From roller phones to humanoid robots: the most curious ‘gadgets’ of MWC 2023

After a couple of somewhat less massive editions due to the pandemic, the Mobile World Congress, which is currently being held in Barcelona, ​​is recovering its pulse, despite the fact that attendance from China is still not what it was a few years ago. Although it was already a trend that we had been seeing for several years, each time the MWC is becoming a more professional congress and less aimed at consumption. Still, it’s still the event of choice for a handful of brands to show off some of their most ambitious devices. There have been three very clear trends at MWC this year. The first is that all phone manufacturers are looking to create an ecosystem through their devices. The drop in terminal sales in the last year is forcing them to adopt loyalty strategies, rather than growth. In this way, Motorola with Lenovo, Samsung, Honor, OPPO or Huawei, are striving for their devices to work perfectly with each other, whether it is sharing the screen or sending files, in a simple way, in the same way that Apple has been doing for years. The second trend of this year’s MWC revolves around sustainability. Even the big Asian manufacturers have made a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050 and increasingly use recycled materials. Finally, something that has little to do with telephony: robot dogs have had much more prominence. During the days that we have been at the fair, we have seen dozens of devices of this type going around the fair, a good sign that technology is being democratized and that it will be more accessible in the future. Below we share some of the ‘gadgets’ that have caught our attention the most. OPPO augmented reality glasses take a very different path from the rest of the companies that are working in augmented reality. Instead of seeking to gain a foothold with smart glasses with technology that still has a long way to go, they have launched glasses that we could use today: the OPPO Air 2. The key is that they could pass for “normal”, with only 38 grams of weight have a very simple design that could easily pass for that of ordinary glasses. OPPO Air 2 JO The double screen allows text to be read, although only in green tones, with 1,100 nits of brightness per eye. The text reads really well, of course, and without any focus problem, since it occupies practically the entirety of the glasses. Thanks to its own processor, Spark, it is capable of spending 45 hours at rest and 4 hours running at full capacity. Its uses can be real-time translation, following navigation instructions, or, for people with a hearing impairment, being able to read what the other person is saying. A phone that rolls up It is not a final product, it is more of a prototype, but the Motorola with a roll-up screen has captured the eyes of all the attendees of the MWC. It is a mobile phone capable of going from a 4-inch screen to a 6.5-inch screen through a mechanical system. The Motorola JO Prototype As the foldable market takes hold, stretching out a screen when needed instead of opening it seems to make a lot of sense, especially since there’s no longer a hinge or fold on the screen. The engine of the phone adapts to the content, when you are watching a YouTube video, it displays the entire screen, but when it is not necessary, it is saved again, remaining in a tiny phone. The prototype has many aspects to resolve, such as the durability of the motor, or the fragility of the displayed screen, but it allows us to see a promising future. Xiaomi’s robots Although these are not new products, since the Cyberone was presented in August last year, it is the first time they have come together at MWC. Cyberone is a humanoid work robot from Xiaomi, with a peripheral vision that covers practically 99% of its environment at a distance of 8 meters, capable of recognizing up to 45 human emotions, and 85 sounds around it. You can do multiple actions, such as carry heavy objects, and you have up to 23 ways to move things from one point to another. The Cyberone together with the Cyberdog JO At the moment it is a prototype with an exorbitant cost of 100,000 dollars, designed for companies to use it to develop their algorithms. The same thing happens with the Cyberdog, which has open software so that anyone can find new uses for it, such as carrying up to 3 kg of weight, acting as a guide dog or as a security robot. 1,000 units of this model were sold for $1,500 with the goal of promoting research. Watch and headphones in one Huawei is no longer what it used to be in the smartphone market, but it is one of the top manufacturers of smart watches and headphones. During the MWC they have presented a new smart watch inside which headphones are hidden, it was a product that was already announced last year, but that we had not seen yet. We have been able to test them for a few minutes, and they have made a great impression on us. The watch hides headphones inside JO At first it may seem that it is a product that acts as a half watch and earphone, but this has not been the case, both the watch and the sound of the headphones have pleasantly surprised us. Huawei has managed to fit headphones into a GT3, its best-selling watch, and has done so with almost no noticeable increase in the thickness of the case. Obviously some things are lost, such as the waterproofness of the watch, which is not submersible, or the possibility of taking an electrocardiogram. A 3D tablet 3D screens are not new, the Nintendo 3DS is already a few years old, but it is true that there have not been more similar products. The Nubia Pad 3D uses the two front cameras to do eye tracking and show depth in the image with a very effective result, it does it really well, and the games and applications we tested generated a 3D environment that was not tiring on the eyes in its 12 .4 inches and 2.5k resolution. The Nubia Pad 3D JO It is a different option from what the rest of the tablets on the market offer, which is quite saturated. The processor that it equips is a Snapdragon 888, which is responsible for all the artificial intelligence algorithms that convert from 2D to 3D, for example, with the images from the camera, or if we use its videoconference system. The negative point is that it depends on its ecosystem of Leia applications, and that the games adapt to its technology. To prevent cyclist accidents Hand in hand with T-Mobile, we were able to test a new safety device for city and highway bicycles. The idea is that using T Iot, which is what the device is called, bicycles can communicate their position to other vehicles. In this way, cars that have an internet connection can know where the bicycles are around them and their trajectory, with the aim of avoiding accidents, especially in the car’s blind spots. JO Although the focus of this device is on the future of autonomous cars, and through it recognize the bicycle as another vehicle, today the 4G/5G connection also allows you to communicate with your surroundings through the Internet . MORE INFORMATION noticia No Nokia announces a ‘smartphone’ that anyone can repair in minutes noticia No Xiaomi is interested in the metaverse, so are the first glasses of the Chinese company Its manufacturers are already talking with several bicycle brands to integrate it into the seatpost of the saddle or in the frame. The launch is expected in the third quarter of 2024.