Tag: mobile world congress

Mobile World Congress. If you can help us, we’d be so grateful.

Hello again. Just last week we sent emails out and even posted this request for assistance in getting us to Mobile World Congress. Prices for accommodation are getting higher each year, but after all the free publicity and work we’ve done for networks, mobile manufacturers and accessory retailers …

Whatever happened to KAZAM?

Last night I was chatting to someone about Gionee. We saw them at Mobile World Congress a few years back. They do some very nice phones, but you won’t often see them on the streets of the UK. They have a decent presence in places like India, Thailand, …

Coolsmartphone Podcast 199. An in-car special. Remember these?

After the insanity of the Mobile World Congress, a lot of my colleagues have collapsed with exhaustion. So, with time at a premium and a distinct lack of coffee or holiday time, I’ve decided to record a special edition of the Coolsmartphone Podcast. Long-time listeners may remember how …

Coolsmartphone Podcast 198. OK, we’re a little late but..

Before we got on a plane to Barcelona, Matteo hosted a live podcast. Trouble is, this never got converted into an MP3 until just now, so we’re slightly out of date here. That said, this is a great pre-event podcast for anyone with a time machine or someone …

MWC – A chat with Marc Allera as EE increase coverage.

My first ever mobile phone was connected to Orange. I stayed as a customer all through the transitional phase as T-Mobile and Orange joined forces to eventually become EE. The new brand seems to have woven its way into our subconsciousness rather quickly, and they have pushed hard …

MWC – A year on. FlexEnable and their bendy screens.

To be honest I was quite surprised that the flexible screens we saw last year are still being made on the same production line and not by a big smartphone manufacturer. FlexEnable tell me that they’re now looking to include their screen in factories, production lines and distribution …

MWC – The Hisense Rock. Hands-on.

Powered by the very latest Android Nougat OS, I was quite surprised by the Hisense kit here at Mobile World Congress. Older handsets we’ve received had questionable build quality, but there’s definitely been an improvement of late and this tough smartphone doesn’t look overly “blocky” in appearance – …

MWC – Hands-on with the Alcatel A3

Available in May, this will cost you €149 (£127.74) in either black or white. It’s another phone from TCL and this is a pretty entry-level affair. The Alcatel A3 actually has a higher resolution camera than its bigger brother, the A5 LED. Here you’ll get a 13 megapixel …

MWC – Halls 5, 6 and 7. The video tour special.

I’ve filmed this slightly out of sequence but today we’ve got my rambling tour of halls 5, 6 and 7. If you’ve missed some of these, don’t worry, we’ve got Halls 1, 2 and 3 here plus Halls 8 and 8.1 from yesterday. Today the highlights include… The …

MWC – That Nokia 3310. Why the fuss?

Whilst walking around the expansive halls here at Mobile World Congress, I couldn’t help but think about the re-release of the Nokia 3310. Why? Well, here in the Fira Gran Via it’s all about the future of mobile, not the past. Stands are pushing “5G” (even though nobody …

Mobile World Congress / MWC – Why all the fuss?

For quite a number of years now we’ve been lucky enough to head out to Barcelona. We go armed with ultra-portable gadgets and good running shoes. The event, held in the city since 2006, is basically where all the big mobile companies such as LG, Huawei, Sony and …

The Nokia 3310. Will we see Snake heading to Spain?

Want a proper old-school phone? Back in the day, when the internet was in its infancy and phones weren’t touch screen, the Nokia 3310 was quite advanced. For a start, let me tell you, it had no external antenna. A lot of phones at the time had a …

Samsung Galaxy S8 handsets leaked

The grand-master of the phone leakers, Evan Blass, has just dropped this little nugget on Twitter. It’s the new Galaxy S8 from Samsung.. When I say “it”, there’s actually going to be two phones. Gone are the navigation buttons you’ve grown used to in previous Samsung Galaxy handsets …

A trip to China with LeEco – MWC Shanghai

So, I have been quiet over the past few days. This has been because I have been off living the life of the jet set again. About this time every year the Chinese Mobile community all gather in the city of Shanghai to attend MWC Shanghai. This year …

MWC – Haier smartwatch with an Android twist

MWC isn’t just about mobile phones and tablets of course.  Showing off its new smartwatch in Barcelona is Haier.  This is a company that makes fridges… and phones.  Their Voyage V6 looks well built and comes in with a 5.5″ 1920×1080 LCD full HD screen. It’s dual SIM …

FlexEnable – A colour screen on your wrist, it’s here at MWC

Sure, we’ve seen curved screens in the past here at Mobile World Congress, but this is something else. A thin film of plastic has been created here on a prototype line in Cambridge. It’s the product of a very young company – formed only a year ago – …

Fairphone at MWC – Let’s see a real modular smartphone

Yes, LG released a modular smartphone on Sunday, but that’s only partially modular, and it’s modular because it adds functionality. Here, you can argue that the Fairphone 2 is a whole lot more modular, and it’s modular so that you can repair the thing. Here Daria from Fairphone …

A tour around Hall 7, and I have to apologise

I thought it would be a good idea to take you on a tour around Hall 7 here at Mobile World Congress. Indeed, we got to see the Gionee S8 5.5″ Android handset with a full metal body and Intex, with their Cyanogen-based handset. Unfortunately, somewhere along the …

A tour of the Nokia stand at Mobile World Congress

This isn’t the Nokia you know and love(d). This is the network side, but it’s good to see the name getting such massive exposure here in Barcelona. The stand they have here is nothing short of colossal, with lots of unused space just… because they can. There’s a …

A tour of the Intel stand at Mobile World Congress

Intel have quite a few innovations on show here, including tracking sensors and a pair of glasses with a miniature TV screen in to show you how fast you’re running or how far you’ve cycled. The glasses are called the “Recon Jet” (don’t ask me why) and display …

MWC – Huawei MateBook hands-on

This is a very light and very nice looking Windows 2-in-1 tablet. Initial impressions are very good, with a nod to both tech and style. First, let’s get the tech out of the way. This has a 12″ 2160×1440 IPS TFT LCD screen and is powered by a …

Mobile World Congress 2016 from Coolsmartphone

Hello again. You may remember that we recently asked for your help to get to Mobile World Congress. Usually, when we head over to Barcelona, we’ll have a sponsor or two helping us out, but this year we had a number of problems which basically meant that we …

Samsung Galaxy S7 – Supposed leaked image surfaces

Ahead of the launch event on February 21st there’s rumours about what the next Samsung Galaxy S7 will look like.  This could be anything really, but the plastic curved back doesn’t really light our candle – especially when Samsung went all “premium” with the S6 construction. Either way, …

LG Mobile readies the G5

I don’t know about you, but upcoming phone models are a bit easy to guess. The next HTC One? It’s got to be the M10. The next Samsung Galaxy? That’ll be the S7. So it’s with little surprise to anyone that the next premium device from LG will …

Mobile World Congress 2016 from Coolsmartphone

Followed us for a while? You’ll probably be aware of Mobile World Congress. Each year in Barcelona the latest and greatest mobile kit gets shown off to the masses for the first time. It’s a frenzy of hastily-built stands, canapes, demonstrations and thousands of people from the mobile …

MWC – KAZAM, 21 month report.

I’m from the UK, so a local company operating in the mobile space is always going to be on my radar. KAZAM are definitely on that list, and we first mentioned them way back in June 2013. They launched a few days earlier, at the start of May, …

MWC – HTC One (M9) slips onto BestBuy website a little early

Hey, someone tell bestbuy that the HTC One (M9) launch isn’t until this afternoon. This listing has appeared overnight, and it seems to contain either official imagery or good “guesswork” based on the leaks we’ve seen so far. The specs are also listed and the handset is stated …

Mobile World Congress – One week countdown

You may have noticed a little countdown timer on the side of the site. You may have even wondered what Mobile World Congress, or “MWC” for short, is. The event website details it as being the “very best exhibition for the mobile industry”, and around this time most …

More HTC One M9 leakage

What do we know about the new HTC One M9 so far? Well, it may or may not look like this and, if it does, the jury is out on whether the design is enough of a change to get us all buying the thing. Earlier shots had …

HTC One M9 to arrive in March according to rumours

Mobile World Congress last year HTC were a little quiet. Yes, we got a quick hands-on with their Desire 816 but we couldn’t turn it on and most devices on show were earlier models. This year we’re hoping that HTC will make more of a splash, and we’re …

HTC kick off the MWC rumours

It’s only weeks away and we’re busily preparing for Mobile World Congress, the mobile tech event to watch for new smartphones, tablets, accessories and everything in-between. HTC have already started things off, with an announcement of a launch event during the show, which will again be held in …

Sony Xperia Z2 – Hands on

Last year I’ll confess that my favourite phone was the Xperia Z1. Now it’s back, and this time the camera is better, it’s slimmer and it’ll let you record 4K (3840×2160) video while you’re under water, if that’s your thing. It’s still got the style and IP58 waterproofing …

Lenovo launch new S-Series smartphones

Just minutes ago Lenovo announced even more kit here at Mobile World Congress. Three news smartphones have arrived – the Lenovo S860, S850 and S660. The S860, below, has a quad-core CPU and 5.3″ screen with “ultra-long” battery life. It’s powered by a MediaTek 1.3GHz CPU and runs …

Lenovo announce the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+

We reviewed the Yoga Tablet 8 just days ago and now here in Barcelona Lenovo have just lauched this, the Yoga Tablet 10+. Available in April it’s got a rather swish design and there’s 18 hours of battery life. That 10.1″ screen is full HD – 1920×1200, and …