MWC 2023: This time of year, the world (or at least the tech-savvy portion interested in the telecom industry) focuses on Barcelona. The Mobile World Congress, Europe’s largest event focused on telecommunications, is currently underway, with participants from every sector of the global telecommunications industry.
Each year, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) hosts keynote addresses about the industry and presentations on some consumer products, including the smartphones that many of us will use tomorrow. This year is no exception. Here are some announcements that caught our attention during the first days of MWC.
Nokia’s new logo
Many of us have come to recognise Nokia primarily as a phone brand and pioneer of smartphones. But Nokia was always synonymous with innovation in the telecommunications industry. Now, it has a brand-new logo and appearance, which serves as a reminder that the company is no longer the one we remember. (By the way, the Nokia phones available today are not manufactured by Nokia but under licence by HMD Global.) The new emphasis of Nokia is on digitalization, collaboration, and innovation in 5G and digital transformation.
In addition, the Nokia logo has remained unchanged for nearly six decades.
Rollable-screen laptops from Lenovo steal the show.
Lenovo has brought all of its greatest hits to this year’s MWC, including its MediaTek-powered eighth-generation Chromebook and second-generation ThinkPad Z16. All of these, however, pale in comparison to the most innovative product we saw at CES: the laptop with a rollable screen.
The laptop prototype presented by Lenovo will revolutionise how we work and play. The device has a standard 4:3 display in a “normal” orientation. Nonetheless, its screen expands to an 8:9 aspect ratio with a 20242368 pixel resolution, similar to having two 16:9 displays stacked on top of one another. Artists, writers, and those who prefer to code on a vertical screen will benefit from this innovative design.
As a side note, Motorola (a subsidiary of Lenovo) also displayed at the MWC a smartphone with a rollable screen, which may become a viable alternative to foldable smartphones.
The 1-2-it’s-repaired mobile device
In reference to Nokia (or rather, its partner HMD Global), the Finnish company has introduced a smartphone that can be repaired quickly and easily.
The Nokia G22 is a smartphone with respectable specs for its price, including an octa-core SoC, 4GB of RAM, up to 128GB of internal storage, a large battery, a triple camera on its back, and a headphone jack, all for approximately $180.
It is intriguing that it can be quickly and easily repaired at home. During his keynote, HMD Global’s head of product marketing, Adam Ferguson, replaced the phone’s battery in approximately five minutes, a process that would take other smartphone models and brands more than an hour.
HMD has pledged to stock replacement parts for the G22 for up to five years, significantly extending its lifespan.
These were some of the most fascinating things we heard and observed on the first day of the Mobile World Congress in 2023. Before it concludes on March 2, there will undoubtedly be many more innovative and unexpected announcements.