Another one of predictions for the next iPhone that seems to be coming true, was confirmed by Apple COO Tim Cook yesterday during their quarterly report conference call. The next generation iPhone will not have support for LTE wireless data technology. From Forbes:

“The first generation of LTE chip-sets force a lot of design compromises with the handset, and some of those we are just not willing to make.”

Adding LTE into the next generation iPhone would mean adding more complexity by needing both a 3G and a 4G chip, that would only work on one provider, and require more power. Currently only one LTE mobile phone is on the market right now, the HTC Thunderbolt on Verizon, which has been the only US carrier so far to roll out any LTE service. In addition to lack of real LTE coverage in most of the country, even on Verizon's network, the Thunderbold has been plagued with horrendous battery life. The next iPhone will probably feature HSPA+, as the Qualcomm chip that is making its way into it, supports it already. It just needs to be enabled in the firmware.

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.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxUXulxE5o0 Google has announced their new platform phone, the Nexus S. Based on the Samsung Galaxy S series of phones, it's the successor to the HTC built Nexus One. Beyond the typical stuff, the phone specs/features:

• 1GHz Cortex A8 (Hummingbird) processor
• 16GB of internal storage
• 512MB of RAM
• 4" WVGA (800 x 480) screen with Contour Display (curved glass screen) on Super AMOLED
• Dual cameras (Back-facing: 5 megapixels 2560x1920 with auto focus and flash, front-facing: VGA 640x480
• Near Field Communication (NFC) hardware
• Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

According to Google, starting December 16, Nexus S will be sold unlocked and carrier-independent initially through Best Buy stores in the U.S. and after December 20 at Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK. Its quad-band GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900) and tri-band HSPA (900, 2100, 1700) which means it will only have 3G service on T-Mobile in the U.S., and EDGE on AT&T. (BTW, seriously, don't watch the video above if you get motion sickness. It made me a little sick to my stomach to try and make it all the way though.)

From the good people at Engadget:

So, here's what we know: a Windows Phone from HTC just earned its FCC wings, it's production (meaning non-prototype) hardware... and it's a CDMA device. ... Anyhow, if we had to guess, this is probably the tilt-sliding HTC 7 Pro, seeing how that's the only CDMA Windows Phone 7 device to bow so far, equipped with 802.11b / g / n alongside Bluetooth + EDR. Sprint, let's make this happen.

Microsoft had originally said that Windows Phone 7 would be GSM only at first. Hopefully this will mean a change of heart and that our Sprint and Verizon friends will get their hands on Windows Phone 7 sooner then expected.