Samsung, Nokia and Wearables to Dominate Mobile World Congress
Mobile World Congress, the biggest mobile industry event in the world, was a bit of a dud last year. Instead of happening at the conference, big news seemed to orbit around it, with Samsung showing off its flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, two weeks after the conference, and HTC announcing its One one week before MWC.
There was still plenty to see at the MWC2013, of course. We tried out the first Firefox OS devices, Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 8.0, and ZTE and Huawei showed off their new flagships. Still, one couldn't escape the feeling that the biggest players in mobile were trying to separate themselves from the MWC crowd.
The Heavy Hitters
This year, things might be a little different. Samsung has announced an event called "Unpacked 5" — strongly suggesting it plans to announce the Galaxy S5 at MWC — and we wouldn't be surprised if we saw a slimmer, cheaper, sexier Galaxy Gear there as well.
LG will bring its G Pro 2, and Nokia also has announcements to make at the MWC, too. ZTE, will show off a new 6-incher as well as a Firefox OS 1.3 device.
Of course, Apple is traditionally absent from MWC, and Microsoft and Google rarely have a direct presence, but the two companies will definitely be there in some form or another. To spice things up, a fresh rumor claims that Nokia, which was so far all-in in Microsoft's Windows Phone, will announce its first Android phone at MWC.
HTC has been pretty quiet at most big events in the last year or so, and there's no indication this will change this year, though we do expect to see a successor to HTC One in March. Even without HTC, at this year's MWC we're almost certain to see a couple of flagship devices, and some interesting moves in a space that's changed a lot over the last couple of months.
Wearable Tech
Another interesting aspect of this year's MWC will be wearable tech of all sorts. Samsung and Sony broke the ice with their smartwatches in 2013, and though it's not widely available yet, Google Glass has been capturing the imagination of tech lovers for more than a year, maturing quite a bit in the last couple of months.
Judging from this year's CES, and some recent rumors, we're expecting to see several smartwatches, fitness trackers, and VR headsets at the MWC. We're not sure how much of those will be entirely new, though.
Though we're intrigued by the proposition of being equipped with high-tech, wearable gizmos, we can't shake the feeling this industry is still in its infancy. We're still waiting for that killer product; we might see one at MWC 2014, but if was the betting sort I'd place my bets on 2015 as the year wearable tech will break out to the mainstream.
The Rest of the Pack
Last year at MWC, we've had a little taste of Firefox OS. This year, we expect to see how much the Firefox OS devices and the operating system itself have progressed.
An interesting new device, called Blackphone, will be unveiled at the show. It's a smartphone that puts privacy first, protecting you from anyone who wants to snoop into your private data.
YotaPhone will bring its e-ink Android phone to the show, and Alcatel, which had several very interesting concepts at IFA Berlin, will surely be there as well. And we're sure we'll see some really, really big phones and mighty tablets — perhaps some with 4k resolution screens.
What we Won't See — Or Care Much About — At MWC 2013
Like every year, there will also be talk of NFC and how it's going to change our lives this year. Frankly, we'll buy that when we see it — NFC-enabled phones have been around for years, but we've yet to see the tech making a big splash in the real world. We've got nothing against NFC, but forgive us if we're not excited about an supposed NFC revolution for the fifth year in a row.
We've already mentioned the likely absence of HTC's new flagship, and Google's relative timidity when it comes to MWC. Don't get us wrong — the two companies will be there, they just won't bring the big guns to the show. As an aside, Google's Eric Schmidt, who has delivered the main keynote in 2012 and 2013, will not be appearing this year.
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