

“Downloads of our mobile games continue to grow rapidly and we have learned that consumers are increasingly looking for on-the-go games that allow them to interact with one another,” said Andrew Stein, Director of Mobile Business Development, PopCap. “To help meet that growing demand, we’re happy to cooperate with a company like Nokia that shares our vision of bringing engaging and fun casual games to the mobile mass-market along with a proven track record of efficiently distributing and hosting connected mobile games.”

T-Mobile and Yahoo! enter into a strategic partnership, and effective end of March 2008 T-Mobile will launch industry leading mobile search with Yahoo!. T-Mobile is also expanding partnerships for its social web services by cooperating with communities such as YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and bebo. In order to allow T-Mobile customers to access these services anywhere and anytime, the company is lowering roaming charges for data usage in Europe.

Further plans for 2008: T-Mobile will launch mobile instant messaging services in leading European markets. Therefore partnerships have been agreed with providers of Windows Live Messenger, ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and Yahoo! Messenger. T-Mobile getting YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and bebo on board. Through partnerships with some of the most popular mobile community-based video/photo sharing and social networking platforms, T-Mobile customers can network with friends and business partners on their mobile phones wherever and whenever they choose.

Prominent examples include the internet communities YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and bebo. An optimized phone interface and the proven web’n’walk widgets allow users to personalize their mobile Internet experience. The main advantage: Users can access their favorite sites with one click from their personalized homepage of the web’n’walk portal. “Cooperation with YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and bebo allows T-Mobile customers to develop and expand their personal networks whenever and wherever they like,” says Christopher Schläffer, Group Product & Innovation Officer at T-Mobile International.

Samsung’s latest iteration of its popular Blackjack Windows Mobile phone is getting ready to hit the spotlight. The Samsung SGH-i617 BlackJack 2 (II) is said to have an integrated GPS module – the SiRF III GPS receiver that’s apparently hardware-based. No word yet on what software will be used though. We do know that the phone will run on Windows Mobile 6.0 OS and is a Quadband, GSM, HSDPA-enabled phone. Price and release date haven’t been announced, nor have any detailed specs come to light.

Considering the fact that it is an upgrade, the SGH-i617 BlackJack 2 will presumably retain a familiar design, with QWERTY keypad and Wi-Fi connectivity. Hopefully it should also have Bluetooth with A2DP, and microSD support for external memory. No word yet on what camera it’ll sport, though being an upgrade it should have at least a 2 megapixel camera. But then again, this is only speculation… as soon as we know you’ll know, so stay tuned.

After being teased with the info that the phone exists, but with no news on the release date or pricing, it’s finally here. Nokia has launched the N82. Another high end mobile from the Finnish mobile makers with a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. But this time, unlike the N95, they equipped the phone with a Xenon flash. The N82 is also equipped with A-GPS for navigation with preinstalled Nokia maps and all the standard packages come with a free voice guided navigation trial. You can purchase additional features, such as city guides and longer subscription to the navigation. Also available in the standard pack is a 2GB micro SD card.

“The evolution of camera capabilities in mobile devices has been extremely fast over the past years. With the Nokia N82 we have reached such a superior level in image quality, speed and ease of use that not only does it outperform any other camera phone on the market, but it’s also a very credible alternative for single purpose digital still cameras,” said Satu Ehrnrooth, head of Nokia Nseries Cameras Category, Multimedia, Nokia. “In addition to the high-end camera, the Nokia N82 also enables you to navigate and discover new places, enjoy your music, browse the web, play games, chat online and be part of the global web 2.0 community wherever you go. Thanks to the wireless broadband connectivity, convergence and yet again increased performance, the Nokia N82 is all you need in your pocket.