The 2016 Mobile World Congress started this weekend, bringing a wealth of new products from today’s top mobile manufacturers. So far, the conference has seen a surprising emphasis on new smartphones, compared to last year’s focus on virtual reality and smartwatches.
Samsung S7 line and the Gear 360
While the star of Samsung’s show may have been Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, the company did unveil a solid update to the Samsung Galaxy lineup and introduced a new camera to help capture 360 scenes.
Last year, Samsung introduced the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge as a direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone, focusing on high-end materials and solid construction. But they also took some cues from Apple that fans weren’t so happy about, like taking away the user-replaceable battery, expandable storage and waterproof casing.
With the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, Samsung is making up for some of those blunders while holding onto the improved quality. The S7 line will come with 32GB of storage to start with, but users can pop in a microSD card to expand that. Samsung is also bringing back waterproofing with an IP68 rating. That means dust can’t get in and the phone can be submerged up to 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes. The phone is also getting built-in caller ID thanks to a partnership with Whitepages.
And while most of the S7 line matches pretty closely to the S6 lineup, the 12-megapixel camera is a surprising change. Some may be disappointed that it’s down from the 16-megapixel monster on last year’s model, but Samsung says that the larger pixels allow for much more light, meaning you’ll be able to take shots with less noise and blur.
But that wasn’t the only camera Samsung showed off this weekend; it also introduced a 360 degree camera to capture photos and video for its Gear VR headset and other virtual reality devices.
The Samsung Gear 360 looks like a robot’s eyeball, but with two wide-angle lenses you can capture 360 shots. It can sit flat on a table or atop a tripod thanks to a standard tripod mount. It shoots to a microSD card and can stream to one of the new Galaxy S7 phones or be downloaded to a PC. And a replaceable battery means you can buy a few and keep shooting all day.
The new device helps fill out Samsung’s VR lineup; now, users can shoot video with the Gear 360 and then view it with their Gear VR, powered by their Galaxy S7. While it won’t match footage shot with professional setups, the ability to easily create VR footage should help the virtual reality industry as a whole.
The Galaxy S7 lineup will be available in March, and pricing will be announced soon.
HP makes a Windows Phone
At a conference focused on the mobile industry, PC maker HP may seem out of place. And even though they unveiled a smartphone, even that seems out of place. In 2016, HP just introduced a new Windows Phone.
While Microsoft continues to roll out new Windows phones, many manufacturers are sticking with Android. But HP took advantage of Microsoft’s Continuum to build one device you could theoretically use for your mobile, desktop and laptop needs.
The HP Elite x3 looks to be a pretty stunning phone, with premium construction and powerful internals with enough oomph to provide a desktop experience. While the phone has a pretty standard setup for a mobile device (two high-megapixel cameras, a 2560×1440 screen, an all-day battery), its real power comes when connected to the dock.
Then, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 CPU with integrated Adreno GPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage really take effect. The dock plugs into a monitor and connects to a keyboard and mouse for a real desktop-like experience.
For those who don’t want to carry around a monitor and keyboard, HP also debut the Mobile Extender. Basically a laptop without any of the brains, the screen and keyboard combo lets users have a laptop-like experience powered by their phone and Continuum.
Pricing and exact availability have yet to be announced, but HP said the HP Elite x3 will debut this summer.
LG goes modular
Modular smartphones sound cool—just plug in a better camera before your trip to Yellowstone or a bigger battery on your business trip—but so far the idea hasn’t been executed by any major companies.
LG seems to have finally taken a step toward our modular future. The flagship G5 and its “Friends” allow users to swap out certain modules to carry just the smartphone they want in their pocket. The G5’s bottom bezel slides out, allowing the users to swap out the battery and plug in modules like the LG Cam Plus (a larger camera grip with dedicated shutter and zoom functions, and extended battery for shooting photos all day) or the Hi-Fi Plus (a digital audio converter and amp for improved music playback).
The LG G5 will also power the new LG 360 VR headset—a small, lightweight device for viewing VR content. It’ll work with YouTube 360 and Google Cardboard apps out of the box, with more partners down the line.
The phone will be available in April. Pricing has yet to be announced.
