Ed Hardy at Brighthand handled the new Palm Pixi and video-recorded his impressions with a Palm rep. The Palm Pixi is 10% thinner than an iPhone with gesture navigation with super media sync and easy keyboard access.

Palm added much more synergy from the web on the Palm Pixi. It's geared toward folks who are completely social and networked.

Palm added more synergy from social networking including Yahoo! calendar and email. They added for the professional customer synergy Linked-in, any data is changed in the social networking servers is changed on the Palm Pixi. It's easy to flip through apps.

Aardvark (http://vark.com/) today publicly announced its Aardvark Mobile App is available in the App Store. Aardvark Mobile allows users to ask and answer questions from their iPhone or iPod touch. Aardvark figures out what each question is about and sends it to a few people in the user’s social network–friends, friends-of-friends, classmates and coworkers–who are online and may be able to answer (based on topics in their profiles). When someone responds, Aardvark sends the answer back to the user via Push Notifications on their iPhone and iPod touch.

“The Aardvark Mobile App automatically connects iPhone and iPod touch users with the right friend to answer any questions they have in minutes–wherever they are,” explained Damon Horowitz, CTO of Aardvark. “Our users think of Aardvark as a contact–the friend who always knows the right person to ask. Our goal is to have Aardvark available everywhere, through all of your existing communication channels.”

What Japan Thinks is an excellent blog that brings translated research, opinion polls and surveys to an English-speaking audience.

It's well known that the Japanese are more likely to be early adopters of new technologies and are very much in love with all things mobile.

Recently, What Japan Thinks (Twitter) posted some interested research on the boom in Mobile Social Networking Services conducted by Point On Research on mobile Social Networking Services.

Sure there is going to be a lot of hype around October 6 when Microsoft will launch Windows Mobile 6.5 globally. With a plethora of devices being released, and some updated to the new version, there is still a faint focus on the next level for the aging platform. Microsoft's mobile operating system has come far from it's beginnings, but still feels the same at its core. Of course there have been companies like HTC that continue to mask the platform with their very own slick looking home screen interface. One of the biggest thing we have been seeing with every mobile platform is the integration of social networking websites. Windows Mobile 7 is still a while away from being fine tuned and complete, but it seems that Microsoft is looking to integrate social networking into its interface.

Windows Mobile 6.5 may still be weeks away from its release, but Microsoft is already leaking clues about its successor. Windows Mobile 7 will directly integrate social networking functionality into a phone's "core experience," according to a job posted Thursday on Microsoft's Entertainment

Due for release at the end of September are two great social networking phones that are going to give the INQ1 a run for it’s money. The Samsung S3650 Corby is made for those who love to customize their gadgets and ensure they never miss out on the latest gossip on Facebook. The distinctly shaped Corby comes with two extra ‘Fashion Jackets’ which are bright interchangeable rear covers to make sure you don’t get bored of your cool handset to easily. Upload photos and videos directly to YouTube, Flickr and Picasa and update your status on all your favourite social networking sites with ease on the 2.8 inch touchscreen. Also due for release soon is the Nokia 7705 Twist which allows you to twist and turn your handset in all kinds of directions on a chassis that neatly packs together to form a nice little pocket friendly handset. The phone features a full QWERTY keyboard, 3 mega pixel camera and support from email, IM, MMS and SMS. This cute little social networking phone also allows you to customise your handset for incoming calls with its glowing light ring that changes colour depending on who is calling.

A review of consumers' mobile social networking habits and preferences. Research conducted August 2009

In the past few months, I've reconnected with friends from kindergarten through college and beyond. I've discovered thought-provoking online articles and videos I probably wouldn't have found on my own. I've also read meaningless updates from friends, such as "I'm getting in the hot tub," or "just received a special gift from a special friend." And I've done it all through Facebook--the social networking phenomenon where Top Five lists reign, long-lost friends are reunited, and, inevitably, countless hours are consumed.

Motorola's hopes of a glorious comeback in the mobile market are resting on a new mobile from the company - the Android-powered Dext with the new MotoBlur overlay.

The idea is simple - take the open source benefits of Android and bring a number of social networking sites together into one widget-filled home screen, placed under the hood of a fairly decent hardware spec list.

Myriad Group AG (SIX: MYRN), a global leader in mobile technology with software in over 2 billion phones, today announced that it has acquired the brand, technology and 17 employees of privately-held Xumii, Inc., a provider of mobile social networking services based in San Mateo, California and Sydney, Australia. The transaction is not expected to have a material impact to Myriad revenue or EBITDA for the full fiscal 2009.

Nokia's acquisition of Plum Ventures assets is another milestone in the move on the part of mobile phone vendors to pick up social-network technology as they hunt for new ways to get consumers to buy handsets.

Social networking is where it's at in the mobile application market, according to Paolo Pescatore, analyst at CCS Insight.

For example, the Nokia acquisition, announced Friday, was followed Monday by LG's announcement of its first Android phone, which will support social networking out-of-the-box. Social networking will also play a key role on Motorola's recently announced Android based mobile phone Cliq.

Mobile phone users who also enjoy social networking on the go now have one more reason to celebrate.

SingTel has launched the INQ Mini 3G, a mobile phone that is fully integrated to Facebook, and offers one-click access to the micro-blogging service Twitter.

The phone will also be customized to offer users easy access to AMPed, SingTel's music service as well as IM on Mobile.

Featuring a 'live address book', users can see the latest Facebook profile pictures of their contacts when they receive a call.

The mobile world is flooded with several location based applications like Foursquare and Loopt, to name a few. One among these providers who offers location based services is Centrl, which is now planning to bridge the gap between mobile phone users and the web, reports TechCrunch.

Centrl has offered services on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry (JAD file) and Nokia and is now offering a web app. The service is functional within major social networks and permits users to login from their existing accounts on Facebook, MySpace, iGo

Motorola today introduced the Cliq, the company’s first phone based on the Android mobile operating system. The device will have a custom interface called Moto Blur that will bring together e-mail messages, text messages, Facebook and Twitter feeds, and photos into a single interface.

The phone has a touch screen and a physical slide-out keyboard, a 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, 3G connectivity, the ability to shoot video at 24 frames per second, a standard headphone jack and GPS capability. The phone will be available on T-Mobile’s network in the fourth quarter. Motorola officials did not disclose the price for the phone and would not let any attendees at the Mobilize conference, where they announced the phone, examine it closely.

“This is the first phone with social skills,” said Cole Brodman, chief technology officer at T-Mobile. “Cliq and Moto Blur is the start of the next chapter of Android and shows significance of the platform.”

The phone will also be available internationally under the name Moto Dext.

Apple has managed to sprinkle a few intriguing features on its media platform, iTunes 9, which lead us to believe that the Cupertino-based company isn't ignoring the threat presented by Spotify, Rhapsody or other web-based streaming services.

The 89MB download has introduced the ability for "avid social networkers" to market their favourite music, film and TV programmes on Facebook and Twitter from within the iTunes application.

New ‘Social Life’ service brings users’ Facebook, MySpace and Bebo social networks together in one place on the mobile Orange Widget Player also launched to provide instant access for users to their favourite content and applications from home screen Orange today announced the launch of Social Life, a mobile social networking aggregator which brings together activity on Facebook, MySpace and Bebo in one central place. Accessible from Orange World, Orange’s mobile internet portal, Social Life allows customers to view and post updates and get in touch with friends and family across all three social networks at the same time through a single log-in.

Mobile social-networking site GyPSii is making its client available for Java-based mobile phones, a move that increases the number of devices that can run the application by more than a hundred, the company said on Tuesday.

Motorola co-CO Sanjay Jha is onstage at GigaOM’s Mobilize 2009 conference right now. He’s giving a presentation on MOTOBLUR (all caps, sigh), an Android-powered phone platform that will be on phones in times for American buyers to give them as gifts this December.

You can guess most of the features The one Jha is calling out is automatic backup and remote data wiping. If your phone gets lost or stolen, you won’t lose your address book, photos, etc, and the phone can be remotely commanded to erase your personal data.

On Wednesday, Palm announced its next smartphone innovation, the Pixi. Palm is aiming the device at social networkers with the promise of faster, more intuitive personal communication. With a compact design, QWERTY keyboard, multi-touch screen, personalization options, and the webOS platform, Palm hopes the phone will turn heads when it debuts on the Sprint network before the holidays. “With Palm webOS, we’re creating a new, more intuitive smartphone experience defined by unmatched simplicity and usefulness,” said Jon Rubinstein, Palm chairman and CEO. “Palm Pixi brings this unique experience to a broader range of people who want enhanced messaging and social networking in a design that lets them express their personal style.” The Connected Consumer Palm Pixi users can link to information from Google, Facebook, Exchange ActiveSync, Yahoo and LinkedIn.

Motorola Inc. unveiled Thursday a new mobile phone built around social networking tools, introducing the first handset in a fresh portfolio of devices on which the company has staked its turnaround efforts.

Co-chief executive Sanjay Jha has developed a line-up of phones powered by Google's Android software. He is hoping that the new devices, most of which will be launched next year, will get Motorola back into the mobile-phone game after the company has spent years unsuccessfully trying to match competitors such as Apple and Research In Motion.