¡Visca el Barça!
Mobile World Congress was this week in Barcelona, meaning there’s actual news to cover this week.
1. Samsung reveals Galaxy S5
In a stunning turn of events (read: not stunning), the Korean manufacturing giant showed off its new flagship smartphone on Tuesday at its annual Unpacked conference.
And also unsurprisingly, the device looks almost identical to last year’s Galaxy S4 from the front. The screen is slightly bigger at 5.1 inches, but it’s still a curved rectangle with a physical home button (that doubles as a fingerprint scanner) and two capacitative buttons on either side. A 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera sits next to the speaker grille.
But on the reverse, there’s a dimpled, rubbery back instead of the glossy, fingerprint-magnet plastic one of the S4. It’s a welcome change — though the gold variant of the phone does look like a band-aid.
The back also features a new 16-megapixel camera, which is supposedly not terrible like every other Android camera. Looking at you, Nexus 5.
Additionally, the phone is IP67 rated for water and dust resistance — up to 30 minutes in three feet of water. So you can’t exactly go swimming, but raindrops shouldn’t be an issue.
Inside, the Galaxy S5 has its the usual ridiculous specs. Need a 2.5 GHz, quad-core Qualcomm processor? Probably not, but it’s there anyway. Coupled with 2 GB of RAM, there won’t be many things that overpower the S5.
It’s a solid phone. And, Samsung’s supposedly made TouchWiz (the skin it uses over Android) less terrible, so it might be fun to use for a change.
But the company wasn’t done there. Before Unpacked, it also revealed refreshed its Galaxy Gear smartwatch (yes, the one it released less than six months ago). Yes, it’s still dumb and no, you shouldn’t buy one.
Samsung did have one surprise left though.
2. Samsung Gear Fit
This is an example of a good smartwatch. Sleek. Stylish. Fitness focused.
The Gear Fit has a Super AMOLED, 1.84-inch screen that curves around the wrist and fits snugly with the included wristband. It’s Bluetooth 4.0 compatible, IP67 rated for dust and water resistance and includes a heart rate monitor, pedometer, stepometer, etc.
Battery life is expected to top out at five days with “light use,” four for normal use.
Plus, the phone still gets push notifications from your Galaxy device. Bad news? You still have to have a Galaxy device to use it.
But its still more useful than the Galaxy Gear.
All of Samsung’s new devices will be available on April 11.
3. Sony Xperia Z2
Sony’s Xperia line has always been some of the most high-end hardware on the market, and the new flagship phone isn’t any different.
The 5.2-inch IPS display keeps the 1080p resolution from the Z1, but has “Live Color LEDs,” something that gives devices gorgeous color reproduction — better than the iPhone, according to Sony.
It too keeps the IP58 waterproofing and glass front and back of the Z1.
Internally, it’s a different story. There’s a 2.3 GHz, quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor and a whopping 3 GB of RAM — an obnoxious amount of processing power.
But even more ridiculous is the 4k video recording capabilities. Yes, 4K resolution video recording for the 4K displays no one in the world has yet. It’s reaching the point of 3D in super-fast adoption, but at least 4K is useful.
The phone will be on shelves in March.
4. Nokia tries Droid on for size
Nokia, long the primary manufacturer of Windows Phone devices (and soon to be bought by Microsoft), is finally making an Android device — the Nokia X, X+ and XL.
But, it’s not coming to North America. Or Western Europe, Japan or Korea. It’s a low-budget phone, set to be released in developing areas for the low price of €89.
While the X has the same 4-inch display of the Lumia 520, it has only 4 GB of storage and a paltry 512 MB of RAM, meaning it won’t be playing the latest, hi-def games.
Interestingly, the X, X+ and XL run a completely custom version of Android that borro ws colorful tiles from Windows 8.
It’s a bold move for a company on the verge of purchase by Microsoft, but Nokia says the X line is the first of many devices that combine the looks of Lumia phones with an Android operating system.
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That’s it for this week! This upcoming week is Mardi Gras, but I’ll try and have a new post on Thursday. Remember, always check in with Tech with Taylor for the latest and greatest in tech.
