I don’t know if you will agree with me but when I go to the movies I find myself more intrigued by the trailers at first than the actual movie. The anticipation of what’s to come is almost as good as the instant gratification of seeing your movie. The Mobile World Conference is kind of similar. The purpose? To showcase the new releases to come. And boy did this year not disappoint! So giddy with anticipation and excitement I had a look.
Receiving the award for Best New Smartphone, the XZ Premium. The XZ Premium, according to the GSMA, was the showstopper of the entire conference. Although I have not had a chance to use the phone myself the hype is really all around the Motion Eye Camera, Slow Motion recording as well as the Snapdragon 835 chipset, the first flagship phone to feature this chipset. Along with the XZ Premium, the XA1 and XA1 Ultra were revealed as super mid-range phones. The bad news is that it seems unlikely that the XZ premium will hit our shores owing to the high cost.
Perhaps the most surprising reveal (at least to me) was the LG G6. Trying to build up on the disappointing sales of the G5, the hotly anticipated G6 will feature Full Vision display and Ultra – Wide Screen Ratio. Although the display is the hot talking point of this model it is also worth noting that it offers competition in the dual camera arena.
One of the most talked about reveals was the Nokia 3310. HMD has resurrected this old timer and given it a fresh update. Tapping into the nostalgia that catches all of us at one time the 3310 features the rugged build and long battery life of its predecessor in funky updated colours. Perhaps the only disappointment is the exclusion of Whatsapp which, I guess, taps into the sentiment connected to the older version. Other cool news is that the Nokia 6 will be launched globally as well as the more affordable Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 models!
Huawei came to the party with its P10 and P10 Plus with optimized user interfaces. Sporting all the features you would expect from this giant in the form of cameras, RAM, build and design. While Huawei have indicated, the new range will be water resistant they have not confirmation the IP rating.
Blackberry has also dive-bombed into the pool with the Blackberry KEYone. Featuring updated security features, including regular security updates for the phones entire life, the KEYone features the touchscreen and qwerty keypad combination that made its previous models so popular.
The biggest disappointment for me was the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S8 was not featured (although Samsung received the award for best smartphone of 2016 for the S7 Edge).That being said they did reveal their new tablet, the Tab S3. Bringing together the key strengths of previous models the Tab S3 will include the S Pen and Bluetooth Keyboard as well as optimized software. The audio is sure to be a hit with the built in speakers being produced by AKG-a subsidiary of Harmon Kardon an audio giant.
So there you have it, some exciting new phones to look forward to and as always we will be reviewing them one by one as soon as we have the chance!
