MWC 2018: Tech that made a solid impression

Before the MWC was initiated this year, the media was all gaga about the Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S9 series. Despite the South Korean giant’s expensive smartphone stealing the show along with HMD Global’s five new Nokia phones, the first day of the MWC 2018 also saw a slew of other product launches that deserve a mention. Brands such as Canon, Sony, Lenovo and Land Rover had a lot of exciting stuff to showcase, of which some of the noteworthy ones are mentioned below.

Sony’s updated portfolio:

Sony has had quite a presence at this year’s MWC. Their attention seeking product has to be the Xperia XZ2 smartphone, which is Sony’s foray into smartphones with 18:9 display. The XZ2 comes with a 5.7-inch full HD HDR display protected by Gorilla Glass 5. The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset accompanied by 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, which can be expanded up to 400GB.

The smartphone is running on a customised version of Android 8.0 Oreo as its operating system. There’s a 19MP rear camera with the capabilities to shoot 960fps slo-mo videos at 1080p and 5-axis image stabilisation. It can also record 4K HDR movies and offer ISO ratings up to 51200 for photos and 12800 for videos. Along with stereo speakers, an IP65/68 water and dust resistance and a 3180mAh Quick Charge 3.0 enabled battery (that also supports wireless charging), Sony hopes the Xperia XZ2 to stand up with a fair chance against the likes of Galaxy S9 and all other flagships.

Besides the XZ2, Sony also announced a new pair of wireless earphone with both Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri integrated. Called the Xperia Ear Duo, the earphones can deliver your calendar events and daily notifications through audio. The ‘Daily Assist’ feature helps with bringing up relevant information based on the time, location and activities. The earphones support touch as well as head movement gestures.

Canon’s new range of optics:

Renowned camera manufacturer Canon has come up with new products at this year’s MWC 2018. Out of all, the most peculiar one is the Canon Speedlite 470EX-AI, which is a self-adjusting flash. The 470EX-AI looks like any other flash module from Canon’s Speedlite range but consists of various motors inside to control the direction of the flash.

The module has an array of sensors that determine how much light should be thrown on the subject by rotating the direction of the flash light accordingly. The sensors on the module calculate the distance of the subject from itself and change its direction towards the ceiling for calculating its distance, followed by which it adjusts accordingly to provide the optimum amount of light for getting the best photo. It will come in April for a price of $399.

Besides that, the company also unveiled a new mirrorless camera that can record 4K video at 24fps, 1080p video at 60fps and 720p video at 120fps. It sports a 24.1MP APS-C sensor that relies on Canon’s new DIGIC-8 image processor to take photos in multiple new image formats. The camera also features a 180-degrees swivelling LCD display and costs around $779.

Huawei’s iPad challengers:

Huawei has been aggressively claiming itself to be Apple’s rival with its smartphones. And now, they are aiming for the premium tablet range where the iPad Pro sits. The company announced the MediaPad M5 and M5 Pro tablets in 8.4-inches and 10.8-inch sizes. All the models are powered by their 2016 flagship chipset — the Kirin 960 SoC and are aided by 4GB of RAM as well as a 2560x1600 pixel resolution display a standard. They run on EMUI 8.0 based on Android 8.0 Oreo. There’s a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and an 8MP front camera.

However, The M5 Pro comes with support for a stylus pen like the iPad Pro; Huawei claims that the pen can support up to 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity. The M5 Pro along with the bigger models also have support for a detachable keyboard like the iPad Pro and four speakers. They start at $439 for the base variant and go up to $616 for the top-end Pro variant.

Land Rover’s rough-and-tough smartphone

Land Rover all-purpose all-terrain 4x4 vehicles are known to accept all kinds of abuse. Now, they want to bring their ruggedness to smartphones as well. Meet the Land Rover Explore Outdoor phone — an Android smartphone with IP68 water and dust resistance along with a drop-proof screen protector on its 5-inch LCD display. It packs in a big 4000mAh battery and is built around a deca-core MediaTek X27 chipset accompanied by 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage.

There’s a 16MP rear camera and an 8MP selfie camera. It presently runs on Android Nougat, which is promised to be upgraded to Android Oreo in the future. It comes with Land Rover’s various custom apps and Augmented Reality services. The standard variant with the Adventure Package (3600mAh additional battery, Ceramic Patch GPS Antenna, TPU protective case and stainless steel carabiner) with canvas strap will start from $800.

Jolla Sailfish 3 OS:

If you are an ardent Nokia fan, you must know that the makers of Jolla were responsible for building great software for ex-Nokia devices. Jolla’s Sailfish OS has been existing for a few years now and there’s a new update with more enhanced features. The Sailfish 3 gets support for regional infrastructure including releases and OS upgrades. It also gets new APIs, cloud integration and enhanced security features.

However, the Sailfish 3 OS is meant to power various types of devices, including 4G feature phones. The company’s demo at the MWC promised support for popular messenger platform WhatsApp on feature phones, which will boost life into this dying segment. Sailfish 3 is also meant to power various tablets and PDA devices.

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