Category: Mobile World Congress

I will admit that these are the kinds of Press Release that make me a little crazy.  Sony at MWC today announced the new Xperia X series, a lineup of new Android phones that includes three new devices, the Xperia X, Xperia X Performance and Xperia XA, but there were scarcely any details given about the devices.  While the Xperia X Peformance will run a Snapdragon 802 processor and has a 5″ display, there is virtually nothing else known about these devices.  I’m sure as the day progresses we will get more details but to not have the basics in the Presser is… aye.

At MWC today, Alcatel made another device announcement this morning.  Yesterday they announced the new IDOL 4 and IDOL 4S while today they announced the even more budget friendly POP series.  In all, there are three devices in the POP series:  The POP 4, POP 4+ and the POP 4S.  The 4S is the premium version of the devices with a 13 MP rear camera and 5MP front while the 4 and 4+ have a 8 MP rear shooter. Likewise, you will find that the 4S has an octa-core processor while the 4 and 4+ have a quad-core.

Along with the Galaxy S7 Edge, the smaller but equally as powerful S7 was launched today in Barcelona at MWC.  The 5.1″ device is smaller than its Edge sibling but feature-for-feature, is almost identical when it comes to specifications. Pre-orders with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and U.S. Cellular all start on Tuesday, February 23rd with the devices being available in stores the next Tuesday, March 1st.  Prices will be around $21 per month on payment plans through the carriers and devices will also be available through Best Buys, Target, Staples and Walmart as well so you shouldn’t have much of a problem finding it with your carrier or local big box store.

Alcatel has announced not one but two new Android phones today at MWC:  The IDOL 4 and their budget friendly flagship IDOL 4S.  Both devices will be running Android Marshmallow when they are released and both have a significant number of additional features beyond just the standard specifications.  Both devices will ship with a VR goggles to give you virtual reality out-of-the-box and both devices come with unique Boom key which gives you enhanced features in apps that are running on the device.

With Mobile World Congress wrapped up for 2015, Microsoft has created and shared a quick video highlighting the big announcements from the company this year.  The video is just over a minute long and available on the Microsoft Lumia channel on YouTube.  You can watch it here after the break.

The big highlights from MWC 2015 for Microsoft circled around the all new Lumia 640, Lumia 640XL, more information shared about Windows 10 for Phones and Windows 10 as a whole while even the Surface Hub got a bit of attention as did Universal apps.  While Microsoft clearly didn’t have a huge presence at Mobile World Congress this year, the announcements were important and I think gave a good indication of where Redmond is going to be focused in 2015.

At Mobile World Congress today, Microsoft announced the new Lumia 640, a mid-range Windows Phone that is a step up from the popular Lumia 635.  The Lumia 640 comes in three variants, the 3G Dual SIM, LTE Dual SIM and an LTE Single SIM and it is expected to sell for less than $200 when it reaches the US.  Yes, the Lumia 640 is coming to the United States!  It is expected to be with AT&T, T-Mobile and MetroPCS but what is unclear is which variant will be with which carrier.  While I’ve voice my opinion on the need for a flagship Windows Phone from Microsoft, it is good to see this Lumia 640 as it is, specification wise, not bad at all for a sub-$200 device.

The Lumia 640 will run on the Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor at 1.2GHz and will sport a 8GB of storage on board.  That can be augmented with up to 128GB on a MicroSD card.  The rear camera is a 8MP autofocus capable of shooting 1080p video while the front facing camera is a HD 1MP wide angle. The display is a 5″ HD 1280×720 IPS that does support Glance which if you don’t have, once you do, will love.  It is expected to launch this month in various markets globally.