It has been reported that the Asian mobile phone manufacturer Samsung is being investigated over allegations the company abused Apple.

It seems the EU Commission has decided to open an anti-trust case against the Korean giant, as they feel Samsung may have broken rules on unfair competition.

A spokesperson for the EU Commission said “The opening of proceedings means that the Commission will examine the case as a matter of priority.”

Apple and Samsung have been in a bitter patent dispute for many months now. Apple has accused Samsung (among many other companies, it has to be said) of infringing its patented technology. Samsung, however, has reciprocated by accusing Apple of the same.

Some feel the dispute is more about Apple’s hatred of the Android operating system; since Samsung uses this platform on most of its handsets, the South Korean firm is an easy target.

A number of recent legal challenges by Apple have found in favour of the iPhone maker, so it is not that surprising that the European Union would want to take a look at Samsung’s role in the disputes.

According to German technology consultant Florian Mueller, Samsung and others may now have to start thinking twice before using any technology that it hasn’t patented itself. He said “Even though Samsung is at this stage the only company to be investigated over this issue, other suspected abusers could face similar inquiries anytime.”

Up to now Samsung has refused to comment on the EU investigation, but if found guilty it could spell more trouble.

If you are a T-Mobile contract customer, this may interest you.

Nicknamed ‘The Full Monty’, the new 24-month contract gives you unlimited calls, text and data. The cost, however, depends on how much you are prepared to pay. The tariff starts at £36 with other monthly contract prices being £41, £46 and £61 respectively.

It seems the difference in price relates to whether or not you choose to get an iPhone 4S device. For instance, you pay the lowest tariff cost if you pay £99 for the 16GB version, whereas the 32GB iPhone is free at £61.

Other manufacturers’ handsets are also available for free, including the HTC Sensation XE and the Samsung Galaxy S II.

You should also be aware that there is a restriction of 2,000 minutes of free ‘other calls’ available on the lowest cost tariff.

Interestingly, if you decide to take up this new tariff offer by T-Mobile then this will entitle you to receive free unlimited Wi-fi using BT’s Openzone and existing T-Mobile hotspots.

It has been reported that when asked how T-Mobile intends handling the potentially increased data load this new Fully Monty tariff could cause, one of the company’s management said that joining with Orange has enabled T-Mobile to offset any problems the tariff could cause. However, he did point out that Orange had no plans to offer its customers a similar tariff deal.

Current contract T-Mobile customers can also migrate to the Full Monty, although a free handset won’t be available. SIM only customers cannot avail themselves of this deal.

It has been reported that the Padfone, a combination of a smartphone and tablet developed by Asus, will be on show at the Mobile World Conference (MWC) in February.

This unusual device is apparently a smartphone that doubles up as a tablet when fitted into a housing.

Asus announced it was developing this unique gadget about nine months ago, but since then nothing was heard. Many analysts thought it was probably a joke, but it seems not. The manufacturer decided to announce its launch just before last Christmas.

So what does the Padfone comprise?

The smartphone element is a 4.3-inch device and is said to sport a Tegra CPU, although there is a rumour going around that the device’s microprocessor is in fact a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960.

The tablet bit is apparently a 10.1-inch Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) handset. Other than this, specifications are rather thin on the ground, but all will no doubt be revealed on the 27th February at the MWC.

Rumour seems to be the in thing at the moment with yet another manufacturer keeping everyone guessing.

It seems that a new Samsung device has been spotted on the net, but many analysts are not entirely sure that that is what has actually been seen. Samsung has said it is manufacturing the Galaxy S3, but so far the company appears to have put commentators on a proverbial merry-go-round and not actually told anyone anything of use.

No one is even sure that the Galaxy S3 will even debut at the MWC.

Not if the new CEO of RIM, Thorsten Heins, gets his way. He recently condemned the idea.

Speaking with CrackBerry.com, Mr. Heins said: “Just take a look where the Android OEMs are. Take a look at their recent announcements and what you will immediately see is there is just no room for differentiation because they are all the same.”

Many analysts also agree with the assessment. While it has been said both systems – BlackBerry and Android – have similarities, this doesn’t mean that RIM needs to adopt Android to be successful. Rather, it’s the fact that they are sufficiently different that enables the BlackBerry to stand alone.

However other analysts believe that RIM needs to diversify its operations, and adopting Android on some of its devices may be the way to do it. Last year the company had a torrid time of it; market share dropped and the share price tumbled after the outage debacle during the summer.

Yet, on the whole, RIM management is not despondent and believes the company can turn its issues around quickly. Before stepping down, RIM’s co-CEO Jim Balsillie said “We are pleased to report record shipments and financial performance in fiscal 2011.”

Referring to the BlackBerry operating system, Mr. Balsillie commented that all companies, and RIM is no different, hit the technological buffers from time to time. As such, this doesn’t mean the business should pack it in or be sold in order for it to develop in the future.

In the wake of falling profits, management at HTC decided recently to change their approach. Rather than focusing on budget and medium range devices, the Asian company has decided to put most of its energy into developing high-end smartphones.

Speaking with reporters Phil Robinson, who heads HTC’s UK division, said that the company want to start developing just a handful of higher quality smartphones that inevitably will attract a higher profit margin. It also signals a new marketing approach: focusing on a richer type of consumer who is prepared to pay a higher price for a better handset.

Why the change in approach?

Analysts believe HTC has taken a leaf out of Apple’s books. Apple has always focused on developing products that are not just of the highest quality but also command a high price. Apple customers are prepared to pay that price, so HTC management figures it is a market they cannot afford to ignore.

Other analysts, however, believe trying to compete with Apple on its own ground could be risky.

In other news, fellow Asian company LG electronics has said that it intends unveiling the LG CX 2 at the forthcoming Mobile World Congress. The LG CX 2 is the firm’s latest 3D smartphone.

What’s so special about this new device? Well, it is an Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) device and not an Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). It is also said to feature a Texas Instruments OMAP 1.2GHz dual core processor, and an 800×480 pixel (WVGA) NOVA glasses-less 3D display.

The branded handset manufactured by LG Electronics on behalf of the fashion company Prada will be in Phones4U shops by today.

It seems that the deal between the mobile phone retailer and LG Electronics is a partial exclusivity deal. That is, Phones4U will have first bite of the Prada 3.0 cherry before any other retailer in Britain. How long this will last isn’t known.

So, if this ticks your box, what can expect from any Phones4U deal?

The handset is available at £31 per month and features a 4.3-inch NOVA display, an 8-megapixel camera, a dual core 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. It is powered by Android Gingerbread rather than Ice Cream Sandwich, although no doubt it will be upgradeable.

As the smartphone is a fashion accessory as well as a machine, the back is made from Saffiano leather-style material.

In other news, Hewlett Packard (HP) has apparently reincarnated its mobile phone operating system – WebOS. Rather than using it to create its own products, HP has decided to make the platform open source. The expected date for this is either the third or fourth quarter.

It seems that that this new approach to offering WebOS is the third time in almost as many years. However, HP is confident this time that going open source is the best solution rather than burying it completely.

“HP is bringing the innovation of the webOS platform to the open source community,” said Bill Veghte, executive vice president and chief strategy officer at HP.

It seems the in the mass hysteria over the death of its former leader, the North Korean Government has decided anyone caught using a mobile phone during the 100-day mourning period is declared a war criminal.

The warning was apparently made to try and stop North Korean citizens trying to escape a growing food crisis. Many North Koreans have attempted to cross the border into China, while others have contacted people outside asking for help.

To date around 23,000 people have still managed to get out of the country over the years. So, it is unlikely that the mobile phone ban will deter some determined to escape.

The former leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, died unexpectedly on the 17^th December 2011. Since then, the hurried installation of his son Kim Jong-un, together with a mandatory 100 days of official mourning, have taken place.

Anyone wanting to defect from the North Korean dictatorship is more likely to be able to do so via the Chinese border rather than the South Korean border. The latter is very heavily guarded.

Some analysts think that the death of Kim Jong-il may also cause civil unrest in the impoverished nation. The elevation of his son has caused some instability in the country, hence the new dictum over mobile phones, which are seen as too much of a link to the outside world.

Further, if there is discontent then the government fears that anyone using their mobile phone during this sensitive time may exacerbate an already fragile situation.

It has been reported that the network operator O2 has been accused of sharing the mobile phone numbers of individuals whenever the latter visit websites.

This accusation came about after research was carried out by a web systems administrator, Lewis Peckover. He found that anyone using O2 as their network is likely to have the mobile number shared with the websites they visit while using their smartphone. The numbers themselves are sent by the phone to the website via plain text.

In turn the website owner would be able to pick this data up easily and use it for marketing messages.

Interestingly, not all mobile phone users are affected, but the data sharing is only confined to O2. That said, anyone who uses another service that essentially piggybacks over the O2 network has been found to be affected.

Analyst Graham Cluley from the security firm Sophos, who suggested this matter has been known about for two years, said “My guess is that it’s more likely to be a cock-up than malice which caused this data to be leaked – but what’s worse is that the problem is still present almost two years after it was first discovered.”

Whether it is a ‘cock-up’ rather than a malicious attempt by two different parties is not really relevant. Further, if the issue has been around for two years and only discovered now, it will raise questions.

In the light of the recent phone hacking scandal, this couldn’t have come at a worse time for O2, who are now investigating.

The fairly recent release of Apple’s iPhone 4S seems to have given the American giant something of a boost. The company’s market share has now doubled in the US, leaving Google’s Android lagging behind.

In Britain and Australia, Apple’s market share is also growing rapidly.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said “We made a very bold bet, entering the quarter, as to what the demand would be. And as it turns out, despite it being a very bold bet, we were short of supply throughout the quarter and did end with a significant backlog.”

The findings come from figures released by Apple that appear to show that 37 million units were sold during the last quarter of 2011. The iPhone 4S was also the most popular of the three different smartphone still available for sale – the 3GS, the iPhone 4 and the 4S.

Tim Cook also said that the company underestimated the popularity of the iPhone in China where demand was described as being off the scale.

One last statistic demonstrating the increasing popularity of this handheld device is that more iPhones were sold last year than all the previous four years combined. The iPhone was first released in 2007.

This news enabled Apple bosses to claim the company regained its position as the world’s most valuable company. First quarter profits are apparently £8.4bn, which is double last year’s profit. This boost also forced a jump in the share price by a staggering 6.65%.

It’s been suggested that the Nokia Lumia 900 will be in the shops in the UK by June 2012.

The Lumia 900 is considered the main Windows Phone device from quite a numerous pack. It was launched in the USA by the network operator AT&T earlier this month. However, Carphone Warehouse seemingly created a pre-order page on its website indicating the device will be available by the middle of the year. Since then the mobile phone retailer has removed it, leaving everyone rather perplexed.

What’s so special about the Lumia 900?

It is apparently similar in a number of respects to the Lumia 800, but possesses a 4.3-inch AMOLED display with an 800×480-pixel resolution. The other features though are the same, including a 1.4GHz SnapDragon CPU and an 8-megapixel camera.

The Lumia 900 also possesses 4G LTE connectivity, although this is rather useless at the moment since the UK doesn’t have 4G technology installed yet. That said, at least the handset will be ready when 4G finally does arrive in Britain.

The one thing that can be said, however, is that while no one is entirely sure when the Nokia Lumia 900 will actually land in the UK, it is definitely coming.

In associated news, analysts have expressed surprise at how well Nokia’s Windows Phone handsets have sold. It is thought that the company has shipped out no fewer than 1.3 million units, although Nokia itself has refused to give out any official figures.

The Lumia 800 appears to be very popular, which if true could finally get both Nokia and Microsoft back on track.