This year’s largest smartphone show, the Mobile World Congress 2018 has finally come to its conclusion and here are the highlights of MWC 2018:
Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+
The biggest attraction at the MWC 2018 was Samsung's flagship smartphones. The South Korean tech giant finally took the wraps off the Galaxy S9 and S9+ in Barcelona. Despite looking identical to the Galaxy S8 series, they pack some exciting new camera technology.
The highlight of the S9 duo is dual aperture rear camera which allows two different aperture settings, f/1.5 and f/2.4. This allows for more light to boost camera performance in low light conditions. The cameras also allow 4K video recording at 60 frames per second, and there’s Super Slo-Mode to shoot slow motion videos at 960fps at up to 720p quality.
The S9+ also packs a secondary camera which gets it Live Focus or bokeh effect features. Imaging benchmark site DxOMark has already declared the S9+ camera as best mobile camera ever, giving it an overall score of 99, a point ahead of previous leader Google Pixel 2.
HMD Global
HMD brought a full and rich roster of new devices to Barcelona. The Finnish company officially resurrected the Sirocco branding, with its shiny new Nokia 8 Sirocco flagship device. The smartphone comes with high-end features such as an edge-to-edge curved P-OLED 5.5-inch display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, Snapdragon 835 SoC paired with 6GB RAM, 12MP + 13MP dual camera combo and IP67 water and dust resistance.
HMD Global also unveiled an entry-level treat, Nokia 1 the first Android Go OS smartphone. Google’s Android Go based on Oreo allows for “a high-quality experience” on entry-level smartphones which come with lesser RAM and storage capacity. The company also announced the new Nokia 7 Plus and new Nokia 6, which come with improved specifications and features.
Asus ZenFone 5 Series
Asus unveiled its flagship ZenFone 5 series with top-end ZenFone 5Z and the standard ZenFone 5. Both the devices come with full-screen bezel-less design and iPhone X-like top notch along with facial recognition technology. Other top of the line features include 6.2-inch Full HD display with 19:9 aspect ratio, dual camera combo of 12MP Sony IMX363 sensor and 8MP secondary camera and AI smarts.
The ZenFone 5Z packs Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC, paired with 8GB and 6GB RAM options underneath while the stand ZenFone 5 runs a less powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor with 6GB or 4GB RAM options. There’s even a ZenFone Lite which comes with a smaller 6-inch display and dual front and dual rear cameras.
Sony XZ2 and XZ2 Compact
Sony also released a pair of exciting new flagships the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact. The devices feature a fresh new “Ambient Flow” design, which brings the trendy bezel-less 18:9 displays and a curvier design to the Xperia series. Underneath, the XZ2 and XZ2 Compact run the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC and a refined 19MP Motion Eye camera system.
Vivo APEX Concept Phone
Chinese smartphone maker Vivo managed to grab the spotlight at this year's MWC with its APEX concept phone. The concept device sets benchmarks for future smartphone design, featuring the highest body-to-screen ratio and Vivo’s Half-Screen In-Display Fingerprint Scanning Technology.
The APEX's 5.99-inch display spans nearly the entirety of its front and also doubles as a speaker and earpiece. It also comes equipped with the next generation under-display fingerprint technology which now transforms the entire bottom half of the screen into fingerprint scanning area. To top it all off, APEX comes with an elevating front camera which pops-up when needed from the chassis of the phone.
Android Go to the Limelight
At the MWC 2018, brands such as Alcatel, Nokia, Micromax, Lava showcased their first Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphones, and they'll be arriving to emerging markets very soon.
