Smarter Than Thou

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was buzzing last week with the very latest handsets and breakthroughs in communication technology.

While today's mobile phones continue to push the boundaries of possibility, who would have thought there was still a very long road ahead of us?

Cheap international calls are even easier to make with a knee trembling dollop of new technology

The main developments that drew crowds like a flock of seagulls round a discarded Big Mac were internet browsing, Flash and handset keypads.

Music also put in an appearance as the Windows Phone 7 saw Media Player get the boot in favour of Zune with Microsoft looking to create more of an iPod style of listening experience.

Like a Jeremy Kyle omnibus for smartphones, the Congress saw a plethora of gritty issues explored including why Adobe Flash isn't currently available on mobiles; a problem which makes viewing animation and videos especially difficult.

Thankfully, a mobile version of Flash 10.1 will be available this summer; bringing mobiles bang up to date with their desk based compadres.

Firefox fans will also be pleased to hear that the world's most popular browser will now be gracing smartphone screens.

The Firefox browser boasts 40 add-ons which will make it the most friendly gateway to the internet on your mobile.

Finally, a British company Pelikon have developed a highly versatile keypad that allows users to change the layout and function of their handset's buttons.

Users can change their keypad into a set-up that's uniquely their's, so if you want to set up your Firstnumber dialling codes to be only a button click away you can set up a hotkey for cheap calls to Bangladesh or Canada simply and easily.