In what could be termed as an epic change in the world of mobile gaming, Google is reportedly working on a new and extensive gaming network for Android devices which will allow users to play games and compete against opponents from around the world.

Last month in Dallas, even AT&T announced that it will work with Open Feint gaming community on a new social gaming platform exclusively for Android devices.

In competition with Apple’s Game Center, Google Android’s gaming zone is expected to offer better functionality and an expanded list of features. Basic features such as friends, achievements/trophies and leader boards are expected to remain, but additional features that would make it competitive are yet to be announced.

With more than three billion applications available on Android, it is fast leaving other operating systems way behind in the competition. Many smartphone manufacturers, such as Sony Ericsson, with their new gaming centric Android devices are also looking at cashing in on this opportunity, and more are expected to join in soon.

MediaTek India, one of the major mobile Chipset supplier to Indian mobile phone brands like Lava, lemon and Micromax, has launched four new platforms – MT6252, MT6236, MT6573 and MT6276.

The chipsets will be available to the mobile phone makers immediately and is expected to be seen on the handsets in next couple of months.

The chipsets solution promises to be innovative, feature rich yet cost-effective solution. Catering to entry level smartphone segments, these chipsets will help handset makers to provide high end features at affordable prices.

The MT6252 chipset is an integrated low cost SoC (system on chip, akin to computer motherboard and processor) solution. This chipset supports high quality video playback up to a Resolution of QVGA (320*240). The USP of this solution is that it can support up to four SIM cards.

MT6236 is an EDGE (2.5G with 256 Kbps speed capability) enabled advance multimedia feature rich solution. It has features such as support for 5 megapixel camera, HVGA (480*320) display, integrated Bluetooth and full HTML browser. MT6236 platform is pre-integrated with MediaTek’s software solution, thus considerably reducing the design cycle time.

The MT6573 platform is an integrated chipset and supports HSPA advance 3G technology. It has the latest version of the popular Android operating system. The chipset can support a full range of connectivity solutions for Bluetooth, WiFi, FM radio and GPS functions. The integrated 3D graphics capability of this chipset brings gaming and user interface.
It has ARM11 processor, which supports 30 FPS (Frame Per Second) video playback and up to an eight MP camera and a touch screen.

MT6276 is a multimedia HSPA dual SIM solution. With finger touch optimisation, it supports eight megapixel camera and its main USP is Wifi Teethering which allows the handset to become the Wifi hotspot. It supports other features like Bluetooth, FM and GPS functions.

“With over 10 years serving in mobile phone industry, MediaTek believes that the Indian handset market holds tremendous potential and seeks to tap this through its innovative solutions. There is a growing demand for feature rich affordable phones and we seek to exploit that segment with our solutions,” says Grant Kuo, managing director, MediaTek India.

As growth in sales of mobile phone rising fast, threats from cybercriminals are also growing, says Kaspersky analyst.

“The number of malicious programs targeting mobile devices has more than doubled between August 2009 and December 2010. In 2010, over 65 per cent more new threats targeting mobile devices were detected than in the previous year; and over 1,000 variants from 153 different families of mobile threats were included in Kaspersky Lab’s databases by the end of 2010,” said Denis Maslennikov, senior malware analyst at Kaspersky Labs.

Till now, most users used to think that only smartphones are targeted by mobile viruses and malware but the report reveals that J2ME platform, which is found in the most basic phones, is the most targeted by mobile malware followed by Symbian and Python operating systems.

So owning a basic feature phone also does not guarantee you that you won’t be affected by any mobile malware, so users need to be very careful while choosing applications and especially installing anything on their phones.

In a bid to change the boring and unattractive looking display, Nokia has announced the addition of a new type of a sleeping screen for its Symbian^3 devices. Though this sleeping screen is currently in its beta phase, it is likely to graduate to a full fledged feature as it looks promising and does the job flawlessly.

After Bubbles (an application) this is the latest addition to the Nokia beta labs. The new improved sleeping screen after installation replaces the boring looking sleeping screen on the Symbian^3 devices.

The changes include a new colourful interface for notifications while the phone is in the standby mode, animated Battery Charging symbol, improved time and date notifications on the standby screen.

Also the new application automatically turns off the phone’s display when covered. For example whenever you keep the phone in your pocket or in purse, it will switch off your phone display, which was missing in all earlier screens.

Users can also fully customise their phones’ look during standby mode and along with that the new screen also dims the lighting at night so that the user gets a peaceful night sleep.

The sleeping screen is available at the Nokia beta labs as a public beta and all those who want to use this on their Symbian^3 devices can download it directly from the Nokia Beta Labs or can follow the link betalabs.nokia.com.

Nokia is looking for suggestion and comments about this so if you have a query or suggestion to make please share the same on the beta lab.