The Mobile World Congress is showcasing brilliant innovations in mobile technology and marketing from March 2-5.
Products announced so far at MWC 2015 include: the Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, and HTC One M9 flagship smartphones; the HTC VIVE, a Valve VR headset, and the HTC Grip; Ikea electrified furniture with wireless charging; the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua And Xperia Z4 Tablet; a 200 GB microSD, USB Type-C flash drive, and SLC/TLC Hybrid eMMC SSD from SanDisk; the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC, featuring "the Zeroth cognitive computing platform", as well as Snapdragon Sense ID fingerprint scanning; Microsoft's Lumia 640 and 640 XL mid-range smartphones, and an 84-inch touchscreen called the Microsoft Surface Hub; an HP Spectre x360 ultrabook; an Archos tablet that combines microSD with internal storage; and finally, smartwatches from Huawei and LG.
Qualcomm also demonstrated Cat 11 LTE hardware. Intel gave more details about its new 14nm "Cherry Trail" Atom SoCs, which have recently been renamed using x3, x5, x7 designations to mimic the i3, i5, i7 naming scheme of Core chips. MediaTek announced the MT8173 SoC; The Register details MediaTek's moves to compete with Qualcomm. Imagination detailed its PowerVR G6020 GPU for low power devices. Audience announced the NUE N100 multisensor processor for voice and "contextual motion" recognition. Google shared details about its plans to resell wireless service and provide Internet connectivity using balloons. Broadcom announced two new Wi-Fi combo chips for mobile devices.
For the latest coverage, check these pages at Anandtech, Tom's Hardware, The Register, and Ars Technica.
Related Stories
If you can't keep your smartphones updated, perhaps the solution to rampant security vulnerabilities is "cognitive computing technology" to block them:
Qualcomm announced that the first main application for its Zeroth neural chip will be a malware behavior analysis feature called "Qualcomm Snapdragon Smart Protect." The feature will be free for OEMs to use, but it will be up to them to enable it on shipping devices. Qualcomm's Zeroth chip uses "cognitive computing technology," which can enable "brain-inspired," on-device intelligence. The chip is meant to bring more natural interaction with devices and anticipate users' needs. Zeroth was designed to think like a biological brain and learn from its experiences in order to improve itself.
For instance, one of the first demos Qualcomm showed back in 2013 was a robot using Zeroth to find only white squares on a floor, but avoid other colored squares. The robot did this not because it was programmed in a certain specific way to reach the white squares, but because it "learned" by itself where the white squares would be. This is the main principle behind a neural processing unit (NPU) such as Zeroth, which is supposed to sit side-by-side a "traditional" CPU in devices.
The most exciting features that such a chip can provide will likely arrive later on, after developers have started using Qualcomm's Zeroth SDK to create innovative new mobile solutions that can improve people's lives. However, Qualcomm has already come up with what could be a solid use-case for Zeroth: malware behavior analysis. Qualcomm can use the brain-like cognitive power of the Zeroth platform to detect "abnormal behavior" on mobile devices, which can include zero-day malware or "transformational malware," about which anti-virus solutions either don't know or the malware was modified to bypass them (in the latter's case).
Related: Mobile World Congress 2015 Roundup
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday March 04 2015, @11:19AM
Indeed: Xiaomi Yi Action Camera [bbc.com], Silent Circle Blackphone 2 smartphone and Blackphone+ tablet [theregister.co.uk], BlackBerry Leap, and "dual curve" [theregister.co.uk], Pebble Time Steel [theregister.co.uk], Acer smartphones [tomshardware.com], Ford electric bicycles [theregister.co.uk], Yezz Project Ara smartphone modules [tomshardware.com].
Europe's digital chief wants China's help on standardising 5G [theregister.co.uk]
The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) carriers' club has sorted out its ideas of what 5G's future, and set forth a blueprint of its preferred vision of a post-4G world. [theregister.co.uk]
Also check out the ongoing GDC 2015 (March 2-6). Less products, more graphics APIs.
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(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday March 04 2015, @03:22PM
Secret graphics APIs? :P
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Wednesday March 04 2015, @11:21AM
Seems it's all about evolutionary stuff not something that will disrupt the current order with disruptive technology. However Internet connectivity using balloons is neat. And of course everything gets proprietary hidden and obscured such that you can't actually make use of the stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 04 2015, @11:55AM
If your the NSA, you can make use of the hidden stuff. :->
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Marand on Wednesday March 04 2015, @11:52AM
First off, I like the idea of doing a roundup of interesting stuff at an event; it was a good idea and I wouldn't mind seeing similar for other events of various kinds (not just tech/mobile). Providing all those links was great, too, especially since it's aggregating multiple sites' coverage.
That said, I found that the layout of the summary was difficult to read due to the way the abundance of links were presented. This is especially true with the SN setting to show [domain.com] after URLs enabled. With that many different products and links, a list probably would have worked better.
The other gripe is the "Mi¢rokia" bit that you slipped in. The entire summary is basically an advertisement for a bunch of mega-corporations that care more about bottom line than anything else, but you felt the need to name-swap just one company name? Bullshit on that. I said it before about the MICROS~1 and M$ thing when it came up: I think that crap has no place in a summary, but if you're going to do it, be consistent and do it for everybody.
You can't do the snarky crap about Microsoft and in the same post leave mention of Sony, Intel, and LG unmangled like they're upstanding examples of a good business that Microsoft isn't, and thus undeserving of mockery. None of them are innocent (especially Sony and Intel), so singling out one company like that doesn't come across as clever, it just looks biased and petty.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 04 2015, @12:00PM
Now that I see how the right hand column results in a ton of white space, I may have gone with a list instead.
Summaries don't show [domain.com] for me, only comments. You say that's a setting?
Ethanol made me do it.
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(Score: 2) by Marand on Wednesday March 04 2015, @12:09PM
Summaries don't show [domain.com] for me, only comments. You say that's a setting?
It's a recent change, you can make it show the domains in summaries+comments, just comments, or neither. It was mentioned in one of those slashcode update summaries along with some other stuff. Also, don't take the criticism of the Mi¢rokia thing badly; it's a poke at the editors as much as anything, because that is, in my opinion, one of the things that should be edited during submission prep, and so far it keeps slipping through instead.
But yeah, to reiterate, I liked the round-up idea, so kudos for thinking to do it. I'd seen some of the things already, but putting it all in one place like that brought some things to my attention that I hadn't seen mentioned already.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 04 2015, @12:16PM
I'm glad I got your heart beating a little faster... in rage.
I thought to do this because of this request: http://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=15/01/18/1641247 [soylentnews.org]
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(Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Wednesday March 04 2015, @02:52PM
And I missed it....
To be honest, I wasn't even sure if it was an actual name of a new start-up, they do come and go quite quickly and, not being a user of any kind of mobile device, this is most certainly not a topic in which I am well versed.
Now before you suggest that another editor should be covering this story, there are effectively 2 experienced editors currently covering the entire 24 hour period. Every day, 7 days a week. Other editors post the occasional story or two when they can, and some carry out the 2nd editor function, but many of the team are facing personal and professional pressures. Hopefully things will improve and other editors will be able to resume their previous contributions.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2) by Marand on Wednesday March 04 2015, @03:52PM
And I missed it...
Hey, shit happens. I mention this stuff because I care about the submission quality, not because I like giving people crap for mistakes. I wouldn't spend as much time as I do on the responses and suggestions if I didn't.
To be honest, I wasn't even sure if it was an actual name of a new start-up, they do come and go quite quickly and, not being a user of any kind of mobile device, this is most certainly not a topic in which I am well versed.
I did a double take when I saw it for similar reasons, but realised what it meant when I saw Lumia and "Microsoft Surface Hub". That brief confusion is one of the reasons I think those little snarky replacements are troublesome, in fact. It's different on The Register where the articles are longer and they follow up their euphemisms and nicknames with proper names that clarify the intent. Here, every submission could have its own set of nicknames and then either the reader gets confused or the editor gets stuck fixing them (assuming said editor doesn't also miss them in confusion).
Now before you suggest that another editor should be covering this story, there are effectively 2 experienced editors currently covering the entire 24 hour period. Every day, 7 days a week. Other editors post the occasional story or two when they can, and some carry out the 2nd editor function, but many of the team are facing personal and professional pressures. Hopefully things will improve and other editors will be able to resume their previous contributions.
Didn't even occur to me to suggest it. You can't have a separate expert editor for every topic imaginable, and furthermore it shouldn't be necessary. You're doing exactly what you should: doing the best you can with the submissions you get, and then if someone else catches a mistake you missed, you're applying corrections as needed.
You guys have been handling submissions better than I've seen Slashdot do in years (thanks for that, by the way), so there's no reason to criticise the editors themselves. I just make an occasional correction or style comment.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday March 04 2015, @04:43PM
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 04 2015, @01:26PM
So there's nothing about Firefox OS? Is it still considered a massive failure and waste of effort by many people?
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday March 04 2015, @01:33PM
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2015/03/01/firefox-os-proves-flexibility-of-web-ecosystem/ [mozilla.org]
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2015/02/23/mwc-2015-experience-the-latest-firefox-os-devices-discover-what-mozilla-is-working-on-next/ [mozilla.org]
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mwc/ [mozilla.org]
http://techcitynews.com/2015/03/04/microsoft-flakes-while-firefox-shines-at-mwc/ [techcitynews.com]
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/01/mozilla-is-bringing-firefox-os-to-flip-phones-and-sliders/ [engadget.com]
http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/01/mozilla-plans-new-breed-of-firefox-os-phones-aimed-at-first-time-smartphone-buyers/ [venturebeat.com]
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(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday March 04 2015, @02:56PM
Something I don't understand about the furniture is the use case. So my wife's already got a qi charger on the bed stand and desk etc, its been years now, everyone who's gonna buy one has already bought one. Its like celebrating a toilet paper roll holder, now built into the rolls, after TP has already been shipped for a century and everyone who uses it already has a solution. Too little too late.
The use case that would be cool for furniture would be a wireless charger on the couch, seeing as my wife is hopelessly addicted to checking facebook. That would be innovative. How that would work over those ranges is a mystery.