A recent survey from IDC of more than 4,000 mobile phone and smartphone subscribers from five countries suggests that interest in emerging applications will drive future smartphone sales. The survey results show that interest in WiFi access and location-based services are highest in the U.S. and U.K., while storage capacity, music quality, and photo quality are the highest in Germany, India, and China.

Motorola is shipping the first model in its Scpl ("scalpel") line of Linux-based phones set to replace the ubiquitous Razr. The Motofone F3, available today in India, is an extremely low-end phone featuring an "electronic paper" display, breakthrough battery life, and usability features for the illiterate. Additionally, Linux may have taken another step toward mobile ubiquity with a new initiative from Trolltech called Greensuite.

Opera Software has released Opera Mini v3.0 today. Opera Mini is a smartphone optimized web browser that runs on almost every mobile phone including the Palm Treo. The new version adds secure browsing, RSS feed preview and aggregation, a photo upload feature and content folding.

We knew it was shiny, but that was about it. Now we've got ourselves a few more angles of Nokia's upcoming 870 Internet Tablet, and a few more specs to be getting on with.

No, it's not 3G, but this budget-priced Treo still comes with plenty of messaging and productivity bells and whistles. Does the 680 hold its own against the smartphone competition? Reviews here and here.

Russian web site Mobile-Review features today a thorough review of the upcoming version of Pocket PC: 6.0 aka Crossbow. The addition of VoIP SIP functionality by default is a welcome one.

The Nokia 5300 belongs to the XpressMusic series, which is at the tip of Nokia's sword for battling Sony Ericsson's Walkman brand. The most notable features on the 5300 are the new 2.5mm earphone jack and dedicated music keys. Today we will see if the 5300 can really substitute your music player.

As promised in our interview with director Mike Hodgkinson, here is our mini-interview with rock musician Rob Dickinson, who appeared on the "Oceans" video clip, shot with a Nokia N93 camera phone.

Japan and South Korea get the coolest toys and this solar powered cellphone is but yet another example of this. Originally likened to a mini Nintendo GameBoy SP by British mag T3, the prototype runs on the energy provided by the sun's magnificent rays. Granted, if you live anywhere where the sun likes to play hide and seek more often than not (such as New York City), you might end up on a certain creek without a certain paddle.

Trying to find my perfect smartphone has been causing me the same frustration as trying to find my perfect gear bag. The quest just never ends because I've come to realize that there isn't any one perfect phone (or gear bag) out there for me. The whole trick is to find one that comes as close as possible. This review is for the Hewlett Packard iPAQ hw6945 Mobile Messenger; a Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC phone. The question is, will it become my new "perfect" smartphone?