Late winter, early spring... it's that time of year where the entire technology world begins to wonder about what Apple has planned for the next version of the iPhone, which, come late June will be the device that sets the trend for mobile technology into the next year. Like it or hate it, the iPhone is the standard that all Android, WebOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phones must either match or surpass to be taken seriously. So what will this phone feature? It's impossible to tell until Steve Jobs takes the stage to tell us, and even then there will still be many unanswered questions until it gets into the hands of the consumer. Even though the release of the next generation iPhone happens like clock work, I'm still constantly asked questions like "when will the next iPhone be out" or "should I wait to buy it?" -- This article serves to help anwser those questions right now. By the way, if you thought I mistaken when I said Steve Jobs will take the stage, let me clarify:

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Mobile World Congress announced the winners of the various yearly awards. Everything from phones, to apps, to networks, and a bunch of other things no one except the real mobile geeks cares about. Among the most interesting awards:

• Best Mobile App - Angry Birds
• Best Mobile Device - Apple iPhone 4
• Device Manufacture of the Year - HTC

What is a little bit telling about the ecosystems of each of the major smartphone platforms, is that Apple was the only platform where a third party developer won "App of the Year" in that category:

• iOS - Angry Birds (Rovio)
• Android - Google Maps
• Blackberry - BlackBerry Messenger (RIM)

While Google Maps on Android is quite possibly the best mapping program on any mobile platform, it's sad that that was the best Android could come up. with As far as BlackBerry goes, if the built in messenger is the most interesting thing about it... it's not even worth insulting. A complete list of awards is available at the GSMA website.

Today was an interesting day in the tablet world. We learned that what was left of Palm has now officially been smashed into HP, and that HP is serious about really building on the momentum that Palm had started to build with webOS. HP announced a plethora of new things today (which you can read more about over at Engadget, who I stole/borrowed the wonderful chart above from) but the most interesting today was their new tablet, the HP TouchPad. I have been getting a lot of crap from people for talking a lot about Apple on this site recently. If you're bothered by this, feel free to stop reading now, or write your own articles. Fact of the matter is, they're key to a lot of the technology I'm interested in right now and they execute it better than anyone else.

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It's was probably a rough day in Waterloo, Canada yesterday when news hit that 25,000 Dell BlackBerry users would be making the switch to Windows Mobile 7. Part of the reason cited for the switch is the 25% reduction in cost associated with the switch. In addition to the fact Dell would be migrating to their own Dell Venue Pro devices, they'd also be switching to Microsoft ActiveSync instead of routing all their messaging through RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise services. RIM (undoubtedly) didn't feel the same way, with RIM’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing Mark Guibert telling Dow Jones Newswires in an email:

“We find it highly unlikely that they will actually save any money with this move and far more likely they were looking for a little free publicity”

Are they? You betcha. Did it work? Yep. Will it be worth it? Time will tell. via BGR

The folks over at Coveroo have extended a cool offer to TechVirtuoso visitors, 15% off any of their customizable phone & mobile device cases. For not much money, you could easily put your company logo on the back of every Blackberry in your company. They have a really cool laser engraving and color logo application process that we'll be posting up a review of soon, as soon as they get my custom iPhone 4 review unit* shipped out. They claim their logo application process is so strong that it will never fade, peel, or rub off your phone. Just pick out your case and enter HOTAUG15 at checkout, and the 15% discount will be applied to your order.

They also frequently give away free cases to followers of their Facebook and Twitter feeds. What is not to love about that?

*FTC disclaimer: Review unit provided to TechVirtuoso by Coveroo at no cost.