Once a year, phone makers from around the globe flood to Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress. It’s the biggest event of the year for many of them, as giants like Samsung, HTC and Nokia announce their flagship phones for the year to come. MWC is now just one week away, beginning on February 24th. Here are the phones you should be looking out for as the news starts to roll in.
Samsung have this annoying habit of producing incredibly powerful phones weighed down by weird software features and clad in cheap plastic. That may be changing though – we’ve heard that the Galaxy S5 will debut with a simplified flat UI and be offered in a ‘prime’ configuration with a metal chassis. Pictured above is a leaked notifications screen, which seems to show information from Google Now automatically gleaned from your email, plus some Samsung extras. A new UI and better frame would be a big step forward, particularly if we see big hardware changes too – like the rumoured 1440p display, Snapdragon 800 processor and 3 GB of RAM. The phone will likely sell like hotcakes even if it’s mediocre, but this could be one of the most genuinely exciting iteration for a long time.
2. LG G Pro 2
The LG G Pro 2 is the most well known of the phones that is set to be announced at MWC – because it was revealed two weeks early in LG’s native Korea. The phone looks like a strong phablet to rival the Note 3, with similar specs – Snapdragon 800, 3 GB RAM, 32 GB storage plus microSD – and Android 4.4 KitKat on board. The camera looks particularly good – 13 megapixels and with the ability to record 4K video with stabilisation or 120 FPS slow motion at lower resolutions. LG are looking to differentiate the 5.9-inch phone through its software too, with choices for ‘Knock Code’ and ‘Knock On’ unlock methods that use taps on the phone’s display without the need to press a physical button.
3. Nokia X
The Nokia X is quite a special phone: it’s from Nokia, but it doesn’t run Windows Phone. Instead, it’s the firm’s first ever Android phone. It’s a really weird release from a firm that’s about to be acquired by Microsoft, but it’s coming regardless. The phone is expected to run a forked version of Android, which shares some features with traditional Android but isn’t controlled by Google. The X should be a low-end device, with similarities to Nokia’s Asha line of Symbian phones, but it’s still quite exciting.
4. HTC One Plus
The HTC One Plus, or HTC Two, or HTC M8, is the next big phone from HTC. The phone has been well leaked, and includes a rather cool new feature: two rear cameras. This should allow for Lytro-like refocusing after a photo is taken, and could unlock other interesting possibilities as well. Another big change from the HTC One will be the move to all-software buttons, instead of the capacitive ones HTC have used previously. Expect high end specs too – Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 5-inch display.
Sony recently hit a home run with their release of the Xperia Z1 Compact, but they haven’t released a full-size flagship phone in a while. That phone is expected to be called the Sony Xperia Z2, and should have a better 5.2-inch display, 3 GB of RAM, tap-to-wake (like LG’s Knock On) and 4K video recording from the 20.7 megapixel rear camera. You can expect the same waterproofing and metal/glass design that has proved popular on past models too.
Conclusion
What phone are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below.