Foldable Phones, 5G Screens and Cinematics: The Evolution of Smartphones This Year

I'm sitting on the plane back from Barcelona, ​​after completing another marathon effort: walking around a conference center to examine the new phones and what they can do.

This is my 11th consecutive trip to the Mobile World Congress, and it was one of the strangest to date – and it was also strangely refreshing.

The two main themes – foldable phones and 5G – were addressed in almost every press conference or corporate slogan in one form or another.

And yet, there was an air of difference – a calmer calendar, in some respects, that allowed some key innovations to take center stage.

A quieter start

The CMM started in a quieter way this year. In previous editions, we have had a lot of big brand launches during the first two crazy days, followed by a crazy race to try all the new releases.

This year, the Sunday (normal day of the press conference) felt much more measured and there were few announcements on Monday morning.

The main reason was Samsung. The brand has an on / off relationship with MWC for launching devices. This year, she decided to do the same. own the week before the start of the exhibition, which gave the competition more choice in the press conference.

The launch of Samsung concerned the new Galaxy S10 lineup, but it unveiled eight new products without having to share the spotlight with other manufacturers (among which the foldable Samsung Galaxy Fold which put the technology sector under the elbow of this new category of products).

In the absence of Galaxy S product launch (no sensible brand would launch a device at the same time as Samsung, lest no one shows up), other brands had much more time and space to broadcast their press conferences. .

Huawei is one of those companies that "won" the MWC with the 5G compatible Mate X flexible phone (and won our Best in Show award at the MWC TechRadar annual awards).

If the Galaxy Fold has shocked us all, the Huawei Mate X has generated a real anticipation of the new form factor of the smartphone.

The difference between the Mate X and the Galaxy Fold is that the latter was stuck behind a showcase where we were able to touch the Mate X and experience what was truly the beginning of a new wave in the smartphone revolution.

It even offers a still unused camera that the brand retains – which is probably due to the fact that we will see something similar on the upcoming Huawei P30.

The presence of these two phones, combined with conceptual devices such as TCL and Energizer, showed that the foldable wave was on track.

A more normal launch

Other brands were not so forward thinking, Sony launching "only" many new smartphones, including the Sony Xperia 1 and Xperia 10 with a hyper-long screen with a 21: 9 cinematic image format.

I've been looking at the LG BL40 Chocolate phone a decade ago with the same type of long screen (that was before LG really got into smartphones), and I l & # 39; 39 considered a luxury and innovative device. It will be interesting to see if Sony can change this perception. .

The same brand also introduced a prototype 5G phone, but told us it was not going to surf the next generation connectivity wave before the networks started to activate them.

The idea of ​​a 21: 9 long screen (in the same report as that used by many top quality movies) is interesting: Sony thinks that enough people watch full movies on their phones these days to be able to take away a phone almost exclusively addresses them.

The handset also featured a professional cinematography mode, allowing "content creators" to shoot better footage on the go … this is Sony's bold move, targeting more of a niche market it will be interesting to see if it pays off.

Xiaomi's presence has been enhanced this year at the MWC, with more exposure in the main hall of the show.

He was presenting a worldwide version of the Xiaomi Mi 9 phone that he had launched last week in China, as well as a 5G variant of Mi Mix 3 from last year – a little shocking though, and it was not a big deal. There was no trace of the foldable phone concept introduced. off last month.

That being said, the launch was still a major strategy change. Xiaomi given that the global unveiling of the Mi 9 was the first time it brought a global device to the MWC. In the past, she preferred to focus on places like China and India, where it is traditionally the strongest.

If Xiaomi becomes a global player – and with low prices, underpinned by the promise never to make more than 5% profit on the equipment sold, this could well become the case – we could then see a real competitor for the operators historic.

Shake, do not drown

With regard to the usual suspects of previous years, LG has launched one of the biggest fanfares, although, if the LG G8 and the LG V50 5G were presented, they lacked a title feature really useful.

The G8 certainly had something to say – the ability to use the veins in your hand to unlock your phone, called Hand ID, and a Microsoft Kinect style camera to track your palm in real time (Air Motion), allowing you to control the phone using gestures.

The fact is that these features are not really the ones consumers are looking for – they are more like novelties that could be forgotten quite quickly after they are purchased.

The G8 has all the makings of a truly decent phone, LG having always brought cameras, a screen and a decent battery life to mix with its flagship devices; If the main selling point is to be able to shake your hand to unlock your device, then it may be difficult to sell … but we will reserve our judgment until our last review.

The V50 5G is an interesting phone – not because of the handset itself, but because you will be able to purchase a DualScreen attachment that doubles the display on the handset.

This solution is designed to allow users to get the most out of fantastic 5G connections along the way. It is also a replica of LG expensive folding phones. It does not offer quite the same seamless experience.

That said, the combination of the V50 and DualScreen will cost a lot less than a foldable phone and offers the ability to simultaneously watch a video on YouTube and make comments – which Huawei emphasized by extolling us the virtues of Have a foldable phone with a massive screen.

A more mature Nokia

Nokia phones were back at the MWC for the third year after the reincarnation of the brand by HMD Global, but it was the first year we had not seen a "classic" phone rebooted, after the iconic Nokia 3310 and 8110 have reappeared in recent years. 24months.

Instead, we had a more "regular" launch, with some new smartphones, the most interesting being the Nokia 9 Pureview, a phone with five cameras.

The "penta-sensor" design does not even use the same multi-format cameras as those offered by other brands: they are equipped with a wide-angle lens, a zoom lens and a standard lens to the back of their handsets.

Instead, you have RGB and monochrome color sensors and the five images are captured at the same time, then combined to give a more impressive image at the end.

Nokia has told us that this is a feature its fans have been demanding since returning to the smartphone game, and that the 9 Pureview is following in the footsteps of the Nokia 808 Pureview and the Lumia 1020 – we can not wait to see how that happens. claim holds in our comprehensive review.

This year, OnePlus was an encrypted brand at MWC – it was technically present on the show with a very protected concept phone on the Qualcomm stand, to show its 5G capabilities – but we did not see anything particular about the highly prized OnePlus 7, which should come later this year.

Our chief phone editor, John McCann, has, however, found some interesting clues to the future OnePlus 7 after studying the concept, so we know a little bit more about what will happen.

And a big applause to Nubia for introducing the Nubia Alpha at the CMM this year – a cell phone and a phone combined in a strange curved screen bracelet.

There are cameras, a great interface and a very thorny option … it's not going to trigger a new category of clothing, but it certainly was new.

Although it is technically a foldable phone, it is not the same foldable screen as that of Samsung or Huawei – and it has its own operating system. portable, rather than a recognized platform.

Will it be a real success? It's hard to say until we have the chance to try it right because alternative operating systems can be a bit haphazard … but at least that's Fun to see different things emerge, and that was really the theme of this year. MWC in Barcelona.

MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world's largest showcase for the mobile industry, filled with the latest phones, tablets, apparel and more. TechRadar reported live from Barcelona all week to bring you the latest news from the show. Head to our dedicated MWC 2019 see all new TechRadar releases, analytics, and world-class shopping tips for your next phone.