Mobile World Congress—or simply MWC—isn’t one among our favourite commerce reveals simply because it’s located in the lovely metropolis of Barcelona throughout a seasonally acceptable time of yr. (Cheap cava and tapas don’t have something to do with it both.) No, this present is a favourite as a result of it is one among the best to navigate, and there’s at all times loads of attention-grabbing, enjoyable, or simply plain loopy tech to scavenge by.
This yr, such bounty consists of clear laptops, bendable telephones, a Barbie flip cellphone, and extra. Here are the highlights.
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HMD Rebrands (Sort of) and Teases a Barbie Phone
HMD was purported to be the rebirth of Nokia telephones again when it made a splash at MWC 2017, however it wasn’t lengthy earlier than the firm misplaced steam and it was clear that the Nokia model title wouldn’t actually compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple anymore. HMD as a substitute put its concentrate on price range Android telephones over the previous couple of years and its characteristic cellphone enterprise. At MWC, it introduced that 2023 was the firm’s first worthwhile yr, and now it’s attempting to alter issues up with a rebrand. First is the title—it’s leaning extra on “Human Mobile Devices” (the full model of its acronym) as a substitute of HMD. This yr’s lineup of gadgets will embody an HMD cellphone, an iconic Nokia cellphone, plus a Barbie flip cellphone.
Yep, you heard that proper. HMD is collaborating with Mattel to launch a Barbie characteristic flip cellphone. It’ll be coming this summer season, will clearly be pink, and is being touted as a digital detox machine. That’s all we all know. The solely footage of all the teased telephones had been pixelated.
What we do find out about HMD’s different cellphone is that it’ll revolve round a system known as HMD Fusion. Similar to Motorola’s Moto Mods or Google’s long-lost Project Ara, it appears like a system of modular parts builders can construct for the smartphone, from an prolonged battery and a barcode scanner to a cost terminal to medical gear. It launched a toolkit builders can use to get began.
HMD additionally had a giant concentrate on repairability—it expects half of its gadgets launched globally this yr to be repairable. But this summer season, it says it is going to have a system that dramatically reduces the variety of steps it takes to repair a cracked display screen.
Motorola Bends a Phone, and Debuts Smart Connect
Late final yr at Lenovo’s Tech World occasion, Motorola unveiled a bendable idea cellphone known as the Adaptive Display. I received an opportunity to mess around with it at MWC. It seems to be and appears like its Razr folding telephones, besides as a substitute of getting a hinge that snaps the cellphone closed exactly in half, you’ll be able to bend the entire factor backward.
