So, MWC in Barcelona ended today and, for a techie/YouTuber like me, I thought it was pretty interesting and exciting. Of course, my main interest was the new phones that were announced, even though we still must wait for March 29th for the Samsung Galaxy S8 reveal.
Samsung DID show off their new tablets, along with the Gear VR controller. The Tab S3 and Windows 10 based Galaxy Book both looked pretty awesome, but I’m still satisfied with my old Galaxy Tab 4, as I use tablets very minimally.
The phones, on the other hand, interested me very much. It’s always great to see what’s new and who is innovating and/or pushing the envelope. Not a lot of innovation this year, but some very nice looking and well specked devices nonetheless. So, let’s get into it.
My number one interest is the LG G6. A bit different with its 18:9 aspect ratio, making it taller than other 5.7″ screen designs, but everyone seems to agree that it fits the hand really well and is fairly easy to use with one hand. And split-screen gives two symmetrical squares, which seems pretty cool to view. The G6 is Gorilla glass front and back with a metal frame. A design we’re seeing in more and more phones these days. The battery is non-removable but, at least it’s 3300mAh, which should make it last quite nicely. The screen is almost bezel less and looks beautiful, as far as I can tell. IP68 dust and water resistance is a welcome feature, along with wireless charging. HDR support is built in, so movies and streaming services offering HDR content should be a pleasure to watch on this device.
Another big OEM release was the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus. Both with the Kirin 960 processor, the same great processor found in the Mate 9 which, I can attest, is pretty awesome. The P10 comes with a 5.1 inch full HD display, while the P10 Plus has a 5.5 inch QHD. Both look to be really good, but I’ll stick with my Mate 9, which has been my daily driver since January.
Of course, Blackberry finally revealed their awaited Android device, the KEYone, which up until now, we’ve called the Mercury. Like the DTEK50 before it, the KEYone was designed by TCL communications. Sporting a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, Adreno 506 GPU, 3 GB of RAM with a 4.5 inch Full HD display and the beloved Blackberry keyboard. Not so sure if this will pull Blackberry back from the precipice that they’ve been standing at for a while, but we’ll wait and see.
Then, there was the return of Nokia, who announced the Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and their new/old feature phone the Nokia 3310. The entry level Nokia 3 has an aluminum frame with a Media Tek 6737 processor, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage with a 5 inch display and an 8 MP camera front and back. The slightly more powerful Nokia 5 comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, 16 GB of storage, 2 GB of RAM, a 13 MP rear camera with an 8 MP wide angle front camera and Android 7.1.1 Nougat.
Naturally, the Nokia 3310 is not a smartphone, nor does it have a touchscreen, but it does have 30 days of battery life AND the beloved-in-past-years Snake game, which is said to be just as additive as always.
Sony introduced a few phones. The Sony XZ Premium and XZs are the top end. The Premium has 64 GB internal storage, 4 GB of RAM with a 3,230 mAh battery and the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. This will be the 2nd device with the 835, after the Samsung Galaxy S8, which will be available for purchase before the XZ Premium. The Sony XZs has 32 GB internal storage, 4 GB of RAM, a 2,900 mAh battery with the Snapdragon 820 chipset. Both have a 19 megapixel RS sensor with 5 axis image stabilization and a 960 frames-per-second HS slow-mo mode. Very interesting!
Then, there are the Sony Xperia XA1 and the Xperia XA1 Ultra. Both have 23 MP cameras with the Media Tek helio P20 processor. The XA1 gets a 5 inch 720p screen with the XA1 Ultra getting a Full HD display. Don’t expect to be able to buy any of the Sony phones until April into May. And, though the phones will have fingerprint sensors, Sony will turn them off for the US versions, a move which baffles us.
Finally, Lenovo announced the Motorola Moto G5 and G5 Plus. The G5 having a 5 inch LCD 1080p display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, 2 or 3 GB of RAM (by region), 16 or 32 GB internal storage (also determined by region) and microSD options up to 128 GB. The G5 Plus has a 5.2 inch 1080p display, a higher end Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 processor, 2, 3 or 4 GB of RAM options and 16, 32 or 64 GB of onboard storage. The rear camera is 12 megapixels with dual autofocus with the front having a 5 MP.
Other products were show off and announced, but these were the stand outs to me. Hopefully, I’ll be getting my hands on one or more of these devices in the near future. Do any of the above interest you? Or did something else come out at Mobile World Congress 2017 that caught your eye? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Trusted Reviews
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Began writing for Bane-Tech August 2014, due to an ever-growing passion for mobile and Android in particular.
Computer programmer 1981 to 2015. Currently retired. Active You Tuber (Mobile Geezer:
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Sax player and singer in various bands (rock and R&R) since the mid 60's. Avid motorcycle rider (Gold Wing), bicyclist and exercise enthusiast. Extreme lover of driving and biking (motorcycle). The more thousand miles the trip, the happier I am as the driver.
Dedicated, Bible-believing Christian who makes no judgments on others .
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