The annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) officially starts tomorrow, February 27th, but most companies have scheduled their events today, and BlackBerry already had an event yesterday to introduce its KEYone smartphone. The upcoming week is going to be a cornucopia of smartphone goodness and we’re on ground already to bring you the latest on the latest! With the tone set, we thought it right to bring you a quick rundown of the latest buzz from Barcelona about what to expect. So without further ado, here’s the top announcements we expect from MWC 2017.
BlackBerry
Blackberry yesterday announced KEYone smartphone, which is the last phone that is designed by BlackBerry and is made by TCL Communication Technology (TCT). It has a 4.5-inch (1620 x 1080 pixels) display with 3:2 aspect ratio and has a 4-row QWERTY physical backlit keyboard with keys that respond to touch gestures, support for flick typing, up to 52 customizable shortcuts and the fingerprint sensor is built into the spacebar.
It runs on Android 7.1 (Nougat) with security and productivity suite from BlackBerry. It has an anodized aluminum frame and a soft touch textured back. It is powered by an Octa-Core Snapdragon 625 SoC, packs 3GB of RAM and a 3505mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 that charge up to 50% in just 36 minutes.
It comes in Black color and is priced at US$ 549 (Rs. 36,590 approx.) / 599 Euros / 499 GBP depending on the market. It will be available globally starting from April.
LG
LG will introduce its flagship G6 smartphone in a couple of hours at an event that starts at 12:00 PM CET (4:30 PM IST). It is rumored to come in a glossy and brushed metal variants and in Mystic White, Astro Black, and Ice Platinum colors. It will run Android Nougat with LG UX 6.0.
The company already confirmed 5.7-inch (1440 × 2880 pixels) QHD+ LCD display with a 18:9 aspect ratio, 13MP dual rear cameras, secondary rear camera with 125-degree lens and a 100-degree wide-angle lens for the front-facing camera. It also confirmed waterproof body. Check out all the rumored specifications here.
Huawei
Huawei will introduce its flagship P10 smartphone along with P10 Plus at the event. Both the phones are expected to come with Dual rear cameras with LEICA SUMMARIT lenses, metal unibody design. These will run Android Nougat-based EMUI 5.1.
The high-end P10 Plus is expected pack a 5.5-inch Quad HD curved glass screen, iris scanner along with ring flash on the back. You can check out details about both the smartphones here.
Along with the P10, Huawei will also unveil its Huawei Watch 2 running Android Wear 2.0. It is expected to come in two variants, one with support for cellular connectivity that will allow users to make and receive phone calls using a built-in e-SIM card will allow the watch to remain connected without a WiFi or Bluetooth connection. It is expected to come in black, orange, and a speckled gray color variants.
The Huawei event is scheduled today February 26th at 2PM CET (6:30 PM IST).
HMD Global (Nokia)
HMD Global will host an event at 4:30 PM CET (9:00 PM) and it already confirmed that it will introduce new Nokia Android smartphones. It is expected to introduce Nokia 5, Nokia 3 and a modern version of the Nokia 3310 with a slimmer body, color display and Series 30+ OS.
The Nokia 5 is expected to be powered by Snapdragon 430 SoC (same as Nokia 6) but it is said to sport a 5.2 inches at 720p display and come with 2GB RAM. It is said to have a 12-megapixel rear camera.
Nokia 3 rumored specifications
- 5.2 / 5.3-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD display
- 1.4GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 425 processor with Adreno 308 GPU
- 2GB LPDDR3 RAM, 16GB internal storage, expandable memory with microSD
- Android 7.0 (Nougat)
- 13MP rear camera with LED Flash
- 5MP front-facing camera
- 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS
The Nokia 3 is rumored to start at €149 ($157 / Rs. 10,550 approx.), the Nokia 5 is rumored to start at €199 ($210 / Rs. 14,090 approx.) and the new Nokia 3310 is said to be priced at €59 (US$ 62 / Rs. 4150) . The Nokia 5, Nokia 3 and new Nokia 3310 are expected to go on sale globally sometime in March or April, including India.
Lenovo / Motorola
Lenovo-owned Motorola will host its event at the same time – 4:30 PM CET (9:00 PM) where it is expected to introduce Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus smartphones. We already have complete specifications of the phones. We are just waiting for the price and roll out details.
Moto G5 rumored specifications
- 5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD display with Corning Gorilla glass 3 protection
- 1.4GHz Octa-Core 64-bit Snapdragon 430 (MSM8937) processor with Adreno 505 GPU
- 2GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, expandable memory with microSD
- Android 7.0 (Nougat)
- Dual SIM (Optional)
- 13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, PDAF, 1080p video recording
- 5MP front-facing camera with OmniVision OV5693 sensor
- Water repellent nano-coating
- Front-ported loudspeaker
- Dimensions: 144.3x73x9.5 mm; Weight:145g
- 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS
- 2800mAh battery
Moto G5 Plus rumored specifications
- 5.2-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD display with Corning Gorilla glass 3 protection
- 2GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 625 processor with Adreno 506 GPU
- 2GB/4GB RAM, 64GB internal memory, expandable memory with microSD
- Android 7.0 (Nougat)
- Dual SIM (Optional)
- 12MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, Dual-Pixel Autofocus, Sony IMX362 sensor, f/1.7 aperture, 4K video recording
- 5MP front-facing camera with OmniVision OV5695 sensor, f/2.2 aperture
- Water repellent nano-coating
- Fingerprint sensor
- Front-ported loudspeaker
- Dimensions: 150.2x74x7.9 mm; Weight:155 g
- 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, NFC
- 3000mAh battery with Turbo charging
Samsung
The Samsung event is the final event of the day where the company is expected to introduce its flagship Galaxy Tab S3 tablet. It is also expected to come with a keyboard dock.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 rumored specifications
- 9.7-inch (2048×1536 pixel) QXGA Super AMOLED display
- 2.15GHz quad-core Snapdragon 820 64-bit Quad-Core processor with Adreno 530 GPU
- 4GB RAM, 32GB / 64GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD
- Android 7.0 (Nougat)
- 13MP rear camera
- 5MP front-facing camera
- Fingerprint sensor
- Dimensions: 169 x 237.3 x 6mm; Weight: 429g, LTE: 434g
- 4G LTE (optional), Bluetooth 4.2, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz/5GHz) MIMO, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, GLONASS, USB 3.1 Type-C
- 6000mAh battery
The Galaxy Tab S3 is expected to come in WiFi and LTE versions with model numbers SM-T820 and SM-T825, respectively and could start at 700,000 won (US$ 605 / Rs. 40950 approx.) We should know all the details at the event 19:00 CET (11:30 PM IST) today.
Sony
Tomorrow, Sony is expected to introduce its flagship Sony Xperia XZ Premium along with three other smartphones. Couple of these is expected to be powered by MediaTek Helio P20 processor. You can check out more details here.
The Sony MWC 2017 conference starts at 8:30 AM CET (1:00 PM IST) tomorrow, February 27th.
Gionee
Gionee already confirmed that it will unveil A1 and A1 Plus smartphones at its event. A recent rumor revealed that the A1 will pack a 5.5-inch 1080p 2.5d curved glass display, 16-megapixel front-facing camera, Android 7.0 (Nougat) a fingerprint sensor on the back. It is is rumored to be priced at 35999 NPR (US$ 336 / Rs. 22,500 INR approx.) and is said to go on sale in Nepal on March 15.
We don’t have any details about the Gionee A1 Plus. The Gionee event starts at 11AM CET (3:30 PM IST) tomorrow, February 27th.
OPPO
OPPO already confirmed that it will unveil new camera technology with 5x zoom. It said that this technology will give users unprecedented ability to capture highly detailed images. The OPPO event starts at 2:00 PM CET (6:30 PM) IST tomorrow, February 27th.
Jio and Samsung
Reliance Jio and Samsung will host an event on Tuesday, February 28th at 8:45 AM CET (1:15 PM IST). Samsung already said that the event is to foster engagement and participation among industry leaders, governments and communities by discussing Jio’s successful 4G LTE business and how it has transformed the everyday lives of Indians, said Samsung.
Meizu
Meizu has scheduled an event on Tuesday, February 28th at 10AM CET (2:30 PM IST) to unveil a cutting edge wireless solution of the company. It is rumored to be mCharge 4.0 that could fully charge a smartphone battery in just 45 minutes using a 9V/4A charger (36W).
Ulefone will showcase flagship Ulefone Gemini Pro, Ulefone Power 2, Ulefone F1 and Ulefone T1 smartphones. The Ulefone F1 will have a bezel-less display. It will be powered by Helio P25 octa-core 2.5GHz 16nm processor and 6GB of RAM similar to Ulefone Armor 2 and Ulefone T1. Both the F1 and T1 will come with 128GB storage.
You can check out all the MWC 2016 news here. Which device are you eagerly waiting for?