- The Yotaphone's electric paper screen goes full-touch, still crazy
- The shows must go on: why we need a buoyant MWC
- Samsung Gear Fit leaves the gym and enters the world
This
year's gathering of the phone nerds has just taken place in Barcelona, with
Mobile World Congress 2014 seeing stacks of new mobiles revealed by the likes
of HTC, Sony, LG and Samsung, all jostling for the prize of securing your 2014
phone contract upgrade.
Key
trends this year were the arrival of 4K video capture on several mobiles and a
continued emphasis on larger displays that'll push trouser pocket capacity
harder than ever in 2014, plus there was the enormous shock of seeing
Microsoft-owned Nokia release a whole range of budget smartphones running on
rival Google's Android OS. YotaPhone 2
While
there was lots of new tech to see and poke, the event didn't quite expose all
of 2014's phone plans, though. Apple wasn't there and Nokia didn't bring any
new Windows Phone models, so what we saw was mostly the Android consortium
battling to come up with something that stood out from the crowd.
- YotaPhone 2
Not
likely to arrive before very late in 2014, the next-gen YotaPhone was at MWC 2014 in the form of a
concept device. And what an exciting concept it is too, expanding on the genius
idea of sticking a low power epaper display on the back of the phone by making
this B&W display now a full touchscreen.
This
means many key phone functions can be carried out via the vastly more efficient
epaper screen, meaning battery life ought to be immense when using this
always-on screen alone for your notifications. Internally, the ubiquitous
Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 runs the show, with the "main" colour screen
a 5-inch unit outputting at 1080 resolution – and the epaper screen managing a
decent 960 x 540.
- LG G Pro 2
LG's
well-teased 5.9-inch whopper was one of the hits of MWC 2014,
with the alphabet device and its knock-knock screen unlocking tricks, post-shot
refocusing and clever display scaling for one-handed use showing that LG's
really getting on the ball with its software features. LG
G Pro 2 The hardware's about as impressive as it gets too, with the
G Pro 2 running on a 2.26GHz Snapdragon 800 processor with 3GB of RAM, plus its
13megapixel camera has 4K video capture and a 120fps slow-motion recording
option for… whatever that might be for.
Sony's
big new flagship for 2014 is the Xperia Z2, which somehow squeezes even more oomph
into a chassis just 8.2mm thick. It's slightly bigger than last year's
impressive Z1 slab too, with the Z2 offering a 5.2-inch display that operates
at the "full HD" resolution of 1920 x 1080. Sony Xperia Z2
Interestingly,
Sony's using the Z2 to encourage punters to upgrade their home TVs, with the
phone's 20.7megapixel camera able to capture 4K video at the ludicrously high
3840 x 2160 resolution. That ability comes thanks to the upgraded internals,
with the Z2 powered by Qualcomm's brand new Snapdragon 801 series chipset
clocked at 2.3GHz and paired here with 3GB of RAM. A 3,200mAh battery ought to
keep it running for a good couple of days, too. We hope.
Huawei Ascend G6
As far as Huawei is concerned, the big selling
point of the Ascend G6 is its five-megapixel wide-angle
front-facing camera, meaning that, if you like looking at your own face, you
can do so in better clarity than on rival hardware. The rear camera's an
eight-megapixel unit manufactured by Sony, so proper pics of things other than
your gurning face ought to come out nice too
The
G6 is bordering on the 'budget' spec for 2014 elsewhere, though, combining a
quad-core 1.2GHz chipset with 1GB of RAM and a low-is resolution display of 540
x 960. On just a 4.5-inch IPS screen that resolution shouldn't be too much of a
deal-breaker, with Huawei compensating with a low RRP of around €249 (£205).
Not bad for a slim 4G phone.
- Samsung Galaxy S5
Android's
best-selling series returns for 2014, with Samsung offering a strangely muted
and not entirely thrilling update to the Galaxy S range. The Galaxy S5 is a little more angular than the
curved Galaxy S4, with Samsung still sticking with the physical Home button and
once again eschewing a move to software buttons. While it's not hugely
thrilling to look at, the insides of the S5 are more than capable, with a
top-of-the-line Snapdragon 801 processor running the show and backed by 2GB of
RAM.
The
Galaxy S range has had great cameras since the Galaxy SII blew everyone away
with its colour reproduction and speed, and Samsung's continuing to lead here
with a 16-megapixel sensor in the Galaxy S5. Plus, as we're seeing many other phone
makers introduce, the S5's camera lets you adjust shot focus after you've taken
a photo, if you fancy entering the required mode. And it's waterproof now, too.
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