BT fibre, BlackBerry tablet and Google Street View in Antarctica

Photos of the month - October 2010

Microsoft took the wraps off a long-awaited reboot of its mobile platform last month - showing off six handsets running the new OS, Windows Phone 7 (WP7), at a UK launch event in London.

Mobile makers demoing WP7 hardware in London included Dell, HTC, LG - whose Optimus WP7 handset is pictured above.

The UK launch of Windows Phone 7 included a surprise appearance from tech blogger and Apple fan Stephen Fry. A previously vocal critic of Microsoft's mobile efforts, Fry brandished a WP7 handset and said: "Oh what joy there is in heaven when a sinner repents."

For more photos from the launch event see: Photos: Microsoft Windows Phone 7's UK launch in pictures.

The Windows Phone launch saw the release of a bevy of smartphones from different mobile makers running the new OS - including the Samsung Omnia 7 handset, which has a four-inch super Amoled display, a 1GHz processor and a five-megapixel camera with HD video recording.

For the full line-up of UK WP7 devices see: Photos: Windows Phone 7 devices - the launch line-up.

Here's another WP7 device - the HTC HD7, which has the largest display on any Windows Phone 7 smartphone announced at launch.

The screen measures 4.3 inches diagonally and the handset has a 480 x 800 pixel resolution.

For a hands-on view of the HTC HD7, see: Photos: HTC HD7 - hands-on with the Windows smartphone.

And here's a business-focused WP7 device made by Dell, the Venue Pro, which was the only UK WP7 device announced at launch to have a slide-out Qwerty keyboard, as shown above.

For more shots of the Venue Pro, see: Photos: Dell Venue Pro - hands-on with the Windows smartphone.

There was more mobile goodness in the form of an app round-up showcasing business-friendly wares on offer to Symbian users through Nokia's Ovi Store - including the Microsoft Communicator app, pictured above.

To see the full selection of 20 apps, see: Photos: 20 business smartphone apps for Symbian users.

For those who prefer Android or iPhone, last month we featured a round-up of augmented reality apps for the mobile platforms.

This app, known as Surprise Me, allows users to leave 'gifts' for friends to pick up when they're using the software. Users can also share photos or music for users to discover when they point their phone's camera view at the right spot.

For more augmented reality offerings, see Photos: Augmented reality apps for iPhone and Android.

Screenshot credit: Layar Augmented Reality

From advanced apps to futuristic mobiles, silicon.com took a look at the advanced handsets on show at Japan's Ceatac tradeshow.

Among the handsets on display was this concept phone by Fujitsu, which can be used both vertically and horizontally. The two touchscreens can also function as one display.

To see more futuristic mobiles, check out: Photos: The mobiles of the future on show in Japan.

Meanwhile last month, BlackBerry-maker RIM unveiled a new handset of its own: a clamshell known as the BlackBerry Style.

The BlackBerry Style has a 2.7-inch display, as well as a full Qwerty keyboard and optical trackpad, and runs RIM's latest OS, BlackBerry 6.

For more on the handset, see: Photos: BlackBerry Style clamshell debuts from RIM.

RIM also unveiled its long-rumoured tablet device last month - the BlackBerry PlayBook, pictured above.

The device - due for launch early next year - may have a playful name but RIM is pitching it at its core enterprise users.

The wi-fi and Bluetooth device has a seven-inch touchscreen, dual cameras for videoconferencing and can be paired with BlackBerry smartphones to act as a document and data viewer. RIM also plans to produce PlayBooks with 3G and 4G connectivity in future.

For more on RIM's tablet, see: Photos: BlackBerry PlayBook - RIM unveils first tablet.

And HP finally launched its long-awaited Slate tablet PC in October and silicon.com sister site CNET got a chance to try out the Windows 7-powered device.

A prototype of the device was shown off at CES 2010 in January - before Apple's iPad was launched - but the project was surrounded by rumours of delays and OS changes.

Find out what the Slate 500 can do in Photos: HP Slate 500 Tablet PC

There was more hardware refreshing in October courtesy of Apple, which unveiled new additions to its ultra-light laptop range.

At an event in San Francisco last month, Apple announced two new MacBook Airs: one measuring 13.3 inches, and one measuring 11.6 inches.

For more on the Apple kit, check out: Photos: Apple MacBook Air gets a refresh.

Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac went on sale at the end of the month and silicon.com's sister site CNET took a look at some of its new features.

Shown above is the template browsing function in PowerPoint to allow the user to choose the best layout and customise it for their presentation.

To see some of the other new Office tools, take a look at Photos: Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac's new features

Screenshot: Jason Parker/CNET

Apple also took the wraps off an update to its multimedia management suite, known as iLife '11, last month.

The suite updates Apple's iPhoto photo editing and iMovie movie-making software, and its GarageBand music package.

iLife '11 features expanded Facebook integration. For example, once your account is linked, you can browse albums from your profile in iPhoto.

Screenshot credit: Apple

Trend Micro also unwrapped its latest security package in October, called Titanium Maximum Security 2011.

The security suite features the addition of always-on threat detection, meaning users won't have to schedule a scan to get full protection.

To see the suite in action, read: Photos: Trend Micro turns to the cloud for Titanium 2011.

Screenshot credit: Seth Rosenblatt/CNET

More software news: penguins basking in the sun on a rocky outcrop in Antarctica. This must mean Google Street View has made it to the Earth's southern-most continent at last - albeit snapping a tiny fraction of the terrain on Half Moon Island.

Last month Google said Street View now offers vistas from all seven of the world's continents.

For more pictures of penguins, see Photos: Google Street View peeks at penguins in Antarctica.

Screenshot: Google Street View

From Antarctica to India: last month silicon.com got the chance to take a look around one of Indian outsourcer HCL's campuses in Noida, near Delhi.

The campus, which has its own doctor and crèche, was opened in 2009 and now plays host to over 5,000 staff who work on HCL's infrastructure and applications business.

For a closer look at the campus, see: Photos: A tour of an HCL Indian campus.

A little closer to home last month was a story about parking technology in Birmingham.

The Cube shopping and office complex in Brum opened a car park with a difference recently - drivers leave their car at the entrance and an automated system of lifts and shelves parks their car and returns it to them when they want to leave.

Shown above is a car on one of the six sliding shelves that move vehicles around the facility.

To see exactly how the car park works, see Photos: The car park that parks your vehicle for you

BT was also in the news last month, demonstrating how it has been laying the fibre optic cable that carries high-speed data to the home trial area in Milton Keynes. Fibre to the home (FTTH) broadband means fibre is laid from the exchange all the way into people's homes - supporting speeds of up to 100Mbps.

To get the fibre where it needs to go, BT's Openreach engineers use compressed air to blow it through ducts and the gizmo pictured above to fusion splice individual fibres onto splitter trays and distribution nodes.

For more on how BT is laying FTTH, see: Photos: Fibre broadband - BT demos splicing and blowing.

BT also demoed some of the future applications that could be enabled once there is widespread access to fibre broadband. Smaller firms will be able to make use of apps, including lower cost CCTV - as shown above.

The CCTV will be able to be run off a business's fibre to the cabinet broadband connection, instead of the business having to install a dedicated ADSL broadband line just for CCTV as is typically currently the case, according to BT.

For more on future fibre apps, see Photos: BT demos what superfast broadband can do.

In October silicon.com paid a visit to aerospace company EADS Astrium to see how it puts satellites together.

This is a shot of the satellite KA-SAT on a vibrating platform, where it is being tested to ensure it can withstand the conditions it will experience as it is carried into orbit on a rocket.

For more pictures of satellites being built, see Photos: How satellites are made.

And space was also on Google's mind when the search giant announced a partnership with Slooh.

Astronomy service Slooh will now be integrated with Google Sky to give space fans a chance to take a look at the pictures of deep space taken by Slooh's members.

Shown above is the Slooh layer in Google Sky, where each of the little orange Slooh logos indicates the location of a user-taken photograph of a deep-space object.

For more star-gazing, check out: Photos: Google takes a trip into outer space with Slooh.