Every Android fan out there is probably excited for the 27th of February like a kid waiting for Christmas’ Eve. The reason is the opening event of the biggest exhibition focused on mobile phones, new technologies, Apps and mobile solutions.
We’re talking about the Mobile World Congress and the incredible showcases we’ve been used to witness and enjoy every year. As usual, since 2006, Barcelona will open its arms to the thousands of exhibitors and sponsors arriving from each corner of the globe.
But how more can we push the boundaries of our technology? The devices we carry in our pockets and bags every day are just as good at handling our everyday tasks and needs as their desktop counterparts. Hence, the question: what else can we expect from the future? And what are we going to see at this year’s Mobile World Congress?
1. New Devices
This is a given and the MWC is probably the best place to showcase new devices and technologies. But while some very anticipated phones, like the new Samsung Galaxy S8, won’t see the light until the end of March, we’ve got a lot of other manufacturers ready to take the stage.
Let’s start with Huawei. The Chinese company has been enjoying a very good moment since the brand finally joined the ranks of best-sellers, thanks to last year’s Huawei P9.
While Huawei usually announces their flagship device in a private conference some time after the MWC, it looks like things are going to be different this year. The company sent out press invitations announcing the unveiling of a brand new flagship device, the awaited P10. Besides that, we can also expect some new wearable device and an in-depth look at the recently revealed Huawei VR headset.
Often referred to with the name of Ocean, HTC has been teasing us with their rumoured flagship device. After a good year thanks to the launch of Google devices (both the Pixel and the Pixel XL were manufactured by HTC), it looks like HTC is finally ready to make its glorious comeback. We know very little about the new device except that it won’t have any button and will offer a very different user experience. We’d love to know more about it but HTC hasn’t scheduled any press conference for MWC, making a launch quite unlikely. But we might be wrong, only time will tell.
LG’s invitations to their events got us really excited. The invites simply say “See More, Play More” and announce the reveal of the new G6 on February 26. While a lot of informations about the new device have leaked already, we prefer to wait for its official announcement and dream of a borderless big screen for us to enjoy movies and games.
Sony is about to introduce us to its new devices and, in typical Sony’s fashion, sent out invitations stating only “Latest innovations will be unveiled”. We only know that the Japanese manufacturer has two devices coming out this year but we still don’t know anything in terms of technical specs about them.
2. Mobile content
The Monday evening’s keynote at the MWC is usually one of the most important ones. This year, Reed Hastings from Netflix will have the honour to delight us with his words and expectations. It’s clear that the fruition of mobile content is going to be an important theme, even though we’re still trying to figure out in what way this could actually surprise us or give us something new. Should we wait for a game-changing announcement?
3. OnePlus & Oppo
OnePlus stole our hearts with their wonderful low-cost/high-end smartphones and it looks like they’re ready to charme us once again. Their sister company, Oppo, the same one who provided OnePlus with great features like the “dash charging”, sent out invitations to their press conference where they’ll announce “an innovative new technology”. While we’ve heard these terms many times, we’re sure that the companies will introduce something new and exciting that’ll probably be featured in the still unannounced OnePlus 4.
4. What happened to Samsung?
It’s been a tough year for the South Korean giant. While their S7/S7 Edge were unanimously declared the best smartphones of 2016, on the other hand, Galaxy Notes 7 were blowing up like fireworks, causing the company to withdraw all units from stores. The company has already said we can expect an announcement of the new S8 in March, but what about MWC? They’ll probably show a new tablet, one that doesn’t hurt people, on February 26th. Though we know some of the technical specs of the new device, supposedly named Galaxy Tab S3, we’re still left wondering if this will be the device that will change our lives.
5. Almost-5G?
While we’ve heard this term ever since 4G was officially launched and we’ve heard that it won’t be available before 2020, it looks like Sprint might give us a glimpse at the fastest network speeds ever.
Teaming up with Nokia**, Sprint will give us a demo of their 4.9G speed. It’s a technology based on the 3GPP LTE Advanced Pro 2 standard and their goal is to give this infrastructure to operators around the world so that they can start offering new services while transitioning to 5G.
6. The greatest comeback ever: the Nokia 3310
While Nokia will launch a whole new set of devices, like the Nokia 3, 5 and 6, respectively budget, mid-range and high-end, nothing got us excited as much as the fact that we’re going to see one of the most beloved cellphones making its grand comeback in the form a totally revamped smartphone.
We all remember the wonderful ergonomics, the sturdy case and the long lasting battery of everyone’s favorite** Nokia 3310**. Though nothing has been officially revealed yet, we just hope that Nokia listened to long time fans and delivers a product capable of giving us emotions again, just like in the first 2000s.
7. The future of Apps
We here at Aptoide are always interested in the way Apps are distributed, used and shared (but you already knew that, right?). This year, Aptoide will also have its own stand at the MWC and we're preparing some juicy announcements to be made during the world's largest gathering for the mobile industry.
Discover how innovating the global nervous system - a seamless web of interconnected intelligence that underpins our digital lives – will allow you to transform human experiences with effortless, simple and dependable technology and how together we can shape the future of human possibilities.
We hope to find new innovative ways to make Apps usage even more social and collaborative and, in the meanwhile, we’ll show all the great things we’ve accomplished during the past year. With less than a week before the event, it’s hard to contain our excitement!
Join us at MWC 2017 to learn more about our vision and experience the innovation of our new and exciting technologies. Come find us at Hall-App Planet, booth 8.1 G58, we'll be happy to take you on a tour into the future.
Now, over to you. What do you expect from this year’s MWC? Which company do you think will give us something truly new? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments.