Mobile World Congress (MWC), 2017 Highlights – Things You Shouldn’t Miss

Mobile World Congress is the number one European event for true Android fans that takes place usually in the first quarter of the year in Barcelona.

This time, the event took place from February 27 to March 2, 2017.  Some of the highlights of this year’s MWC which you should not miss is listed here.

Mobile World Congress 2017 Highlights

LG

One of the biggest attention grabber in 2017 MWC was the LG G6, LG’s new flagship for 2017. LG launched its new flagship device for 2017. This time LG has not done any fancy like the modular design in the G5 but has gone with a more traditional flagship design i.e. front and back glass with a metal frame design.

The LG G6 is rocking a Snapdragon 821 accompanied by 4GB of RAM and 32 GB/64GB of internal storage with a QHD+ and Dolby Vision display. The display in the G6 is the main attraction. It is a 5.7-inch IPS LCD display with an 18 x 9 aspect ratio i.e. 2:1 screen to body ratio. It also has a dual camera setup like its predecessor but now it has a dual 13MP camera and a 5MP wide-angle camera in the front, and the device is powered by the 3,300mAh non-removable battery.

Samsung

Samsung, one of the leading company in the smartphone industry was also present in the MWC. Alas, they were not able to showcase their new flagship phone in this event but were able to show the teaser of their new flagship device, the Samsung Galaxy S8 which will be launching at the end of March. In the event, they mainly emphasized on the product safety which was a serious concern for their customers after the loss they suffered from the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. They said that they have now implemented an 8-point battery safety check and a battery safety advisory group.

In the event, Samsung unveiled their new Galaxy Tab S3. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 has received a lot of improvements over its predecessor, the Tab S2, with a newer UI and their new S-Pen. It also has a new HDR screen with four speakers for good multimedia experience. This device has a front and back glass design with metal frame. The Tab S3 has a premium look and is equipped with USB Type-C. The Tab S3 is set to release at the end of March.

Nokia

Nokia has made a comeback to the world of smartphones by releasing its new Android devices in the MWC. Earlier this year, Nokia released Nokia 6 in the Chinese market to see the response of their customers. With a good customer feedback and sales, they have now decided to release their phone to the global market. Nokia showcased their new devices, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 in the MWC and also a new feature phone based on the original Nokia 3310.

The Nokia 5 has a 5-inch HD display with a Snapdragon 430 chipset, 16 GB of internal storage, 2 GB of RAM with 13 MP rear camera and 8 MP front camera.

Meanwhile, the Nokia 3 also comes with a 5-inch display but with a less powerful processor i.e. MediaTek 6737 processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It also has 8MP front and rear camera. Both the models will be running Android 7.1.1 and will be launched in Q2 of 2017.

Talking about the new revamp version of Nokia 3310, it does not run Android as it is not a smartphone. It is just a feature phone having about 30-day battery life. This new model of 3310 also comes with a new refreshed version of the beloved Snake game. It will also be launched in Q2, 2017.

Sony

Sony did not release only one handset in the MWC, 2017 but released a total of 4 new handsets in its press conference. The company unveiled the Xperia XZs and XZ premium as company’s flagship smartphone for 2017 and also revealed Xperia XA1 and XA1 Ultra as a super mid-range devices.

The Xperia XZ Premium will be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and will have a 4K display like its predecessor Z5 Premium which will also support HDR. It has a new 19MP rear facing camera equipped with Sony’s new sensor which can take incredible 960 fps slow-motion videos.

The Xperia XZs is a lower spec’d version of the XZ premium with Snapdragon 820 with 5.2-inches Full HD display and a same 19MP rear facing shooter. Both devices will run Android Nougat out of the box. The Xperia XZs is coming this April.

On the budget side of the market, Sony will be releasing the Xperia XA1 and Xperia XA1 Ultra. These devices offer a superior photography capability with a 23MP rear camera and a 16 MP front camera although they fall under mid-range smartphone market. These devices have a premium look and feel but with a bigger top and bottom bezels which makes the phone a lot bigger compared to other devices with the same screen size. The release date of these devices will be in the Q1 of 2017.

Huawei

The Chinese smartphone company, Huawei has released its newest smartphone at this year’s MWC – the P10 and P10 Plus. It is an update to its successful predecessor, the Huawei P9.

The P10 and P10 Plus has a metal body with a hyper-diamond cut and sandblasted finish for giving the phone a premium look and feel. It is powered by a 64-bit octa-core Hisilicon Kirin 960 processor with Mail-G71 MP8 GPU. Both the devices will be running on Android Nougat with an optimized version of Huawei EMUI 5.1 interface. These devices will come either with a 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage or 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage. It will come with a rear dual camera setup – 20MP black-and-white lens and a 12MP Leica color lens. The difference in these two devices is the screen resolution and the screen sizes – the P10 has a 5.1-inch Full HD display while the P10 plus has a 5.5-inch QHD display. You can also see the difference in the battery department. Inside the P10 you will get 3,200 mAh battery but the P10 Plus comes with a 3,750 mAh battery. Both the handsets will be available sometime in March and you can expect the phone to release in Nepal at around Q2 or Q3 of 2017.

BlackBerry

BlackBerry announced its 2017 smartphone, the BlackBerry KEYone, at their MWC press conference. The smartphone features a return of the BlackBerry’s trademark physical keyboard setup. This business-focused phone is running on Android and comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 CPU with 3GB of RAM. This device has a Full HD 4.5-inch display which is powered by a 3,505 mAh battery. It comes with a 12MP rear-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture and an 8MP front-facing shooter. The company in the press conference emphasized that it is the most secure android phone till date. The BlackBerry KEYone will be available from April, 2017.

Honorable Mentions

1. 5G – the future of network and wireless connectivity.
2. Along with their flagship phone of 2017, LG also announced the LG X Power2 – a phone that claims to have a two days’ long battery life (4500 mAh).
   
3. Samsung released its new Samsung Galaxy Book with Windows 10 operating system. Samsung introduced their Samsung Gear VR Controller for more user-friendly and smooth control of their Gear VR.
4. Huawei with their P10 and P10 Plus also announced their two new smartwatches: the Huawei Watch 2 and Huawei Watch 2 Classic which will be running on Android Wear 2.0.
5. Motorola did not opt for releasing their flagship in MWC, rather they released two new phones: the Moto G5 and the Moto G5 Plus, which are both a bang for one’s buck.
6. Moto’s parent company Lenovo also launched the new Lenovo Tab 4 which will be competing against the new Galaxy Book and the Microsoft Surface Book.
7. Competing with the Moto G5 and G5 Plus are the new ZTE budget friendly smartphones – the ZTE Blade V8 Mini and the ZTE Blade V8 Lite. An overkill to all the smartphones in the MWC was the ZTE Gigabit – a prototype phone that is said to be ‘the world’s fastest smartphone’ because of its insane download speed which can reach up to 1 Gbps i.e. ten times the speed of current smartphone in the market.
8. Sony is going in the tablet market with Sony Touch – a projector powered by Android.
9. Oppo did not come up with their new smartphone but showcased their new camera technology “5x smartphone photography tech that will give users unprecedented ability to capture highly detailed images”.
10. Gionee, a Chinese smartphone vendor making an appearance at the 2017 MWC by releasing its new mid-range A-series phones, the Gionee A1 and Gionee A1 Plus.
11. Alcatel also going with the budget devices, the Alcatel U5, A3 and A5 LED.