The Mobile Fun Blog

As if the term “Windows Phone 7 Series” wasn’t lame enough, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is pushing its latest operating system at “life maximizers.”

Motorola has been fighting hard to reestablish itself as the giant mobile phone maker it once was. The new wave of Android phones – like the Motorola Droid and Devour – prove that Moto’s well on its way back to prominence, but the company’s fight is a long way from over. As such, co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha have voluntarily agreed to take a 25% pay cut for 2010. The move will have the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) co-chiefs continuing salary reductions made in 2009.

FunMobility is America’s largest mobile content community, used by 27 different companies, and on 550 handsets. With almost 76,700,000 customers, when the team announces something, people listen. Enter FunTweet, a Twitter client that adds images to one’s tweet based on keywords found within the tweet.

Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre owners in the UK will be happy to hear that EA Mobile is giving away three free 3D games with every handset: The Sims 3, Monopoly, and Need for Speed Undercover.  Palm has been hitting GDC hard with their new plug-in development kit, which will allow games to be written in C++ and enabling 3D graphics on their webOS smartphones – this giveaway should punctuate what it all means for end-users.

Samsung is on top of the world this morning because it had the most market share in the United States for 2009 and Brand Keys said the company topped its customer loyalty survey for wireless handsets.

While the iPhone, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) and Android smartphones take up a lot of the conversation, Samsung is the world’s second-biggest handset maker because of its large portfolio of low-end and feature phones. They do make some solid devices, and the study found customers really liked their Samsung cell phones.

Users of UberTwitter for BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) will be pleased to know a new update has come down the pipe. Not only does it take us to version 0.970 from 0.963, but a changelog has been provided. Kind of nice when we know for certain the changes, features and enhancements made in any update! The changelog is as follows:

• Java exceptions on device boot – Fixed issue where java exceptions would be reported on device reboot due to lack of permissions

If you’re looking for an iPhone application to share photos across your social networks, you may want to give TweetPhoto a roll.

The site just got an overhaul – which prominently features photos of the Full House cast – and this new iPhone app makes it pretty simple to share pictures across Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, or Foursquare accounts. I downloaded the free app TweetPhoto Pro and it looks pretty good: it has a clean interface that makes it quick to scan your friends’ photo streams, as well as public or popular photos. Signing up is easy, and TechCrunch says we can expect versions for Android and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) soon enough.

Apple wants you to use your iPhone as your internet surfboard, your music player, your camera, your casual gaming machine, oh, and as a phone too. But, pushing the iPhone into every corner of your daily life isn’t enough for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). A new patent application hints at Apple’s larger-than-life plans for their iconic smartphone. If things go their way, Apple may one day add “combination lock” to the list of things their heralded handset can do.

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s not the only one getting sue-happy over patents, as this brilliant infographic from The New York Times shows that pretty much every major player is involved in a patent lawsuit.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) says the smartphone will overtake the desktop within the next three years, so many companies are trying to carve out their space. Patents are an important part of this and it makes sense for companies to protect their legitimate cases, but I think the patent system is a bit flawed – Apple has a freaking patent on unlocking a touchscreen by gesturing on an image.

Following on from my post about the iPlayer arriving on Blackberry (NSDQ: RIMM) devices (see here), here’s some info that has come in about more BBC apps coming to mobile devices. Actually this news is a hangover from Mobile World Congress, but hey, you can’t cover everything all the time, right?!