If only life were as exciting and as cheerful as the mobile phone market is right now, we all would be living a happy, contented life.

Although not exactly purely honey and roses, the mobile handset world is presently humming strong, with all cylinders going full speed. Handset vendors are doing their best to outdo each other in announcing and releasing new and shiny smart phones and feature phones.

Consumers, in turn, are reaping the resulting benefits – budget-friendly and features-filled mobile phones.
 
Nokia Sales, Again

Was that a search for redemption? Or a stab at quieting the unquietable critics who sprang up after the Finnish mobile phone vendor’s sales debacle last month?

Whatever its reason was, Nokia held another mobile phone sale last week. Unlike what the company had last month, this one involved several handset models and a lot more retail outlets, offered bigger discounts (up to 70% off), and lasted way much longer than last month’s two-hour sale period. 

This time, this corner wishes everybody went home satisfied.
 
Samsung Galaxy S, Fake

This means that Samsung’s flagship Android phone has arrived. China’s counterfeiters, who justify their cloning ways by this quote, “piracy is the highest form of flattery,” or something like that, has found it worth their time to come up with a genetic copy of the Samsung Galaxy S.

The Chinese artisans, however, not only copied the real McCoy; they also made it more compact. The knockoff comes with a 3.5-inch HVGA multitouch-capable screen and runs the Android 2.1 operating system. It has a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, and is reportedly powered by a dual-core MTK6516 mobile processor with 512MB of RAM built in.

This fake is even more powerful than your typical legit phone.
 
Windows Phone 7 in PH

In partnership with the country’s biggest mobile operator, Smart, and handset vendor, HTC, Microsoft Philippines officially brings us the Windows Phone 7 operating system tomorrow, December 7.

Finally, consumers and executives, who are not fans of Apple’s iPhone or of any of the long line of Android phones, will now have an option more palatable for their rather Windows-centric tastes.

In general, consumers are being spoiled with the seemingly endless line of options in both smart phones and features phones. Today, handset vendors need to try much harder in order to catch their target buyers’ attention.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.