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Watch BlackBerry's KEYone event in under 5 minutes
Last night here in Barcelona, BlackBerry announced all of the details about its KEYone handset at an hour-long event. Since you likely don't want to spend around 60 minutes rehashing the important details about the device, we've done the hard work for you. Get all the specs, pricing and other tidbits in under five minutes. Just be sure to use that time you saved on something constructive.
Huawei's P10 wraps familiar performance in colorful bodies
When it comes to hardware launches, subtlety isn't exactly Huawei's strong suit. It was no secret the company would unveil its new P10 smartphone today, so now there's only one question left to tackle: How is the thing? Well, even in my brief time with the phone, the answer was clear: It's pretty damn good.
HP's Pro x2 hybrid comes with a Wacom pen, military specs
Microsoft's Surface Pro was arguably the first tablet that could do serious work rather than just web browsing, so HP ran with that idea for its original Pro x2 612 laptop back in 2014. With its latest model, the Pro x2 612 G2 (yes, that's a terrible name) it has cranked up the power and toughness. It not only has better specs and less weight; it now features MIL-STD 810G specs for business types in the field.
Huawei reveals the Watch 2 at MWC 2017
It was almost two years ago to the day that Huawei unveiled the "Watch," the company's first Android Wear device. Today, at MWC in Barcelona, Huawei has just announced its successor, the imaginatively named Watch 2. Perhaps the first notable difference (beyond the design tweaks), is the inclusion of 4G connectivity (on select models, via SIM or eSIM), meaning you won't need a phone for all the smart features to work. According to Huawei, the Watch 2 will debut this month in Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, Italy and, of course Huawei's native China. It will arrive in the US and UK in April. There are a few different strap and color combinations, but prices start at €320 (around $350).
Google Assistant comes to recent Android phones
Yes, the leaks were true: You no longer have to buy a Pixel (or launch Allo) if you want official support for Google Assistant on your Android phone. As of this week, the AI helper will start rolling out to Android phones running Marshmallow or Nougat. So long as your phone has Google Play Services and meets some basic specs (at least 1.5GB of RAM and a 720p screen), you too can use Android's native search app to get answers and issue commands through Google's conversational companion. Just where and when you'll get it will vary, though.
LG G6 ditches modularity in favor of essentials
LG's handful of recent teasers for its new G6 flagship left us wondering if there'd be any surprises left for us at its launch event today. Back in early January, the company was rather frank about moving away from the G5's modular design due to a lack of consumer interest, followed by a promise of increased safety measures after the Samsung Note 7 fiasco. While it may seem as if LG has taken a more conservative approach this time, it used three teasers to emphasize the G6's unique 18:9 "FullVision" display.
LG's G6 is official
The LG G6 is official, but it's not much of a surprise. We already knew that the G5's modular capabilities were out, in favor of a more traditional aluminum and Gorilla Glass shell. We also knew that the phone would have an unusual 18:9 display, and a quad-DAC system similar to the one found in the LG V20 last year. Heck, we even knew what the phone looked like, thanks to a bunch of render leaks. So what's left to announce? Hopefully quite a bit. Now more than ever, LG needs a 'complete' flagship that can compete with Samsung and save its struggling mobile business. Update: Find our hands-on impressions here.
Live from LG's G6 Day at Mobile World Congress!
The time has come. The LG G6 hasn't exactly been a well-kept secret, but we're poised to finally meet the company's new handset in Barcelona. Keep your browser locked here to our liveblog to catch all the news as it happens. And who knows -- we may even be in for a few surprises.
Get your LG MWC 2017 liveblog here
Coming to you live from Barcelona, we're delivering coverage of the LG MWC 2017 press event. Keep it locked here for all the news as it's announced at 12:00PM CET (6:00AM ET). We're expecting to finally meet the much-teased G6 in an official capacity. Who knows, we might hear some news about a few accessories as well. Whatever the case may be, we'll bring you all the news as it's announced here in Spain. We'll have all the announcements here in our liveblog starting at noon local time.
BlackBerry's KEYone is an exciting return to form
With a global launch in the works and the hopes of diehards at an all-time high, the pressure was on BlackBerry and TCL to deliver on all that Mercury hype. We can't render an official verdict yet, but my gut tells me they're onto something. Say hello to the BlackBerry KEYone. Yes, "Mercury" was a better name, and yes, the capitalization is weirding me out too. No matter: Despite the nature of its creation, the KEYone feels like a pretty triumphant return to form for a brand in need of a boost.
BlackBerry's 'Mercury' phone is now the KEYone
What was once known as the BlackBerry "Mercury" is now the KEYone. (Yeah, I don't like the name either.) At a press conference in Barcelona, TCL -- the new steward of BlackBerry's hardware efforts -- introduced, or rather re-introduced, its first Android handset with a QWERTY keyboard. It's a tall, enterprise-friendly smartphone with BlackBerry's DTEK software dumped on top of the OS. You can expect a fairly clean version of Android, but with the BlackBerry Hub and a few other apps aimed at business types. Clearly, this is a niche device: Unlike the DTEK50 and DTEK60, which ditched the physical keyboard, this is a phone for the BlackBerry purists.
We're live from BlackBerry Mobile's MWC 2017 press conference!
And so it begins. The first big press conference of MWC 2017 is all about BlackBerry, specifically the so-called "Mercury." We were pretty big fans when we first met the QWERTY keyboard-packing phone at CES, a lot of you were too -- hopefully today's press conference sheds a lot more light on what's running inside of it and we can get our hands on one. With any luck, TCL and BlackBerry Mobile will have a few surprises for us, too, but we'll just have to wait and see: the event starts at 7PM here in Barcelona, 1PM Eastern and 10AM on the west coast. Click here to catch up on the latest news from MWC 2017.
We're live from MWC 2017 in Barcelona!
It's the end of February, which means we're back in Barcelona once again. For the next few days, we'll bringing you coverage of Mobile World Congress 2017 as news breaks here in Spain. BlackBerry kicks things off with a press conference this evening before the likes of LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony and many more take the stage at the start of the week. To easily follow all the announcements as they happen, click the link down below. Click here to catch up on the latest news from MWC 2017.
Get your BlackBerry MWC 2017 liveblog right here
It's February, which can mean only one thing: the MWC tanks are rolling into Barcelona. We're expecting to see a lot of new phones and tablets. The fun starts later today, with BlackBerry hosting a press conference, where we're expecting to see the final reveal of the "Mercury" phone we saw back at CES. There could be a few more surprises along the way, so be sure to tune in right here at 1PM ET.
LG's latest battery is also a phone
The problem with having a smartphone that you want to use all the damn time is that you'll spend a big chunk of your day wedded to an outlet. LG believes that nobody should have to suffer such an indignity, and has launched the X power2 as a remedy. The smartphone is designed to operate for an entire weekend on a single charge thanks to the 4,500mAh battery tucked inside. It'll also recharge nice and quick, too, taking just two hours to go from flat all the way back up to 100 percent.
Acer is making an air quality monitor
Acer's next project is a different type of monitor than you might expect from the company. It's an air quality monitor, actually. No, wait; where are you going? "The Acer Air Monitor features a sleek and simple design, the device allows real-time monitoring of key air quality indicators through a dedicated app for smartphones, and by the changing colors of a breathing LED light embedded on the chassis," the company said in a press release. It all sounds very exciting.
All the smartphones we expect to see at MWC 2017
It's that time of year again. Barcelona, with its stunning architecture and succulent jamón, will soon be packed with new smartphones, tablets, wearables, networking gear, app developers and, well, tech journalists like us. By the time you're reading this, we'll already be on the ground in Spain, laying the foundation for a week of intense coverage. Read on for a rundown of what we expect to see as the show unfolds.
Samsung's next smartphone chip is ready for gigabit LTE
Mobile World Congress is nearly upon us, giving Samsung ample reason to show off the latest product from its chip foundries. The company has announced the Exynos 9 Series 8895, a flagship CPU that's made with a 10-nanometer manufacturing process. The smaller circuits, it's hoped, will offer 27 percent better performance while drawing 40 percent less battery.
Intel and Qualcomm are steadily gearing up for 5G
We're still years away from a finalized 5G standard, and it'll be even longer before we get compatible devices in our hands, but we're seeing plenty of companies readying themselves for speedier networks. In particular, Qualcomm and Intel are hoping to play essential roles in the 5G ecosystem, which is poised to be at least ten times faster than existing networks and offer features like near-instant latency. While 5G started to seem more real at last year's show, now the companies are focused on refining their new hardware to be ready for the rollout of new networks in a few years.
Samsung will showcase C-Lab's AR and VR projects at MWC
Samsung will exhibit four new augmented and virtual reality projects out of the C-Lab program at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. C-Lab or Creative Lab is the chaebol's in-house initiative that gives employees time off to work on their most innovative ideas. For instance, the first of the four exhibits is Relúmĭno -- a visual aid app for the Gear VR that can help visually impaired people watch TV and read again "with new levels of clarity." The app does that by enhancing visuals, repositioning images to get rid of blind spots and correcting images that appear distorted for people with metamorphopsia.