Smartphone News From This Week's MWC (Mobile World Congress)

For this week's Appy Friday, we are breaking down all the news from Mobile World Congress (MWC) and just letting you know the most important new releases

Samsung

Samsung announced the new S9 and S9+ although we all had a pretty good idea that this was going to be the case. The new S9 and S9+ biggest change from the S8 is that it now has a variable aperture which allows the camera to take in much more light when it’s dark. This means you can now take great pictures even when it’s dark. Another way that the camera allows you to take high-quality photos in the dark, is that it now takes 12 images per shot to combine them all together to reduce noise in images. Samsung predicts that the new camera will cut out background fuzz by 30%. Other than the updated camera not much else has changed, the screen is the same size as the S8’s as well as the battery life. A couple of other changes that don’t revolve around the camera are that the speaker is said to be 40% louder than on previous models, and the fingerprint sensor has been moved to just beneath the camera bump. Another announcement from Samsung is the Bixby smart-speaker, which is set to compete with the Apple HomePod and will be released in the second half of 2018.

Nokia

Nokia is recreating the Nokia 8110 which was originally released in 1996. However, this new model has a curvy design with a sliding bottom section. As well as announcing this reboot, Nokia also announced the new Nokia 8 Sirocco. This is completely at the other end of the spectrum to the 8110. This high-end phone has face unlocking, and a 2K 5.5 inch P-OLED screen with a 6GB of RAM. Another Nokia release from the MWC is the new Nokia 7 Plus. This device has a 6-inch HD screen and has a rear camera with dual sensors to improve photography in low lighting and zoomed images. Nokia also announced an updated Nokia 6 with a new battery that can go from 0%-50% charge in just 30 minutes. Finally, the last thing Nokia announced was the Nokia 1. This is on the lower end of the all the new releases from them as it is expected to cost around £79 in the UK. It has a smallish 4.5 inch 720p screen with a plastic back.

Huawei

At this MWC Huawei did not announce a new smartphones but did announce the MateBook X Pro and a few new tablets. Their new laptop MateBook X Pro is a 14-inch notebook which has a 3k screen, the camera in the notebook is hidden away in the top of the keyboard which can be shown by the press of a key. The MateBook X Pro also has an Intel Core i7 processor with up to 16GB of RAM. When it comes to the three tablets Huawei have announced, two of which are versions of the MediaPad M5, which has both an 8.4-inch version and a 10.8-inch version. The third tablet being the MediaPad M5 Pro which only comes in the 10.8-inch version. All these new devices have eight core processors which run Android 8, the larger options of these devices have four built-in speakers for the surround sound feel. Also to go with the M5 Pro, they announced the M-Pen with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity.

Lenovo

The Lenovo Chromebooks have been made to be more durable and able to cope with those accidental drops and spills. One of the Lenovo Chromebooks lets you take notes using a regular pencil on the screen, and the other Chromebook has a lag-free stylus. The most expensive of the Chromebooks is only around £253 and is, therefore, a cheap alternative to a traditional laptop.

Sony

Sony announced the updated versions of the previous Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 compact. Imaginatively called the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact. Both of these updates come with a whole new design. The blocky shape has been replaced with curved edges, and the XZ2 has a new all-glass back on top of a metallic colour. The XZ2 compact has a matte finish in a variety of colours. The new devices have the same 19-megapixel rear camera, however, the XZ2 has a 5.7-inch HD screen and the compact has a 5-inch screen.

So, there are our more important announcements from MWC 2018. There are so many exciting releases on their way this year to get ready for. Let us know what your favourite product from MWC was and which things you’ll be buying!