Sony Ericsson is offering owners of its Xperia smartphones 50GB of free online data storage in partnership with cloud storage company Box, the smartphone maker said on Thursday.

This year the number of operators that have implemented HD Voice has almost tripled, and more phones are also compatible with the technology, according to a report by industry organization GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association).

Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Android, is likely to ease the fragmentation of the operating system, some device executives said on Thursday.

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications barely broke even during the third quarter, and reported a small year-on-year drop in revenue as an increase in the average selling price of its phones was offset by a 9 percent fall in volume.

The battle for the living room is heating up, and Sony needs to take over Sony Ericsson in order to better compete with the likes of Samsung and a more aggressive Apple as home electronics sector products become increasingly converged, according to analysts.

Sony Ericsson will upgrade its Android-based Xperia Arc smartphone with a faster processor, the company announced at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Wednesday.

Mobile phone sales floundered during the second quarter, in the wake of the earthquake in Japan. But smartphone sales continued to grow, as Android extended its lead in the operating system race, according to market research company Gartner.

Skype has released version 2.1 of its application for Android, which allows more smartphones and tablets based on Google's operating system to use its video calling feature, it said in a blog post on Thursday.

As Mobile World Congress 2011 draws to a close, it's time to take stock of the plethora of smartphones and tablet PCs we saw for the first time. Tomorrow, we'll bring you the best tablet PCs of MWC 2011, but here, in no particular order, are smartphones that stood out at MWC 2011. Sadly, they didn't include a Facebook phone or an iPhone nano - but when and if such things exist, you'll read it here first.