Mobile World Congress kicked off with the
expected fanfare at Barcelona on 25th February. We visited the event with high
hopes from some of the best brands and we were not disappointed. From
flourishing exhibitions to innovative products, there was buzz all across the
venue for all 4 days.
From speeches from head honchos of some of
the top corporations in the world to jaw dropping products, there was
everything at this event.
In her opening keynote speech at this
year's Mobile World Congress, GSMA Director-General Anne Bouverot offered an
honest assessment of the state of today's mobile industry. "We now have
over 6.6 billion connections... mobile is changing the world in a way none of
us ever thought possible a few years ago. However, against the backdrop of this
tremendous growth, the mobile industry is facing some significant challenges.
We are facing a very difficult global economic environment, we see maturing
markets, we see increasing regulatory pressures around the world, and those
are some of the things that mobile operators and players in the mobile industry
have to confront... This is a difficult balancing act and this will define the
future of our industry for the years to come."
Mobile
is changing the world in a way none of us ever thought possible a few years ago
E-Commerce will change
With shopping going digital, at the event
there were several who had their reservations on how one could sell electronics
over the web. Right from concerns over payments and gateways to warranties, all
was discussed at length.
Mobile technology is bringing enormous
upheaval to both retail and payment activities, according to the keynote
speech made at Mobile World Congress by John Donahoe, President and CEO of
eBay. "We will see more changes in how consumers shop and pay in the next
three to five years than in the last five to ten years," said Donahoe in
his presentation. He compared what's coming to the impact on the media industry
of the Apple iPad. "We are on the verge of the same thing with payment and
retail."
Visa too had lots to say about the convergence
of mobile payments. John Partridge, Visa President, declared that the financial
and mobile communication industries have successfully come together at
"an extraordinary moment" for both sectors. "We have arrived at
a moment of convergence when the power of global payments networks can be securely
integrated with some of the world's most advanced mobile communications
networks," he stated. "The work we will do will make it possible for
people born within the last 5 years to never have a physical wallet."
What caught our attention at MWC
It would be fair to say that we were
expecting several big announcements. With HTC, Samsung, Sony all using the
event as a launch pad to showcase their finest products, we found some of
these to be extremely impressive. Here are the products that we found quite impressive.
Nokia Lumia 520 and 720
Nokia recently launched the Lumia 920,
which belongs to its high - end range of Windows phones. This time around they
unveiled the Lumia 520, which is a low - end device. It has a similar design to
the others in the same category. What it offers is a 4-inch WVGA display, 8GB
of storage, and a 5-megapixel rear camera. Nokia has nixed NFC support, and
there's no front facing camera for Skype and other video calling apps.
Nokia
Lumia 520
The Nokia 720 is a mid - range device has a
thin and light body that puts it on par with HTC's 8X. The Lumia 720 weighs
128g vs. the 185g of the Lumia 920, and it's 9mm thin vs. the 10.7mm thickness
of the Lumia 920. It's noticeable when you use the device with one hand and the
unibody design looks great for this mid-range device.
Nokia
Lumia 720
Sony Xperia Tablet Z
Sony went on to announce its first offering
of the event. The Xperia Tablet Z has a 10.1-inch 1920 x 1200 display, same
1.5GHz quad-core processor (now outed as a Snapdragon S4 Pro), and same airy
design at 495g and a world-beating 6.9mm thick. Other features include an
eight-megapixel camera, water- and dust-proofing, NFC, and a universal IR
blaster. The Tablet Z runs Android 4.1, with an update to 4.2 coming
post-launch. As for pricing, Sony is matching the iPad: the Tablet Z will cost
around $499 for a 16GB model and $599 for 32GB, both in black.
Sony
Xperia Tablet Z
Huawei Ascend P2
Huawei was the first mobile phone manufacturer
to open the event by announcing its flagship device. Equipped with a smooth,
thin, remarkably light. this device definitely feel like a flagship. The
8.4mm-thin handset has a 4.7-inch, 1280 x 720 "infinity edge"
display. In terms of hardware, there is a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor that Huawei
is calling "the world's fastest smartphone." It also comes with a 16
GB storage and 1 GB RAM.
Huawei
Ascend P2
