Mobile World Congress 2015 Awards

By Matt Humrick & Alex Davies, Seth Colaner
published

Greetings From Barcelona

Sometimes we must make sacrifices for our readers. That may mean playing with heavily testing hot new tech weeks before it's released to the general public. Sometimes we have to game for hours to fully evaluate some hardware. In other cases, we must travel to Barcelona, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, for Mobile World Congress (MWC), which we did recently. You're welcome, folks. 

MWC is, of course, rife with new handsets, but there's so much more to see there. There's new mobile component technology, new standards being implemented, emerging trends and so on. That's not to mention plenty of startups pushing new ideas, concepts and technologies.

This MWC was a study in contrasts. Some of the major developments, such as OEM strategies in emerging markets, were important but not exactly sexy, while others such as HTC's and Valve's shocking Vive VR announcement left even the most jaded techies in a downright tizzy. 

What follows is what we believe to be some of the most noteworthy products and technologies from MWC.

Matt Humrick & Alex Davies
7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • g-unit1111
    I definitely thought the Samsung S6 was deserving of the "most controversial" award. However, I feel the biggest disappointment of the whole show was the HTC One M9 - which looks practically identical in every way to the M8 except for a slightly better camera. I'll be looking forward though to the LG G Flex 2 which looks like one of the better phones that was unveiled there.
    Reply
  • Eggz
    I love how the HTC Vive VR is listed as "mobile." Can you imagine walking down a busy city block, where there's taxis and people, while wearing that thing on your face? Instant.Death.
    Reply
  • coolitic
    I personally do not like the s6.
    Reply
  • DeltaProtocol
    I love how the HTC Vive VR is listed as "mobile." Can you imagine walking down a busy city block, where there's taxis and people, while wearing that thing on your face? Instant.Death.


    https://40.media.tumblr.com/c51af2d2365709d6eca3208bc9dd895a/tumblr_nj34exn0X41rv6c48o1_500.png
    Reply
  • DeltaProtocol
    I love how the HTC Vive VR is listed as "mobile." Can you imagine walking down a busy city block, where there's taxis and people, while wearing that thing on your face? Instant.Death.

    https://40.media.tumblr.com/c51af2d2365709d6eca3208bc9dd895a/tumblr_nj34exn0X41rv6c48o1_500.png

    Sorry. Let's try that again: http://bit.ly/1NWOSNj
    Maybe that's what HTC had in mind?
    Reply
  • AndrewJacksonZA
    Regarding the M4 Aqua: As an Xperia Z3 owner my ego appreciates that they didn't out-flagship my flagship with a mid-range phone, even though they easily (in my opinion) could have.

    The cap-less and water-proof micro USB port is very nice, although by using magnetic chargers on my phone I feel that I'm extending it's longevity my not using the micro USB port.
    Reply
  • avensis
    Mobile is now establishing itself as a key driver for innovation, and as expected Samsung introduces the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge excellent smartphones, designed to better compete with the iPhone 6.
    Reply