Microsoft in a bid to revive its flagging mobile phone strategy, is to introduce a new line of handsets with social networking capabilities aimed at the younger market. 

The new mobile phones will be on sale in the US some time in April according to information reported in theWall Street Journal. They are based on a Microsoft development project code-named “Pink” and made available through a partnership with Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc and the Vodafone Group PLC. 

Microsoft has scheduled a press event for the 12 April in San Francisco, which has prompted speculation that the company will reveal its new Pink range. Coupled with the slogan: “It’s time to share”, this would fit the profile of the new social-oriented phones. 

The new development shows that Microsoft is becoming more focused on the hardware aspect of the mobile phone business in order to satisfy consumers’ need for greater sophistication in handsets. 

It is Microsoft itself that has designed the software, hardware and online services for the Pink mobile phones, while Sharp of Japan are responsible for their manufacture. 

Microsoft need a handset that can show off the abilities for its new Windows Phone 7 Series, if they are to gain ground against Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Nexus One. Pink could be the handset range to flex the muscles of Windows Phone 7 Series and truly give Apple and Google something to think about. 

However, given the immense success of the iPad which sold 300,000 units last week, Microsoft's press announcement could well be for its Courier e-tablet, which is also waiting in the wings. 

Motorola has just unveiled the Motorola Charm in the US, with a likely launch date for the United Kingdom soon. 

The new handset runs Android 2.1, one of the latest versions of Google's popular firmware. Using Motorola's spin on the software, Motoblur, the handset has a clear focus on social networking. 

With a 2.8-inch touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard, the latest device to come out of the US embraces user input. The option to type as well as tap will come in handy when users need to get their fingers around an important message in a hurry. 

The phone also comes with a 3MP snapper, perfect for quick uploads onto Facebook. A 3.6Mbps HSDPA speed and Wi-Fi also come on board, along with connectivity via Bluetooth. 

The headline feature of the device is what Motorola have dubbed the 'BackTrack'. On the back of the device comes an optical trackpad, meaning users can scroll with ease through web pages and texts. 

Adobe Flash also comes installed for a more desktop-like web experience. 

Among other features on the phone comes CrystalTalk Plus. By employing a second microphone on the device, the handset can remove distracting background noise for clearer and cleaner calls. 

With the handset running Android, the device comes with the complete Google package. Gmail, Google Search, YouTube and Google Maps with GPS come pre-installed to provide a more complete internet experience.

"We believe that CHARM with MOTOBLUR adds the social ability and workability consumers are looking for," said Jean-Pierre Le Cannellier, the senior director of North America marketing for Motorola Mobile Devices. 

There is another Android super-phone due to be launched - according to unconfirmed sources - that will give the iPhone 4 a run for its money. 

The new handset from HTC will be called the Desire HD. A report from Mobile Choice believed that it could make an appearance in the mobile phone market at some point in October of this year. Sources claimed that the new Desire HD will be a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, running on the Android 2.2 operating system. It will proudly boast a large multi-touch 4.3-inch WVGA screen. 

The camera has been significantly improved from the previous model and is rumoured to be 8MP. It will also come with 720-pixel HD video recording and will support Xvid video, as well as SRS surround sound and a high-quality digital file format. 

The camera was reported to have automatic face-tracking software and the phone itself is expected to have 4GB of internal storage. As it will be running on Android 2.2, the phone will also support Flash player. 

As far as the design of the new handset goes, the Desire HD will sport an aluminium unibody. This would certainly be in keeping with the company's popular series of Legend style phones. 

Previously expected to be called the HTC Ace, the new phone has been tagged a "European version (presumably 3G-only) of the HTC EVO 4G". While the HTC camp has not produced an official statement as of yet, they are expected to give details on the phone's projected price and availability in the near future. 

Statistics of mobile web usage often point to the iPhone as the king of the hill. The fine print however is that those statistics use data from the US only.

So, here are our two cents web traffic from mobile devices to our site. which should give the other side of the story. It's probably not 100% representative of the worldwide statistics, but at least it’s more global.

And while we’re in statistics geek mode, we’ll also take a peek at how Android OS versions are distributed…

Here are the Google Analytics graphs and charts for www.gsmarena.com. The unusual peak you see is from the iPhone 4 announcement – interestingly, the majority of that traffic came from iPhone users and a few Android users. Symbian owners weren’t particularly impressed if mobile web traffic is any indication.

Mobile web traffic statistics for our site from Google Analytics (click for full size)

As you can see, Symbian is on top with a healthy margin and iPhone clocks in second. However, if you add iPhones, iPods and iPads for a cumulative iOS stat it comes out ahead by a about 3.5%.

Other than that, it’s interesting to note that mobile browsers included with feature phone OSes from the various manufacturers score below 5%. Windows Mobile isn’t doing too hot either.

One possible explanation for this is that feature phone owners are using Opera Mini for most of their browsing (as they should) – shame that Google Analytics doesn’t include Opera Mini in the statistics.

In a another statistics news of the day, we just got the latest Android OS version distributionfrom Android Developers. The good news is that Android 2.1 Eclair very rapidly climbed to over 50%. Versions 1.5 Donut and 1.6 Cupcake are hovering around 20% each. The bad thing is that Android 2.2 Froyo has barely achieved 3.3%.

And it will be a while until it can climb any higher – manufacturers have to release ROMs with Froyo and some are still working on Eclair. For now, it’s just the Nexus One phones that are feasting on Froyo desserts.

LG has brought out the ultimate in technology a watchphone. This is not just any watchphone though, this is a ($808) droplet of Orange-tinted exclusivity that straddles your attention. Do the consumer in you a favor and come along past the break where we have the full scoop on the GD910.

What we're looking at here, in the crudest possible terms, is a style item with ringtones. That need not necessarily spell disaster, as good execution and a keen sense for that ephemeral style thing could still make it a success, but we must also set aside our preconceptions of what a modern phone is and does in order to assess the watchphone on its own merits. Our mission here will be to determine whether it succeeds at what it sets out to do or trips over its faux leather strapped self.

Hardware

At first blush, it would be easy to dismiss the GD910 as being too big for a watch and too small to be a phone, but our time with it has revealed both conclusions to be inaccurate. While undeniably bulkier than your average watch, the watchphone's styling is akin to some of those chunky leather bracelet that hipsters seem keen on wearing and popularizing, so we'll just give it a pass there and move on. Its stay on our tender wrist was certainly no great bother, although we'll admit it was no great pleasure either. A more flexible metal strap might've been preferable.