While movie fans have traveled to Berlin this week, the mobile industry met in Barcelona. At the Mobile World Congress 2010 show manufacturers, providers and network suppliers presented latest devices and upcoming trends. Some of it – like eye-controlled earphones by Japanese operator NTT Docomo – seems weird, other things like higher data transmission rates over 4G networks or efforts to introduce standards to the world of smartphone apps sound rather promising. And, of course, handset manufacturers showed lots of new devices with new features. Here is a short wrap up of the most interesting phones and platforms of the show.

Yes, it is the Apple iPhone again, still object of heated discussions among smartphone users. In Germany, only operator T-Mobile may sell the iPhone with contract (and SIM lock), devices available on the open market (and without SIM lock) are imported. Whichever way buyers choose in order to become part of the iPhone community, compared to most other smartphones the Apple phone is very expensive. At German stores, purchase prices for an imported iPhone 3G S without SIM lock begin at EUR 645.00. Still, it is one of the most popular mobile phones in the country. Now, it is also possible to get the iPhone 3G 8GB with a prepaid starter package of T-Mobile by finance purchase.

Good news: German mobile phone users can spare themselves the trip to an Apple store in Milan or other Italian cities in order to buy an Apple iPhone 3G S. In Germany, purchase prices for the iPhone have dropped to less than EUR 650.00: EUR 649.00 is how much customers pay for the iPhone 3G S with 16 GB memory at the web store RetailKeyShop, which in turn is approximately only 50 bucks more than they would have to pay at Italian Apple stores. The iPhone 3G S with 32 GB memory is available at the Retail Key Shop store for EUR 749.00. The Retail Key Shop web store can be found on the websites of the two German low-cost mobile phone providers Blau and Simyo.

Since Wednesday walking down the streets of Berlin can be pretty disturbing. Black caps with silver apples on the forehead. On the forehead?! Well, running around like a living ad for the super power Apple has apparently turned into an honour. But is Apple’s tablet PC, the iPad, worth getting more media attention than Obama’s speech? At least, the iPad doesn’t look much like a tampon. It reminds you more of an iphone swallowed by a giant iPod touch. But what about the Amazon Kindle’s post-iPad chances of survival? In any case, with the iPad, Apple can’t offer an e-ink-display like the Kindle.

The new RIM smartphone Blackberry Storm2 9520 is now available in Germany at T-Mobile and Vodafone stores. The Blackberry Storm2 sports a 3.25-inch touch screen display with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels, EDGE and UMTS support, WiFi, integrated GPS and several multi media features such as a music player, a video player and 3.2-megapixel camera. The camera comes with autofocus, flash, image stabilizer and a digital zoom. Videos can be shot with a resolution of 480 x 352 pixels. At the moment, I am testing the Storm2 and this weekend I compared the video capture of the Blackberry smartphone and the Apple iPhone 3G S. The following two videos were shot at Berlin Cathedral and at the river Spree around 4 p.m.