The MWC 2017 Roundup – Our Fave Offerings on the Showroom Floor

Mobile World Congress 2017 has come and gone. In the short space of 96 hours under one roof and multiple halls in Barcelona that spanned the length of several football fields, the world’s greatest manufacturers of tech across the spectrum for smartphones and the ancillary services and technologies that support them showcased their latest and greatest offerings that will populate store shelves and eventually see service in some form or fashion in the coming year. With hall upon hall of the latest tech and smartphones galore for as far as the eye can see, it’s like asking a kid in a candy store just what was their favourite treat. After much cogitation, here’s our pick of what impressed us at MWC 2017:

Nokia – Best Brand Comeback
While it was hinted somewhat with a flurry of rumours before its surprise unveiling, the Nokia 3310 made a triumphant return when it hit the stage at HMD Global’s launch of their latest range of phones under the venerable brand. Multiple phones with significantly better specs took the stage but what took the limelight was the modest Nokia 3310. It shared a similar name as its nigh indestructible ancestor and a similar candybar form factor, but it also enjoyed a modest sprucing up with a revamped casing and a colour screen while retaining similarly legendary battery life and, of course, Snake. Granted, it is a feature phone with a hardware set that is considered downright modest compared to a post-modern smartphone, but it beckons to an entire generation of users and their progeny who have fondly remembered the brand the go-to for smartphones back in the day. Can that goodwill propel them back into the limelight? Seeing the reception the 3310 received, it just might. For more detailed coverage of the 3310 at MWC swing by here.

Huawei P10 – Favourite Smartphone of MWC 2017
A host of smartphones were launched at MWC 2017 but Huawei’s offerings stood out from the horde of contenders on the showroom floor. The successor to their surprisingly successful P9 that was launched last year, the P10 aims to top its sire in almost every way. Easily one of the most eagerly awaited phones of 2017, the Huawei P10 and its larger sibling the P10 Plus made their debut in a suitably grand fashion at MWC with a vast swath of colour options for the phones that came in the usual array of metallic hues as well as a Pantone-endorsed shade of Dazzling Blue and a fetching Greenery.

The P10 made its MWC entrance with a launch of sufficient pomp and grandeur to wow the crowd not just on the showroom floor but those tuning in as well across the globe. Improved front and rear Leica cameras with even better performance over the P9, a more powerful and efficient Kirin 960 processor, oodles of RAM and onboard storage on top of packing their latest EMUI user interface made it a slick, swift and polished phone that aims to take the whole user experience to a new level. The p10 gets our vote as our favourite smartphone for MWC 2017.

https://youtu.be/HpVui2mNyvY

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 – Favourite tablet for MWC 2017
The Galaxy S8 did not make an appearance at MWC but Samsung did not sit the whole affair out and took the wraps off their latest slates – the Galaxy Tab S3 and the more productivity oriented Galaxy Book. While slates aren’t exactly grand affairs these days, the Tab S3 stood out among its Android compatriots and its work oriented sibling the Galaxy Book.

The Tab S3 includes better overall hardware and packed in a stylus, an optional keyboard attachment for hardcore road warriors and a quartet of speakers tuned by AKG by Harman Kardon for some serious rocking tunes on the go. This ought to give you a means to destress in between crunching spreadsheets on the go while still maintaining a modicum of portability. Time-sheets to the tune of Metallica anyone? For more details check out our coverage here.

https://youtu.be/j85u4ads7ws

OPPO – 5X optical zoom – Most Exciting Tech for MWC2017
OPPO didn’t field a new phone at MWC but they showcased their next innovation where they managed to cram a whopping 5x optical zoom into a smartphone camera casing without it having the thickness of a brick. Rather than stacking it vertically like a conventional compact camera, OPPO has done it sideways by stacking the lens periscope style within the casing of a phone to drastically reduce its size and girth. There’s no word on when it will see service but what they showed is certainly impressive indeed and will change the game once it gets implemented in a smartphone. For more details check out our coverage here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7JwA1TD9eo&feature=youtu.be