Cell World Congress—or simply MWC—isn’t considered one of our favourite commerce exhibits simply because it’s located within the stunning metropolis of Barcelona throughout a seasonally applicable time of yr. (Low-cost cava and tapas don’t have something to do with it both.) No, this present is a favourite as a result of it’s one of many best to navigate, and there’s at all times loads of fascinating, enjoyable, or simply plain loopy tech to scavenge by means of.
This yr, such bounty consists of transparent laptops, bendable telephones, a Barbie flip cellphone, and extra. Listed here are the highlights.
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HMD Rebrands (Type of) and Teases a Barbie Telephone
HMD was imagined to be the rebirth of Nokia telephones again when it made a splash at MWC 2017, but it surely wasn’t lengthy earlier than the corporate misplaced steam and it was clear that the Nokia model identify wouldn’t actually compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple anymore. HMD as a substitute put its deal with price range Android telephones over the previous few years and its characteristic cellphone enterprise. At MWC, it introduced that 2023 was the corporate’s first worthwhile yr, and now it’s making an attempt to vary issues up with a rebrand. First is the identify—it’s leaning extra on “Human Cell Units” (the complete 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 system. That’s all we all know. The one photos of all of the teased telephones have been pixelated.
What we do learn about HMD’s different cellphone is that it’s going to revolve round a system referred to as HMD Fusion. Much like Motorola’s Moto Mods or Google’s long-lost Project Ara, it feels like a system of modular parts that 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 that developers can use to get began.
HMD additionally had an enormous deal with repairability—it expects half of its gadgets launched globally this yr to be repairable. However this summer season, it says it can have a system that dramatically reduces the variety of steps it takes to repair a cracked display screen.
Motorola Bends a Telephone, and Debuts Good Join
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Late final yr at Lenovo’s Tech World occasion, Motorola unveiled a bendable idea cellphone referred to as the Adaptive Show. I bought an opportunity to mess around with it at MWC. It appears to be like and appears like its Razr folding telephones, besides as a substitute of getting a hinge that snaps the cellphone closed exactly in half, you possibly can bend the entire thing backward.
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