Mobile World Congress 2010 rumour round-up

So Mobile World Congress is just around the corner and as usual, the rumour mill has been churning out juicy stories at triple pace. But which ones will turn out to be true? We’ve rounded up some of the best, and whether we think they’ll show up or not.

Windows Mobile 7

Probably one of the biggest buzzes is whether we’ll be seeing Windows Mobile 7 at MWC, and in what form? We do know that big boss Steve Ballmer is heading over to Barcelona to do the keynote which could suggest there’s something bigger to announce than the already-leaked WinMo 6.6.

Rumours have swirled that the updated OS will be ready in September, to see handsets on shelves by the end of 2010, beginning of 2011. It’s also been suggested it’ll pack support for Silverlight, improved UI and even some sort of tie-in between the OS and Xbox Live.

Stuff says: Almost certain we’ll be hearing something about it, but whether we get to see the OS in action, or just get an update as to when we can expect it remains to be seen.

Zune Phone

Talk is continuing about whether we’ll finally see the Zune Phone that Microsoft has repeatedly denied was in the works. It heated up just a few weeks ago when a Spanish blog said it had had it 100% confirmed that the Zune Phone would be showing its face at MWC, complete with Tegra chipset.

The idea is that the phone would feature Zune functionality, rather than be an MP3 player with phone capabilities. Does that mean we can just expect a Zune UI, included in Windows Mobile 7?

Stuff says: We’ve been talking about this for years, and still we’ve seen nothing. Unconvinced at the moment, but we could well see more of a Zune UI influence on the WinMo OS.

Samsung Bada phone

Samsung has not been shy in shouting about its new bada OS, but it seems that MWC will be the place we actually get to see it in action first hand. Up until now there’s been a couple of flashy presentations, but as for what the handset will look like, and how the OS will work in practice – it’s all still TBC.

However it appears that our wait will be over on Sunday when Samsung holds its press conference. Both the Samsung Unpacked and bada websites are not being shy about the announcement, and other whispers suggest the new handset could debut Samsung’s Super AMOLED screen, touted to be 5 times clearer.

Stuff says: A dead cert.

HTC handsets – how many?

HTC’s supposed roadmap leaked out at the beginning of December last year, with a whole host of handsets we reportedly had to look forward to in 2010. None have turned up as yet, and we don’t think HTC will leave us disappointed next week.

The HTC Legend named in the roadmap has cropped up on a Dutch carrier’s website anticipated with a release date of March, and there’s also been spottings of the Bravo, which has a certain Google Nexus One look to it. But what will be unveiled? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Stuff says: With two press conferences booked in and the increasing number of leaks, we’ve no doubt HTC has got something pretty impressive up its sleeves.

Puma Phone

News of the Puma Phone cropped up this week, and was brought to our attention via a Twitter account and a bunch of rather strange videos entitled “Puma Phone Idea” followed by a number. How they tie in to the phone, we can’t quite work out, but we’re sure there must be some link… somewhere?

The Puma Phone teaser website has got all the videos on it if you fancy checking them out, as well as a ticker telling us we can see the Puma Phone in 4 days, and book entitled “Learn to speak Puma”, including phrases such as “Think Big”, “Wash When Dirty” and “Whistle While You Work”. Interesting.

Rumour has it the phone could be solar-powered, and being a Puma phone we’d expect plenty of sporty tie-ins for joggers and bikers.

Stuff says: We know we’ll be seeing it unveiled on Tuesday – but will it impress?

Nokia phones – C510/N800?

Fresh rumours out of the mill in the last 24 hours have suggested Nokia will be launching a few handsets at MWC, most notable of those being the C510 and the N800.

The C510 will apparently take on BlackBerrys with a full QWERTY keyboard, while the N800 will pack 720p HD video, a 12 megapixel camera and a capacitive multitouch touchscreen, set for a summer launch.

All that said, there’s also conflicting views that Nokia won’t be showing off anything at MWC, but with a press conference booked in, that seems somewhat unlikely.

Stuff says: We’d expect to see something from Nokia at MWC, and these two models are not unbelievable. We’ll give this an 8/10 probability.

What are you hoping to see at MWC? Let us know below and be sure to keep an eye on our live blog where we’ll be bringing you all the news as it happens from Barcelona – starting Sunday.