Despite the fact that the global economy is very bad, smartphones are still growing at a significant rate. More and more computer companies are announcing that they are entering the smartphone market in an effort to improve their profits.

The latest company to announce that they are entering into the smartphone market isn’t a computer maker, but a company known for LCD TVs, digital picture frames, and PC monitors. Viewsonic has announced that it intends to enter into the smartphone market with phones aimed at video, gaming, and Internet browsing with larger screens.

Viewsonic offers no details on products at this time, but says that its smartphones will launch first in China and then come to the U.S. and Europe later. All that Viewsonic is saying about its smartphones at this time is that they will be 3G enabled and integrate well with its other product offerings.

[ Viewsonic ]

By Shane McGlaun

The first Android smartphone to hit the market was the T-Mobile G1. The device was met with enthusiasm by many fans of open source phones, but there were some teething problems with the new OS. It took Google and T-Mobile a bit to get things sorted and other smartphone makers and mobile carriers watched to see how the G1 did before jumping into the Android waters.

Now that the kinks are mostly sorted out of the Android OS, more and more new smartphones are being announced that would run the operating system. Strategy Analytics says that in 2009 Android will be the fastest growing smartphone OS with a predicted growth rate of 900% for the year.

The second fastest growing OS for 2009 is predicted to be the iPhone OS with 79% growth over the year. Google is expecting big things from Android this year and the OS is set to hit the netbook market as well. Dell is working on Android netbooks and HP is considering the OS for its netbook line as well. The research firm says Android is in position to become a top smartphone OS over the next 2 or 3 years.

[ Strategy Analytics ]

i-mate announced recently that its line of Ultimate smartphones is now available in the Americas, including the Ultimate 8150. The Ultimate 8150 runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional and features WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.

The phone operates on WCDMA/HSDPA 850/1900/2100 MHz and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks. Internal memory includes 256MB ROM and 128MB RAM. Memory expansion is available via a microSD card slot.

Other features include a 2-megapixel camera with flash, autofocus, 4x digital zoom and the camera is video call capable. The screen is a 2.6-inch touchscreen and the phone has a built-in FM tuner. A video output is also available for output to projectors and secondary displays for Office applications included on the phone. The i-mate Ultimate 8150 is available direct from i-mate for $725.

VIA [ i-mate ]

The original Samsung BlackJack was a big seller for AT&T and one of its most popular smartphones. Samsung and AT&T announced that a new updated BlackJack II would be available later this year. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2007 in San Francisco showed the phone publically for the first time yesterday.

The BlackJack II looks a lot like the original BlackJack with a full QWERTY keyboard and a large 2.4-inch QVGA color display and it uses the Windows Mobile 6 OS. AT&T squeezed some interesting new features into the new BlackJack II including AT&T Video Share that allows users to share live video during a voice call from the BlackJack II’s built-in 2MP camera.

Other interesting features include built-in GPS with support for location-based services, RSS reader client, significant improvements in standard battery life, and increased standard memory. The BlackJack II will also offer over-the-air synchronization of contacts, calendar, and task lists with Microsoft Exchange Server or AT&T Express Mail. The phone is expected to cost $149 with a 2-year contract.

VIA [ AT&T ]