on 26-01-2016 14:20
Hey guys,
It's less than a month away until Mobile World Congress kicks off in Barcelona. Like us, you've probably seen loads of rumours - some might turn out to be true, and some may not come to fruition.
MWC has become a stage for which manufacturers like Samsung, HTC and others announce their new flagships for the year, but MWC is so much bigger than that. It's a roadshow and glimpse into the future - new tech we could soon see, such as new displays, better batteries, more powerful cloud computing, online storage, big data... Everything and anything related to the mobile industry will be there...
And so will O2! I will be attending the 4 day MWC event in person this year. I'll be looking at as much tech as I can and will be reporting back on my findings here and on our other social media channels such as Twitter & Facebook, so make sure you keep an eye out there too.
What about new handsets?
As mentioned above, we do fully expect there to be new announcements. Exactly what and from who, we just don't know at this stage - all we have are the rumours. Although Samsung & HTC both announced new tech last year, these 'keynote' announcements are separate to MWC - Unfortunately my MWC pass won't grant me access to these events as they are typically only open to the worldwide press due to very limited spaces.
So no coverage from O2 for new phones?
Far from it - for any announcements, we expect a live stream as has happened the past couple of years. I'll be live-updating the community the same as with previous announcements and would be great to discuss details/features/specs as they become official. I'll post placeholder threads closer to the time, so keep an eye open for those.
- Is there any particular tech or theme you're interested in?
- Think 2016 will be the year VR goes mainstream? Interested in this?
- What's the biggest tech advancement you want to see? Battery life, display tech, something else?
Once I'm out there, expect to see this thread updated throughout the day with photos and news from MWC. Make sure you tag me in with any questions/requests when I'm out there, as it may get quite busy - some attendees report that they walk 20km around the MWC venue in a single day, you know! 😉
on 22-02-2016 21:56
on 22-02-2016 21:56
23-02-2016 23:20 - edited 23-02-2016 23:26
23-02-2016 23:20 - edited 23-02-2016 23:26
Today I had a look around at the halls I didn’t get the chance to see yesterday and got a real sense and outlook of just how diverse the world of mobile is. It’s not just the new mobile phones and tablets you see – it’s everything behind it… The display units, the glass screen protecting it, the security systems behind fingerprint scanners and everything in between. The amount of research, testing and development that goes into all of these individual pieces of the puzzle is mind boggling and I was glad to see it all in action.
Lifeproof / Adventure Proof / Waterproof
This seems to be a bit of a trend this year and no matter what phrase you use for it, it all boils down to the same thing in the end – a product that you can take with you anywhere you go, including the places you couldn’t before. Until fairly recently, getting your phone wet was the stuff of nightmares, but we’ve seen several advancements today where the elements of the earth are no longer a threat to our precious tech.
Take the above for instance – that’s a fully operational computer (Raspberry Pi) submerged under water, and it still works! Perhaps in the future you’ll never need to worry about dropping your phone down the toilet (yep… it does happen!), your kid spilling juice over your laptop, or even just using your phone outside in the pouring rain to call a taxi. Not that we ever need to do that in sunny Britain.
And taking it to the extreme, how about a virtually indestructible mobile phone? That’s where the CAT S60 (and its sibling phones) comes in – it’s built to withstand anything you throw at it – including the heavy construction vehicles CAT are known for. It’s built to withstand drops onto concrete from 1.8 meters and to survive 5 meters under water for up to an hour. It even has a thermal imaging camera to help identify over-heating electrical appliances, detect heat loss around doors or windows… Or you could just use it for a cool selfie… See what I did there? 😉
Audio
We’re only recently seeing it with the likes of Samsung & Sony including high resolution and higher quality audio processing chips in their handsets but LG have gone one step further with their newly announced G5 smartphone and have partnered with the legendary Bang & Olufsen to create the ‘Hi-Fi Plus’ audio module, and not only is that meaning more and more people wanting better quality headphones to make use of it, but that in itself is also going to drive innovation and make headphones smarter in the future.
On one hand you have headphones such as the AKG N90Q which were available for testing at the 'Harman' booth – a high quality pair of cans that sound absolutely incredible and a real treat for any audiophile, and on the other hand you have sport earphones that can relay your heartbeat info to you or pause music automatically if it senses you’ve taken them off your ears.
We expect headphones to get a lot smarter in the future, perhaps tracking your running route and giving you directions, or one day let you make and receive calls without even needing your phone with you. That’s music to our ears.
Experimentation
Something we love seeing at events such as MWC is experimentation – it might not lead to big or great things, but sometimes it’s just really, really cool.
Google has that in spades at MWC this year, with an outdoor booth dedicated entirely to experiments. What really caught my eye here was their ‘IOIO Plotter’… You’d have your photo taken by a phone. That photo would then get a special filter applied and would then be sent via NFC to one of the coolest little robot artists you’ll ever see – but don’t take my word for it, check out the video below... Who wouldn't want to have one of these at a party? Everyone will want their portraits done - I'm going back tomorrow to the Google booth to collect mine and have it framed.
Day 3 & 4
Now that I've had a visit of all 8 halls (and have the blisters to prove it), I'm going to focus some attention on Virtual Reality and the world of wearables over the next two days. Both of these themes are massive at MWC this year and thanks to a recent Twitter poll I ran, it looks like many feel the same way too, so stay tuned for tomorrow.
I'll also be sharing a few things throughout the day
on 24-02-2016 00:44
on 24-02-2016 00:44
25-02-2016 10:00 - edited 25-02-2016 10:01
25-02-2016 10:00 - edited 25-02-2016 10:01
Sorry I didn't post last night guys, I got some bad family news that shook me up a bit. I'll get it up as soon as I can but in the meantime, check out the crazy PanzerGlass booth at MWC - if that's not confidence in your product, I don't know what is! Best of all, we already all these on our accessory shop. I got one installed by them on my Note 3 yesterday and you don't even know it's there, yet it's giving you all that protection.
Linky: http://accessoryshop.o2.co.uk/brands/panzer-glass/view-all
25-02-2016 11:41 - edited 25-02-2016 11:58
25-02-2016 11:41 - edited 25-02-2016 11:58
Virtual Reality, more robots, safety & security. That’s what Day 3 of my MWC round-up is all about and today may just have been the most exciting day yet, so read on for all the best tech I saw today.
Dance, Robot, Dance. And make calls. And use your projector.
While at the booth of a company called Qualcomm (They make a lot of the processors – the brains, put simply – that you see in many smartphones today) we came across ‘RoBoHoN’, a chirpy little robot that doubles as a smartphone and does it all. It sings, dances, can make and receive calls, take photos and even use its built-in projector to throw the image onto a surface – or even project a YouTube video, we’re told. RoBoHoN will be released initially in Japan this year, but we hear they're considering branching it out to other territories in the future. Maybe RoBoHoN could be on your Christmas wish list this year?
Not convinced by fingerprint security? You might be soon
Today we stumbled across a small booth from a company called ‘VKanSee’ which specialises in optical fingerprint recognition. Their technology is so advanced that their solution is 4 times more accurate than that of most current smartphones – some of which they have demonstrated can be spoofed with a clay model of someones fingerprint. While speaking with them, the company is hopeful to see its technology used in a smartphone sometime in the second half of this year, so keep your eyes peeled for future mobiles potentially having even greater levels of security than they have now.
Mobile banking could become a lot smarter
MasterCard – everyone’s heard of them, right? As one of the largest payment processors in the world, they’re stepping up the game when it comes to online banking. Soon, you’ll be able to use your fingerprint and take a selfy to pay for stuff – gone could be the days of PIN’s or passwords for banking.
How it works is really clever too. When you make a payment, you’ll be sent a real-time authorisation request – if you don’t recognise it, just decline the payment. If you do recognise it, you scan your fingerprint for the 1st level of security and then for the 2nd, the app takes a selfy for facial recognition. MasterCard will soon be releasing the tools for banks to be able to look into incorporating it into their own mobile banking apps, so hopefully that's something we'll see soon.
VR. Everywhere and everything – it’s the future.
As we mentioned in our previous MWC blogs, VR is a big thing this year at the event and there have been so many booths and displays making use of it. Some of them you’ll probably already be familiar with, such as the Samsung Gear VR. The Gear VR is essentially a watered down version of the Oculus Rift (it’s actually powered by Oculus, so you’re still getting a load of tech crammed in!) but it’s a fraction of the cost and can deliver a brilliant VR experience. Check below for the Samsung 4D Cinema at MWC – a rollercoaster ride is a great way to demonstrate what VR is capable of.
For actually creating 360 degree video content to watch back in VR, you’ll already have seen the recently announced LG 360 Cam and Samsung Gear 360 – both of which are small devices capable of capturing 360 degree video. The Nokia OZO goes to the extreme end of the scale, containing 8 cameras to perfectly capture a full 360 degrees of video as well as 360 degrees of sound. We got a demo of it and it really was an amazing experience – in one of the videos involving pirates fighting on a beach, we could easily have thought we were Captain Jack Sparrow. Costing $60k, it’s unlikely you’ll be using this to capture your family holiday in VR, but as VR becomes more and more popular, you may see professional video capture tools such as this become more affordable. If you’re interested in making your own 360/VR videos, register on the link at the bottom of this blog and we’ll keep you in the loop.
Another example of VR we saw today was from HTC and it’s called the “Vive”. Where this differs from the likes of the Gear VR is that the Vive has a massive focus on gaming, and it’s a computer that powers it rather than your mobile phone. In the demo, we played the game ‘Elite Dangerous’ where you’re piloting a spaceship with a flight control system (sold separate to the main HTC Vive unit). The headset felt very secure and once loaded up, it was a fantastic experience – We really felt like we were controlling a spaceship, taking avoiding action from approaching asteroids, and taking out enemy spaceships before they destroyed us. We had so much fun that we didn’t even notice our lovely HTC Vive rep taking a sneaky stealthy selfy – that’s how immersive the experience is.
We had a fantastic day yesterday, but it’s not over yet. With one day left of MWC we’re looking forward to exploring wearables, smart home products and smart tech in general, plus anything else that catches or eye. There’s even going to be what could be the most advanced toothbrush ever made. Smile!
Interested in anything you’ve seen above? Get your details registered here and we’ll keep you posted on anything that may interest you > https://o2.uk/Updates
on 25-02-2016 11:49
on 25-02-2016 11:49
on 25-02-2016 11:54
on 25-02-2016 11:54
I was interested to read the section on fingerprint security.
I watched a video yesterday where they showed the clay model of a fingerprint being used to unlock a phone. There will always be someone who tries to get round any security feature....
Veritas Numquam Perit
on 25-02-2016 12:00
on 25-02-2016 12:00
I always have problems using fingerprint technology, as do the various immigration officials when travelling. Years of burnt fingers and being immersed in oil mean my prints are almost non existant now, the joys of being a motor mechanic pre barrier cream days. I'm not sure how this would affect any future banking security for me.
25-02-2016 12:01 - edited 25-02-2016 12:02
25-02-2016 12:01 - edited 25-02-2016 12:02
That video you're talking about Cleo, if it's same one from BBC then that's from these same guys - VKanSee. I had about a half hour discussion with them and they're very passionate and knowledgeable about what they do and it has a whole host of applications where accuracy is of the utmost importance.
One day, it might even fully replace chip and pin.
25-02-2016 12:09 - edited 25-02-2016 12:15
25-02-2016 12:09 - edited 25-02-2016 12:15
@Chris_K wrote:That video you're talking about Cleo, if it's same one from BBC then that's from these same guys - VKanSee. I had about a half hour discussion with them and they're very passionate and knowledgeable about what they do and it has a whole host of applications where accuracy is of the utmost importance.
One day, it might even fully replace chip and pin.
The video I watched had a BLUE clay finger if that helps @Chris_K
PS If you could just pop that little Robohon in your case..I'll take that...
Veritas Numquam Perit