As the doors close for another year on the world’s biggest mobile event and a record 108,000 weary bodies from across the globe make their way home, it’s a good time to reflect on this year’s event and decide who were the winners. And it’s fair to say that it was Nokia that stole the show…
Attention-grabbing gadgets
Phone launches always garner a lot of attention at MWC and this year it was fascinating to see a phone from the year 2000 dominating the headlines as the Nokia 3310 became the most searched-for phone of the whole event. Nostalgia aside, we couldn’t help but also be impressed by the company’s three new Android phones.
Our other favourites from the show include Ford’s Autolivery self-driving vans which paired with drones will deliver packages ‘people-free’, although not quite as cool as the futuristic-looking Robocar, based on autonomous AI driving technology.
Huawei’s Watch 2 is a great example of wearable tech that’s got the features, comfort and design nailed and Samsung’s Gear VR headset has had a pretty decent upgrade and it’s looking like it could be released alongside the Galaxy S8 soon.
We were also pretty enamored with DJI’s new drones that warn when there’s nearby planes or helicopters!
Awards
Unlike the Oscars, this year’s GLOMO Awards, announced during the show, went off without a hitch to honour the best in class of mobile tech. One company that won big at this year’s awards was Huawei; scooping Best Mobile Infrastructure, Best Technology Enabler and Outstanding Contribution for LTE Evolution to 5G.
Nokia, reeling off the buzz around its reinvention of the old but now new 3310, won Best IoT Innovation for Mobile Networks and Sony won Best Mobile Handset, Tablet or Device for its Xperia XZ Premium. Salesforce also had a decent night, winning Best Mobile App for Business and Orange won Best Wearable Mobile Technology.
You can check out the full list of award winners here.
5G
We’ve heard a lot about these two small letters over the last couple of days, so the final words go to 5G.
With the announcement that South Korea plans to implement and test 5G at the Winter Olympics, it’s something we’re all excited to see play out. Whilst we’ll have to wait until 2018 to actually see 5G in action, has MWC finally proved that 5G is ready for us?
Maybe not. Amongst the growing excitement, many have a rather more grim view and still believe 5G is a way off. Speaking at MWC, Mike Fries, chief executive of Virgin Media’s owner Liberty Global has been cited as saying “You can wish all you want for 5G. You can have an overwhelmingly powerful vision for it. But without the capital it’s not going to happen.” Whilst this hasn’t killed the vibes at MWC, it’s definitely worth a reflection on the flight home.
Now if you weren’t already convinced that MWC was the place to be seen this week – look who else dropped by…
See you next year!
