MWC2015
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Xiaomi's action cam bests a GoPro Hero for half the price
Xiaomi has unleashed a 399 CNY ($64) action cam onto unsuspecting cats in China, but will it join the Mi band in the US? The Yi Camera actually trumps the specs of GoPro's entry-level camera with 1080P, 60fps video and up to 64GB of memory at about half the price (the $130 Hero has 1080/30p video and 32GB max storage). It also weighs significantly less at 72g, has a bigger battery and can go the same 40m (130 feet. Update: separate case required) underwater. To be fair, unlike the Hero, it doesn't come with a housing, mounts or the impeccable rep. But Xiaomi is offering a bunch of extra accessories, including a helmet mount and, yes, a cat harness.
Lenovo's 16-megapixel Vibe Shot is a smartphone that looks like a camera
Even though Lenovo unveiled new tablets a little over 12 hours ago, it isn't quite done with Mobile World Congress announcements just yet. Now it's taking the wrapper off three more devices, two of which are Android smartphones that you probably won't be able to get in the US. One is the Lenovo Vibe Shot, a superslim handset that looks eerily like a camera, while the other is the Lenovo A7000, apparently the world's first smartphone to come with Dolby Atmos. The third new product of the bunch is the simply named Lenovo Pocket Projector, a tiny little projector that's pretty versatile for its size.
Sony has a new flagship tablet to fight the iPad Air 2
2014 was an odd year for Sony. Can you think of another company that released five flagship products in a single year? We're talking the Xperia Z2, the Z3, the Z3 Compact, the Z2 Tablet, the Z3 Tablet Compact. That's an awful lot of Z's. At MWC in Barcelona, it's leaving its flagship phones be, and bringing a new full-sized tablet -- the Xperia Z4 Tablet -- and the mid-range Xperia M4 Aqua.
BlackBerry wants to bring some of its best features to every device
BlackBerry has only been willing to give out tiny pieces of its smartphone experience so far, like BBM and its enterprise servers, but it's going to be much more liberal in the near future. It's launching BlackBerry Experience Suite, a collection of apps and services that bring some of its biggest features to Android, iOS and Windows gear in hopes of making them mainstays of the working world. Some of them are more behind-the-scenes features that keep your corporate info both secure and separate from your personal affairs. However, others are very conspicuously borrowed from BlackBerry 10 smartphones. The company is promising the BlackBerry Hub (which unifies BB10's messaging), universal search and even its own input method -- yes, you may get a BlackBerry keyboard on your phone without resorting to a Typo case. The suite won't be available until later in the year, but it may be just the ticket if you or your office wants to try BlackBerry features while keeping the hardware and apps you already use.
Withings' Activité fitness watches now talk to your Android phone
If you've been aching to try Withings' Activité fitness watches but couldn't because you don't carry an iPhone, you can relax. The company has announced that both the original Activité and the Pop will support Android as of March 2nd. While the Health Mate app will largely go unchanged, you'll be glad to hear that Withings' data will plug into Google Fit so that you can easily share it between devices. Given that the Pop hasn't reached US stores yet, this is good timing -- you can pick up the new wristwear knowing that it will likely work with your handset of choice. Don't miss out on all the latest news, photos and liveblogs from MWC 2015. Follow along at our events page.
SanDisk stuffs 200GB into a microSD card for your phone
If a 128GB microSD card just isn't big enough to put your media collection on your phone, don't worry -- SanDisk is coming to your rescue. It just unveiled a whopping 200GB card (the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I card Premium Edition, to be exact) that makes just about anything else seem puny. You won't even have to give up performance, as it should still transfer about 90MB per second, or roughly 1,200 photos every minute. The price could easily be a showstopper, though. SanDisk will ask an eye-watering $400 for the 200GB card when it ships in the second quarter, so it may only make sense if you insist on gobs of room for 4K videos or a gigantic music library. Don't miss out on all the latest news, photos and liveblogs from MWC 2015. Follow along at our events page.
These 'privacy glasses' make you invisible to facial recognition
You're going out with friends mid-week, and you don't want the boss/significant other/parole officer to find out. But it's a birthday celebration, and Facebook's auto-tagging the pictures your buddies upload like a dirty snitch. The first piece of advice: never "friend" your parole officer. The second? Maybe grab a pair of these "privacy" glasses from software security firm AVG. You, of course, can see my visage above, but AVG claims the technology in the specs means facial recognition software (like that of Facebook) will not.
Samsung Galaxy S6 comes with Microsoft apps out of the box
Those rumors that Samsung would reduce the glut of in-house software on the Galaxy S6 and include some of Microsoft's apps? They're at least partly true. Both the S6 and S6 edge will ship with a "Microsoft Apps" folder that currently includes OneDrive, OneNote and Skype. There's no hint of Office -- at least not yet -- but you will get 115GB of free OneDrive cloud storage for two years. You certainly won't be hurting for photo backup space, then. It's hard to say if the bundle is the direct result of Microsoft and Samsung calling a truce in their Android royalty dispute. Either way, the move is going to give Microsoft's services a lot more exposure. While they've been available on Android for some time, their absence in phone bundles has typically made it easier to lean on equivalents from the likes of Google and Dropbox. Don't miss out on all the latest news, photos and liveblogs from MWC 2015. Follow along at our events page.
Meet Samsung's Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge
The last time Samsung put on a show in Barcelona, it came bearing the Galaxy S5 and that love-it-or-hate-it bandage back. Not exactly a high point in the company's design history, you might say. Over the past year, though, the Korean juggernaut has come to the realization that it needs to pare down and push a few more envelopes, a philosophy that begat weird, arguably wonderful experiments like the Note Edge. So, Samsung, it's been a year -- how far have you come? We have our answer. Meet the Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge. try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-450804").style.display="none";}catch(e){}
Samsung's new virtual reality headset works with the Galaxy S6
The original Gear VR headset actually made a little headway, even getting picked up by Best Buy. Its main barrier to entry, aside from its $199 price point, is limited device compatibility: If you don't have a Galaxy Note 4, you can't use the Gear VR. With Samsung today launching not one, but two flagship smartphones, the number of VR-compatible smartphones from Samsung has just tripled. Presenting the aptly named Gear VR Innovator Edition for Galaxy S6 and S6 edge.
Live from Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event at MWC!
The moment we heard that Samsung was throwing a "Galaxy Unpacked" event at Mobile World Congress, we knew it had to be launching the Galaxy S6. And, according to the many leaks that are already circulating on the internet, we're probably right. Still, it's always worth attending the actual event itself -- Samsung's been known to offer up a surprise or two and besides, the company sometimes puts up quite an entertaining show. So join us, won't you, for our liveblog starting right here at 12:30pm ET.
AT&T is bringing LG's Watch Urbane and HTC's Grip to the US
Looks like you won't have to wait too long if you want to try LG's ritzy Watch Urbane or HTC's sporty, $199 Grip tracker in the US. AT&T has revealed it will be the first American carrier -- and first American retailer, really -- to carry these devices. It's not disclosing the ship dates or the Watch Urbane's pricing just yet, though it's reasonable to presume that the Watch Urbane won't be cheap: The G Watch R already sells for $299, and the Urbane's higher quality materials are bound to carry a further premium. Don't miss out on all the latest news, photos and liveblogs from MWC 2015. Follow along at our events page.
Lenovo rolls out new sub-$200 tablets, two with Dolby Atmos
Lenovo might still be a little sore from the Superfish scandal that recently rocked its PC division, but thankfully the company's mobile arm has remained unharmed. And that's a good thing, because it's kicking off Mobile World Congress with the announcement of not one, not two, but three new tablets, in both Android and Windows flavors. The Lenovo Tab 2 A10 and the Lenovo Tab 2 A8 are from the budget-friendly Android A series, while the affordable Lenovo Miix 300 is for those who prefer the operating system from Redmond. The overarching theme of all three of these is simple: value.
Here's what Project Ara phones will actually look like
Sure, we've seen prototypes of Google's Project Ara before, but these dummy modules from budget phone maker Yezz mobile are as good a hint to how the phone might actually look in real life. We already saw how Google envisioned Ara to look, but given its plans for a store where you'll be able to browse different components for your phone, it's unlikely things will be that uniform. It doesn't take much to imagine that Ara's customizable nature will mean all the different clip-in components will rarely be an aesthetic match. That's to say, your phone is likely going to be a patchwork of colors and designs, so why not embrace that and go all in? Yezz's prototype modules show us how that future will look.
Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 can take phone calls even when upside down
Yes, that's me holding a phone upside down while pretending to make a phone call. It may look silly, but that's exactly what the folks over at Alcatel OneTouch want to see going viral on the streets soon. What we have here is the new "orientation-free" Idol 3 smartphone series, which lets users quickly pick up phone calls without having to check whether they are holding the device -- either the 4.7-inch version or the larger 5.5-inch model -- the right way up. The trick? It's all down to the symmetrical design consisting of a speaker and a mic at each end of the phone; and yes, you do get to use the two front-facing speakers in stereo mode for entertainment purposes.
Mozilla is bringing Firefox OS to flip-phones and sliders
Mozilla has always positioned Firefox OS as an alternative platform for entry-level smartphones, but now it's targeting the feature phone market too. At Mobile World Congress, the company announced a new partnership with LG and carriers Verizon, Telefónica, KDDI and U+ to create a fresh range of flip-phones, sliders and touchscreen "slate" handsets. Firefox OS will look a little different on these devices -- Mozilla says the group is developing a "more intuitive and easy-to-use" software experience for their planned launch in 2016. It promises to balance the simplicity of feature phones with basic smartphone functionality, such as email, web browsing and music playback.
HTC's Grip fitness tracker is a promising, puzzling first step
We're not entirely sure why HTC decided it needed to make a fitness tracker, but it did, and it has. The end result is the HTC Grip, a device that looks more than a little like one of Nike's FuelBands, but does so, so much more. HTC gave us a peek at an early, incomplete version of the product in Barcelona, but here's the rub: I couldn't connect it to my phone in hopes of testing some of its more smartwatch-y features like notifications and canned responses. Still, venture on for a first peek at what HTC and its pals at Under Armour have cobbled together.
HTC One M9 preview: A battle between polish and progress
It looks the same. That's the impression you'd probably get looking at the HTC One M9 for the first time. I felt that way too, at first. Thing is, HTC knows it's got a good thing going with its high-end One design and just didn't feel like a full-on revolution was necessary in 2015... maybe to the consternation of some of its activist fans. So what's new, if not the M9's aesthetic? Quite a bit, really, and not all of it great.
HTC takes aim at Fitbit and Jawbone with the Grip exercise tracker
Remember that weird day at CES when HTC announced that it was partnering up with Under Armour, the fitness gear brand that would later buy popular health apps MyFitnessPal and Endomondo? Well, now we know what they've been working on together: Meet the HTC Grip, a black-and-green fitness tracker you wear on your wrist.
HTC's Vive is a high-end VR headset being made with Valve's help
Of all the things we expected HTC to talk about at its MWC press conference, a design-focused virtual reality headset built in partnership with Valve definitely wasn't on the short list. It's called the HTC Vive and the two companies working on making it a reality call it the most immersive, most premium VR experience you'll be able to find on the market. We know what you're thinking, and yes: This is really happening. If all goes according to plan, the initial developer version of the Vive will trickle out into the community sometime this spring with a full consumer launch to follow during the holidays.
