SHOWCASE: One of our intrepid journalists from HWM Singapore travelled to Barca on the pretense of covering MWC but mainly to grab some Lionel Messi T-shirts (we’re kidding). Anyway, the trade show on mobile phones, OSes and apps has just ended and the coverage will be appearing in HWM Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines. Of course, if you can’t wait, hop on over to HardwareZone.com for in-depth coverage on the gadgets. Mobile World Congress 2009 was held 16-19 February 2009 and featured some amazing new phones, announcements, updates and developments.

Windows Mobile 6.5 sports a honeycomb-shaped layout for the Start screen to ease user access to various apps.

Among the highlights of the show was Microsoft’s update to Windows Mobile 6.5, which includes a refreshed Start screen, new Internet Explorer Mobile Browser and the new My Phone service - which allows WinMo users to harmonize all of their online content on their phone (similar to Apple’s MobileMe service). Another highlight was the new HTC Touch Diamond 2, which touts 50% more battery life, Zoom bar and a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera.

Samsung followed up their SOUL launch last year with the UltraTOUCH, a 2.8-inch AMOLED full touch screen phone. At 12.7mm thin, it sports an 8-megapixel camera (Samsung’s 3rd phone with an 8-mega after Innov8 and Pixon) and dual-power LED flash.

Not to be outdone, Nokia’s jumped on the 8-mega bandwagon with the Nokia N86. While sporting a smaller screen at 2.6-inch, it utilizes OLED as well, with dual sliding form factor (similar to N96 and N85), two keys for zooming, 8GB onboard and an expansion slot for a 16GB microSD.

Sony Ericsson upped the ante with a 12.1-megapixel phone called the Idou (pronounced as ‘I do’), which comes with a Xenon flash and intuitive touch features.

For a quick glance of the key phones mentioned, check out our Showcase Gallery after the jump. (Editor opinions: 1)

HWM Indonesia

HWM Indonesia: Mobile World Congress without Blackberry news is not complete.