All the headlines you need from the first day of Mobile World Congress

9 months ago

The Sunday before the beginning of Mobile World Congress is always a tidal wave of new smartphones, and 2017 has already proved no different.

The doors of the convention centre in Barcelona aren’t even open yet and already debates are raging over whether nostalgia is a viable way to win new customers and how quickly dual cameras have become the norm on modern smartphones.

Whether it was blasts from the past BlackBerry and Nokia or modern day giants LG, Huawei and Samsung, plenty of headlines were made on Day one of MWC.

The 3310 is back

Yes really, the rumours were true – the mobile phone that practically sparked the very idea of owning a mobile phone is back.

Nokia and their new manufacturing partner HMD Global announced a revamped version of the phone in three colours.

It now has a camera and yes of course, Snake, but this is still the basic phone it was when it launched in 2000 – no internet, just calls and texts.

Nokia says its for people in need of a modest second phone – when travelling, at a festival or abroad for example – and has priced it as such, at just 49 euro.

With this following on from BlackBerry’s revelation it’s next phone would feature a physical keyboard, you couldn’t help but feel nostalgic, even though some questioned whether these were more of a PR stunt than a hard push for new customers.

All about the camera?

Two of the big names showcasing on Sunday were keen to make a point.

Both LG and Huawei showed off their new flagship devices, as the two firms look to catch up with Apple and Samsung.

It seems they both have the same idea how to do that – more and better cameras.

First LG introduced the G6, which has a huge screen that covers most of the front of the phone, it also has high-quality dual rear cameras.

Taking things one step further were Huawei, who as well as using German photography giant Leica to make their dual rear camera for the second year, they turned to them to improve the selfie camera too.

Samsung gives us an S8 date

Samsung’s big new product news revolved around tablets and a new controller to go with Gear VR, but there was also news of their next smartphone.

Though widely expected that the S8 wouldn’t be unveiled at MWC, following the Note7 safety scandal, we did get a date for the announcement of the next Galaxy – March 29.

The countdown to Samsung’s first flagship smartphone push since the Note7 is very much on.

And a further safety apology

The big smartphone news from Samsung came at the end of their press event, but the opening was also notable for the short film they showed on testing products and quality control.

This, coupled with the comments from the firm’s own David Lowes on how Samsung had failed to hit the high standards for it by consumers was a bold admission from a big company that, after six months and a concluded investigation into the incident, could have left it alone.

But the absence of a Samsung flagship is a glaring omission from this year’s MWC and this, combined with the announcement of the Unpacked event to reveal the next Galaxy felt like Samsung ceasing the initiative to fill the vacuum they had created.