MWC 2015 news and products roundup

As the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) kicks off this week in Barcelona, vendors have been showcasing their latest devices to attendees. Here’s our roundup.

Acer has unveiled a number of new products, including its first Windows 8.1 smartphone – the Liquid M220. It has a four-inch display with 233 PPI resolution, is Windows Phone 10 ready and is compatible with the Acer Leap smart wearables.

The Liquid Z220 and Z520 smartphones also made their debut, with a voice activated camera and 89-degree viewing angle. 

The Liquid Leap smartband works with Android, iOS and Windows, and boasts an IPX7 water-resistant body. Plus, other products include the Liquid Jade Z smartphone featuring a five-inch HD screen and ‘Made for Acer Liquid’ smartphone accessories.

Additionally, HP is among those with the HP Spectre x360 and HP Spectre x360 Pro convertible PC.

The x360 comes with up to 12 hours of battery life and features a 13.3-inch display. It supports Intel Core i5 and i7 processors with an SSD of up to 512GB.

The x360 Pro has been designed for business professionals and features optional vPro technology on fifth generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, plus it comes with a choice of Windows 7 or Windows 8 Pro operating systems.

The x360 is expected to be available in the UK from mid-March 2015 at a starting price of £849, while the x360 Pro will be available in EMEA from March 2015 for a starting price of €999. 

Microsoft has announced two new lower-priced Lumia smartphones – the 640 and 640 XL. These are upgradable to Windows 10 which launches later this year. Both devices come with a one-year personal subscription to Office 365. It also introduced a super-lightweight universal keyboard that works with iPads, iPhones, Android devices and Windows tablets.

Plus, Microsoft announced the AT&T Mobile Office Suite for the US – a cloud-based mobile collaboration solution for SMB customers, giving them access to voice calls, email, calendars, instant messaging, HD video conferencing, desktop sharing, file sharing and more. 

Promises from Microsoft reveal a flagship Lumia device is also on its way, featuring the new Windows 10 OS. 

Intel has launched a series of new mobile low-cost system-on-chip (SoCs) at MWC this week. The SoCs have been designed for tablets, phones and phablets, including the Intel Atom x3 processor series.

The company also showcased some new devices and solutions including True Key, the Mica bracelet, Intel’s RealSense technology and the Lego Minifigures game.

Prestigio also teamed up with Intel and the firm’s True Key security, announcing that it will be one of the first manufacturers to launch the technology.

True Key will be available across all of Prestigio’s Android tablets and smartphones by the end of this year.

Samsung announced the launch of its flagship S6 smartphone at MWC with a screen that curves around its sides.

The new device will allow users to make mobile payments, as the company has recently acquired LoopPay – a mobile wallet.

Meanwhile, HTC also unveiled the M9, which is powered by an 810 Snapdragon, along with a 2840mAh battery and 32GB of storage.

The M9 from HTC and the S6 from Samsung will also come backed with the Peel Smart Remote app, allowing users to control their homes with their phones.

The company has also announced the Vive, a virtual reality headset developed with Valve. The Vive Developer Edition has two 1200×1080 displays, with a refresh rate of up to 90 frames per second. 

SanDisk debuted the world’s largest microSD card at the MWC as well. The company has increased the capacity of its SD card by 56 per cent, with 200GB of storage.

The Ultra microSDXC UHS-I card, Premium Edition card has been designed for smartphones and tablets.

A pair of new gaming controllers has been showcased at MWC from Mad Catz this week.

The S.U.R.F.R Wireless Media and Game Controller comes with a full Qwerty keyboard and mouse capabilities, along with Bluetooth connectivity.

The L.Y.N.X.3 Mobile Wireless Controller is an entry-level controller, which folds up during travel.

This week Cisco is introducing some new innovations across its Service Provider portfolio, including solutions to help advance its Intercloud strategy.

Demonstrations from the company will also be carried out during MWC, including Cisco’s universal Wi-Fi and Connected Life with home automation technology.

Panasonic has launched its own Mobile Virtual Network Operator service, which was first demoed at MWG this week. The company has revealed that the service will allow users to access Panasonic’s M2M cloud services.

Elsewhere, A connected collar for pets was revealed this week by Haier, which features a microphone, speaker and a red SOS button.

Fujitsu also has a new fully ruggedised business tablet, designed to withstand drops of up to 1.8 metres.

The Stylistic V535 features NFC technology, Windows 8.1 and is built to operate in a range of temperatures.

Today at MWC, the company announced the development of its iris authentication system. By looking at a smartphone’s screen, the user’s iris gets read, allowing the smartphone to be unlocked.

Sony has launched the Xperia Z4 tablet, which is dubbed to be the first iPad Air competitor from the company.

The device boasts a quad-core Snapdragon 810 processor, 8.1MP rear camera as well as a 5.1MP front facing camera, 17 hours of video playback and is 61mm, plus it weighs 389g, making it lighter than its Apple counterpart.

Huawei revealed its new smartwatch that packs a larger display made out of sapphire crystal. It runs on Android wear and is available with a range of different straps.

In addition, Jolla is also opening up its Sailfish OS to more manufacturers, with the aim of creating more devices running the operating system.

Vuzix will also demonstrate its live streaming video from the M100 smart glasses to a remote PC browser window, with the ability to show a person’s heart rate on the glasses. 

Lastly, TP-LINK announced the release of its Touch P5 router at MWC, the first in a line of routers that supports touch screen technology. It comes with simultaneous Dual Band speeds of up to 600Mbps over 2.4GHz and 1300Mbps over 5GHz.

Check back as MWC progresses and we’ll update this page with the latest announcements.