Apple’s iPhone 5C and 5S may be launching in China on the same dates as the U.S., Japan and Singapore, but the TD-LTE that will work in the country haven’t been mentioned just yet. If you pop by the Apple China Web site, you’ll note that only the HSDPA (A1526/A1528) and CDMA (A1532/A1533) models are …

Xiaomi’s latest Android handset, the Xiaomi MiPhone 3, will come in two flavors. Buyers can choose to either get the Nvidia Tegra 4 model, which sports a quad-core 1.8GHz Cortex A15 processor, or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor clocked at 2.3GHz. Most of the other specs are the same for both models, such as the amount of RAM (2GB), …

BARCELONA, Spain–Nestled away in Hall 7 of Mobile World Congress is Beijing Big Ben Technology, a China-based company that makes SIM cards mostly out of paper. While the actual cards themselves are made of recyclable ABS plastic and metal (the contact points), the card’s holder is actually made from 100 percent fiber paper. This material is far easier to recycle …

BARCELONA, Spain–Smartphone accessory maker Mophie may have launched the Juice Pack Helium two weeks back, but the successor to its iPhone 4 and 4S Juice Pack Air case has just been revealed at Pepcom’s MobileFocus Global event here at Mobile World Congress. While the Juice Pack Air looks similar to the Helium, we’re told that the Air is slightly heavier …

BARCELONA, Spain–We stopped by Powermat’s booth at Pepcom’s MobileFocus Global show (which happens just before the first day of Mobile World Congress) and found that the company was showing off a new prototype of a wireless charging case for Apple’s iPhone 5. Like the Powermat Receiver Case designed for the iPhone 4 and 4S, the iPhone 5 version will let …

BARCELONA, Spain–Launched two weeks ago in Thailand and making its first appearance outside of Asia is Acer’s latest Intel Atom smartphone, the Liquid C1. The U.S. $331 handset sports a single-core Intel Atom Z2420 1.2GHz processor, a 4.3-inch qHD LCD display, 1GB RAM, and only 4GB of storage (but it does have a microSD card slot). The quad-band C1 weighs …

Good news everyone! Samsung has finally made it known when its much anticipated handset, the Galaxy S III, will be launched. While rumors had earlier pegged the event to be held on May 22 in London, the official invite sets a much earlier date of May 3. While no specs have been revealed so far, earlier rumors suggest it’ll sport …

BARCELONA, Spain–Sadly, the LG Optimus L5, a midrange Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) smartphone from the Korean chaebol, is one you should likely avoid. While it’s great to know affordable ICS devices will be made available, the Optimus L5 doesn’t seem to have what it takes to wow even the budget consumer. Now playing: Watch this: LG L-Style phones 2:21 …

BARCELONA, Spain–Stephen Sneeden, product marketing manager for Sony Mobile, told CNET Asia in an interview here at Mobile World Congress that he predicts the company will likely only release quad-core Sony smartphones in early 2013. He does, however, state that this is just his assumption–the company will make the official announcements when it’s ready. “We’re going to join quad-core when …