Barcelona, we bid you goodbye. But before we part ways here are our final sentiments. What stood out this year? What made an impression and what slipped under the carped into irrelevancy? What we saw and what we didn't see coming? It's the GSMArena breakdown and you have the front row seat.
There was a time when the Mobile World Congress was the echelon of industry events. None other event was as focused on bringing the latest advancements in the world of mobile as the MWC in Barcelona. But we are witnessing a tendency, which is growing stronger and more evident with each passing year - major manufacturers are either opting out of the congress or saving their best for solo events.
Samsung really did a number on the show by announcing, on the first day no less, that it will be unveiling its Galaxy S IV smartphone some 20 days later. Since then the focus shifted and one eye was constantly fixed on the topic of Samsung's next flagship.
Many of the smaller caliber manufacturers saw the Mobile World Congress as the ripe event to steal some of the highlight, raise some buzz around their products, and get that much needed 15 minutes of fame.
Alcatel announced a heap of devices as usual. But for the first time we the company came out with a serious honest-to-goodness flagship. The One Touch Idol X has a great 5" 1080p touchscreen, a quad-core processor and an 8 or a 13 MP camera on tap. And we enjoyed playing with it too.
Ubuntu made a splash with its OS on smartphones and tablets. Here's our hands-on.
The YotaPhone is based on an interesting concept, which we don't see spreading like hay fever but was still cool enough to grab our attention.
The big names didn't exactly stay in the shadows per se. Nokia got the Lumia 720 and 520 out of hiding (and the nondescript 301, 105).
LG was, by far, the most aggressive among the majors. Showing off the improved L-series, a new F-series and a Galaxy Note II direct competitor in the face of the Optimus G Pro, which fortunately, we already managed to preview.
Samsung showed the Galaxy Note 8.0 as a direct competitor to the iPad mini.
Sony unleashed the Xperia Tablet Z to users outside of Japan and we even managed to get acquainted with it. That was one impressive piece of tech.
Asus went on to show the successor to its Padfone 2 in the face of the Padfone Infinity. It brings FullHD screens to both the tablet and the phone and we liked handling both. What we don't like is the pricing - €999 for a single device with two screens and a spare battery doesn't sound reasonable.
Huawei announced the Ascend P2, which feels rather lost fighting against year old rivals and asking big cash for an otherwise unimpressive (by 2013 standards) specs sheet.
We're leaving this year's MWC as technologically recharged as ever, but a part deep inside us longed for more - more days, more amazing devices, more innovation.
Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/mwc_2013_what_we_saw_and_what_we_didnt_see_coming-news-5628.php
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