Head-turners of MWC 2024

As an annual “techy event”, the GSMA Mobile World Congress (widely referred to as MWC) plays an important role in showcasing the latest developments in mobile communications and productivity tech. Held in February every year in Spain, this year’s MWC drew thousands of attendees as it took place in Barcelona from February 26 to 29.

With prominent mobile device manufacturers, mobile operators and mobile content creators unveiling their newest products and service offerings, the event has largely been viewed as a staging point for new mobile gadgets and gizmos.

Though the Cebu launch of these gadgets is not clear, knowing about them is certainly worth one’s while, and here are takes on some of the head-turners of this year’s MWC.

A “bendable phone”

Last year, Motorola presented a “bendable” concept phone during Lenovo’s Tech World event in October.

This year at MWC, the brand (which is owned by Lenovo) demoed the device as a type of smartphone-watch hybrid which users can “put on” around their wrist with the use of a type of “magnetic band” accessory.

Sporting the look of Motorola’s foldable Razr units, the concept device could be “bended” forwards or backwards. It got a lot of attention from members of the media, but raised a lot of questions over how practical and functional a hybrid smartphone-watch can be.

Outside of presenting its concept “bendable phone”, Motorola introduced a new “unifying” software called “Smart Connect”, which bears similarities to its “Ready For” platform which allows users to wirelessly connect compatible monitors/ screens with Motorola phones, share files, use the phone’s camera as a web cam, stream apps and other functions.

“Smart Connect” build’s up on “Ready For’s” features in that it extends its connectivity options to compatible Windows laptops – which allows for connections like using a Lenovo laptop’s keyboard and mouse with a Motorola tablet or phone.

A “smart ring”

Samsung made waves in introducing the Galaxy Ring during its Galaxy Unpacked event in January, even if it not give any details or specifics about the device.

In this year’s MWC, the brand revealed more about the device via a roundtable with tech pundits, who shared that it is poised to serve as a complementary accessory to its Galaxy Watch as a health tracking-oriented wearable device.

Wired’s Julian Chokkattu (one of the tech journalists at the roundtable) says that it will not have an auto-workout detection “at launch”, but will come with a period tracking feature and a feature set named “My Vitality Score”.

This feature is described to be similar to Fitbit’s “Daily Readiness Score” and Garmin’s “Body Battery”, which are metrics-based apps that suggest how a user’s mind and body is ready to take on the “challenges” of a day.

Similar to when it was introduced early this year, Samsung’s presents the device in this year’s MWC as a product that’ll be available “later this year”.

A “glasses-free 3D tablet”

In this year’s MWC, ZTE presented the Nubia Pad 3D II – a tablet that displays 3D content without the need for specialized glasses.

Essentially a step-up of the Nubia Pad 3D, it works its 3D magic by keeping track of a user’s eyes, then set a different type of image to each eye to thereby “induce” a three-dimensional image.

It comes with provisions to support 5G and “AI concepts” – a term which has been described by many as very vague. The tablet also comes with a dual lens system that allows for the recording of 3D content.

ZTE also introduced its Nubia Flip Phone in this year’s MWC. A foldable phone, it sports a 6.9-inch display when folded out and features a “50-MP AI dual camera” system that makes for impressive snaps.

Powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen chip, it isn’t exactly the most powerful smartphone, but with a relatively low price (equivalent to around Php 32,000), it may just gain a following as a type of budget friendly foldable phone.

A laptop with a “transparent screen”

Lenovo demoed a laptop with a “transparent screen” in this year’s MWC.

Billed “Project Crystal”, the rig touts a 17.3-inch Micro-LED transparent display which allows users to see through certain points of a screen while having a clear view of active app windows.

The demo device’s screen is borderless, is protected by Gorilla Glass and most of its functions are reflective of the different “transparent TVs” which were introduced in this year’s CES held in January.

But as impressed as many were at the proof-of-concept device, it raised some questions over how practical it was to have as a product – foremost of which was: is there a real practical need for a laptop with a transparent screen?