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MWC 2017 is over, and now we all know what was unveiled. Sony, Motorola, LG, Nokia, BlackBerry Huawei, and others all unveiled new smartphones ranging from the most basic to flagship-level, and this weekend's poll will have you pick among some of the most prominent contenders for a winner.
Fast charging is getting really, well... fast. It seems like every phone that comes out has some new version of fast charge tech with bigger numbers. Now Meizu has the biggest numbers yet. Its Super mCharge system can push 55W of power to the phone. By comparison, the Pixel XL can only handle 18W.
I guess it was bound to happen: Google Assistant is finally breaking free from the shackles of the Pixels and launching onto the millions of devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above, no need for GApps or root.
Oppo showed off some impressive camera innovations at MWC. Dubbed "5x Dual Camera Zoom," the breakthrough allows for 5x lossless zoom in a camera module that is only 5.7mm thick. That means little to no camera bump, in theory. The Chinese OEM is calling this the world's first "periscope style dual-camera technology."
MediaTek has been busy in the last few months. In December, the semiconductor company launched the Helio X23 and X27 system-on-chips, which were upgrades to the previous X20 and X25, respectively. Then, just earlier this month, we saw the announcement for the Helio P25, a new SoC that hoped to bring some premium smartphone features (especially in regards to photography) to a mid-level chip. And now we have the Helio X30 announced at MWC, MTK's newest high-end entrant that could start a new chapter for the company.
This Mobile World Congress is full of budget phones - from Motorola with the Moto G5 to Nokia with its first Android devices. Now ZTE is sharing two new devices at the event - the Blade V8 Mini and Blade V8 Lite.
I distinctly recall paying more than $100 for a 1GB SD card many years ago. Now, the cards are smaller, faster, and have much higher capacities. SanDisk announced an Ultra-series 256GB card at CES this year, but the new Extreme card is even faster with support for the A1 U3 standard.
Sony has been showcasing a few concept projects for about a year. These include the Xperia Ear which has already materialized and the Xperia Projector that we first saw at MWC last year. The projector is becoming real at this year's MWC, with a new name and more details and specs.
Sony's XZ Premium and the XZs are not the only new kids on the block for its 2017 smartphone lineup. The company has also got the 'super mid-range' XA1 and XA1 Ultra devices, for those searching for a good-looking phone on a budget.
Beside the new Moto G5 and G5 Plus, Lenovo is introducing a few tablets at MWC this year: the Tab 4 Series. And a "series" this is, because we're talking about 4 different tablets, without factoring in LTE and non-LTE versions, storage options, and colors. There's the regular Tab 4 in both 8" and 10" variants, then there's the Tab 4 Plus also in 8" and 10" variants.
The Moto G5 Plus renews Motorola's commitment to providing a premium smartphone experience at a fraction of the cost of more expensive flagship phones. Starting at just $229 here in the US for the 2GB/32GB, you get a super-efficient Snapdragon 625 processor, 5.2" 1080p LCD, micro SD slot, Turbo charging, fingerprint scanner, and Android 7.0 with Motorola's very light skin.
I don't know how Sony hasn't run out of alphabet letters and rectangular designs by now. Year after year, or more like half year after half year, the company churns another phone that distinctly looks like almost every Sony phone we've seen to date (which might be a good or a bad thing, depending on how much you like the design language) and that has another letter or noun added in the name. I'm honestly confused, but I understand that it has its appeal for a small subset of people, so I'll put my judgment aside and carry on telling you about these new Sony phones announced at MWC today.
I have a Huawei P10 here to check out at MWC, and checking it out I have been: the newest flagship from the world's 3rd-largest smartphone vendor is here, and it's actually pretty nice.
The Huawei Watch, released in 2015, was arguably the best Android Wear device on balance until very recently. Accordingly, its sequel has been much-awaited by fans hoping that the device would be modernized with new features like NFC and Android Wear 2.0 while maintaining the simple elegance that made it such an aesthetically versatile smart timepiece. In fact, I think most Huawei watch fans would actually just be OK with using the same watch body from 2015, albeit with a newer chipset and Android Pay support, and maybe some new finish options or additional buttons.
Motorola is making a big push for modular phones, with the company promising at least 12 Moto Mods a year and showing off several upcoming ones earlier today. The success of Moto Mods relies on convincing customers that they are actually useful, and to that end, Motorola shared some concepts for future mods at Mobile World Congress today.
Samsung's big announcement for today was the Galaxy Tab S3, but if you happen to be interested in virtual reality, Samsung has another product to sell to you. Oculus and Samsung have partnered up again to develop an updated Gear VR, this time with a fancy motion controller.
Mobile World Congress 2017 has only just started, but Samsung's already looking forward to bigger things. A teaser image that was sent out has revealed that a Galaxy device (pretty clearly the Galaxy S8) will be "unboxed" at 11am EST on March 29th, 2017 at Samsung's Unpacked event in New York City.
Motorola's big announcement today was the new Moto G5 and G5 Plus, but it also had some news for Moto Z owners. The company previously committed to at least 12 new Moto Mods every year, with several announced today to be released over the first half of 2017.
I have fond memories of Nokia, like many others, so I was excited to watch the Finnish firm's announcements today at MWC. The presentation started with more talk on the OZO 360° virtual reality camera, which was used to livestream everything to YouTube 360. Also of note was that Nokia is finalizing its purchase of Withings, the French connected devices company. Most importantly, however, were the phone announcements.
Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona has begun, and manufacturers are releasing new tech left and right. This year, Motorola/Lenovo brought along the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus, which make some pretty significant changes over their predecessors, mostly for the better.