What to expect from MWC 2017

Mobile World Congress is where all the best smartphone manufacturers try to outdo one another with their latest creations. This year, we will be looking at some very interesting devices from OPPO, Huawei and LG, but we will probably not see anything from HTC and Samsung launched there, as the former has already blown their load with the U Ultra and U Play launched earlier this year, and the Korean company looking at a later release date for the Galaxy S8.

OPPO bringing you 5x closer

Not content with being the only smartphone manufacturer to make use of the exclusive IMX 398 which was used in the OPPO R9s‘ main camera, OPPO is looking to a smartphone that can zoom 5x at MWC 2017. Currently, the iPhone 7 Plus features 2 lens to zoom 2x, with the ASUS ZenFone 3 Zoom featuring a similar arrangement to zoom 2.3x. The older ASUS ZenFone Zoom features a very interesting 3x optical zoom which actually features moving lenses for consistent optical zooming through the entire range, instead of just switching between two lenses and filling up the gap in between with digital zooming. If you are willing to carry some added bulk, the Moto Z can zoom 10x with the Hasselblad camera attachment. We have yet to see how will OPPO bring 5x zoom to us, whether it will feature true optical zooming or some fancy dual lens magic, but we are are sure looking forward to true optical zoom. OPPO has enjoyed a lot of success here in Malaysia with their selfie-centric devices last year, taking second place in terms of shipment volume in 2016, and seeing a growth of 66.8% year-over-year, and we see this device further improving their presence in our market.

Watch out for the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus

I think by now there shouldn’t be any doubt of the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus featuring a dual camera system. Introduced in the Huawei P9, it has been featured on every flagship from the Chinese company, and has even recently trickled down to the mid-range Honor 6X. The Kirin 960 has also been confirmed to be the processor in the P10 on a GFX Bench listing, paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Will we be seeing a higher clocked variant of the processor, like the Kirin 955 in the P9? Rumors have been circulating of a higher end variant of the P10 with 6GB of RAM too, so heavy multitaskers may look forward to that variant. According to the listing, the P10 will feature a 5.1″ display (smaller than last year’s P9), while the P10 Plus will understandably feature a bigger display, and probably a curved one at that. The P10 will also have the fingerprint sensor on the front, with the P10 Plus said to feature it over on the back. Hopefully, the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor will feature an integrated Smart Key like the Honor 8, as that feature is really convenient.

Huawei is also hinting that new hardware won’t be the only thing coming from them at MWC 2017, as they have hinted that they will be announcing EMUI 5.1 there too. EMUI 5.0 was launched just a few months back on the Mate 9, with the updates to older devices rolling out gradually as we speak. EMUI 5.1 coming so soon really shows Huawei trying to step out of the stereotype of Chinese manufacturers not updating their devices. Naturally, the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus will be the first devices to feature the latest update, but given Huawei’s track record, older devices will get a taste pretty quickly too.

Huawei’s first (and aptly named) Watch appeared in 2015, and Huawei has been relatively silent on the smartwatch front. Well they will be back this year with the Watch 2 set to be announced at MWC 2017, along with a sportier look too. The Watch 2 will feature cellular connectivity via a nanoSIM. Will we also see a Kirin processor designed for smartwatches here? We don’t know for sure, but we will pretty soon.

LG G6 loses Friends, gains ability to play with water?

We have previously shared a leak of the LG G6 and it’s 18:9 display with rounded corners dubbed “Full Vision”, as well as LG abandoning their LG Friends modular attachments, possibly in exchange for water resistance. The LG G6 will also sport a Snapdragon 821, with the company claiming that the newer SoC doesn’t have a big impact on the user experience. 6GB of RAM should come standard in all upcoming flagships, so we can expect to see it here too. Audiophiles will be thrilled by the Quad DAC by ESS, promising an insanely low distortion of 0.0002%. The new display should be quite interesting, and I look forward to see how LG optimizes every app to the curved corners.

That’s what we are looking forward to at MWC 2017. Are you looking forward to getting a device that will be launched at MWC 2017? Let us know in the comments!