Three big smartphone trends coming, from smart accessories to 5G speeds
SMARTPHONES are about to change, with more accessories coming to turn your phone into a camera, hi-fi system or virtual reality hub.
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WITH more than 100,000 attendees, 2200 exhibitors, and at least one multi-billionaire, Mobile World Congress lived up to its name as the world’s largest mobile conference this year.
The Barcelona event that takes over eight halls and two venues sets the agenda for mobile technology in the coming year, and we were there to take notes.
Below is a guide to three big trends in smartphones, mobile networks, and even gaming gadgets.
OLD FEATURES NEW AGAIN
Smartphones continue to evolve but some well-loved features have been cut in that evolution.
Many of those are coming back this year, some in response to feedback and others as an anchor to new systems.
The world’s biggest smartphone maker, Samsung, showed it had been listening when it unveiled the features of its upcoming Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, due out in March.
While its predecessor ditched a water-resistant body and expandable memory in its transition to a metal and glass form, those features will return.
Samsung Australia mobile vice-president Prasad Gokhale said the S7 handsets will feature enhanced water resistance, at IP68 up from IP67, and a memory card could be added into the phones’ hybrid SIM card slot.
“We absolutely were not happy with letting go of those two features,” Mr Gokhale says.
Similarly, LG will bring back the removable battery in its forthcoming phone, the LG G5, expected in April.
LG Electronics Australia mobile general manager Gino Casha says the new phone’s battery could be removed simply by pushing a switch and pulling it out of the base of the handset.
Users could replace a flat battery with a fully charged one using this system, or attach one of several G5 accessories.
“We didn’t want to come out with a formulaic device,” Mr Casha says. “Anyone can do that.”
SMARTER ACCESSORIES
Expect a lot more from smartphone accessories this year, including cameras, home security devices, and virtual reality headsets.
In addition to giving away its Gear VR headset with Australian S7 pre-orders this year, Samsung will release a Gear 360 camera for use with its latest phones.
The golf ball-shaped device is equipped with two 15-megapixel cameras to capture everything around it in two images which can be stitched together in a connected smartphone.
The results can be viewed as you move your head while wearing a Gear VR headset, or on Facebook or YouTube in a move Gokhale says “democratises virtual reality”.
LG will also launch a VR camera, the stick-shaped 360 Cam, as well as its own headset, the 360 VR, that it says is one third as light as some of its competitors.
Sony will also focus on intelligent accessories, revealing the Xperia Ear that will read updates from your phone into your ear, and even announce navigation instructions. Its Australian release is yet to be confirmed, however.
Alcatel will also offer a smart accessory in an unlikely form. The box of its Idol 4S phone will transform into a VR headset for watching immersive videos.
5G FUTURE
It might be four years away and currently without a standard, but 5G was the talk of most carriers at Mobile World Congress.
Telstra revealed it planned to test 5G technology at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018, though networks group managing director Mike Wright could not say what that would entail just yet.
“By then, we’ll be starting to get to a world where we’re starting to understand the way the radio signal will be carried,” he says, adding the company may use prototypes to test the network’s speed.
A 5G network could deliver data at speeds up to 20 gigabits per second, letting users download 4K movies in seconds.
Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson travelled to Barcelona as a guest of Samsung.
Originally published as Three big smartphone trends coming, from smart accessories to 5G speeds
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