My MWC diary 2024: A close look at the happenings of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

For me, at least, the more interesting part was how a bendable phone changes how I interact with a smartphone, even for a few minutes. Definitely, the concept where the phone wraps around your wrist felt futuristic, but I am not too sure whether this device is the one that we all want to change the course of smartphones in the future.

After a short wait, a Lenovo employee let me touch the demo unit, and it instantly made me feel like I was not using a laptop I am familiar with. The device looks like one piece of glass with floating Windows icons on it. Moving the cursor appears as if you are moving in mid-air. It’s like you are using an AR headset, and the apps interact in a whole new environment. As I delved into the demo deeper, I started to realise I might take more time to get familiarised with the concept of a transparent screen laptop and what it’s trying to be. This is my early impressions of Lenovo's transparent concept laptop. 

Yesterday was a press day, and technically, MWC had already begun; the doors to Fira De Barcelona opened today. I am expecting hundreds of companies and thousands of people to flock to the venue early in the morning to attend networking meetings and technical sessions. But I am looking forward to getting hands-on looks at every new cool product, from smartphones to concept devices.

Smartwatches aren’t exciting, and I'll be honest with you. They not only look and feel identical, but they also each work within their own ecosystem. Although I am still not fully convinced by the current smartwatch landscape, I was pretty impressed by the Xiaomi Watch S3. So what's different, you may ask? Well, this watch leans on the idea of popping out the watch face (and crown) and putting it into a whole new case, so to speak. I briefly tried the watch, and it does seem impressive. You need to twist off the physical bezel around your watch face and swap in a new one in a matter of seconds. The concept is neat, and for a user like me who sees his watch as a fashion accessory, I would like to jump on the idea where you can customize the watch.

I just returned to the hotel room from Xiaomi’s global launch event, and all I can think about is the 14 Ultra’s Professional Photography Kit. It’s a camera-like grip for the Leica-tuned smartphone (more on that later), which, by the way, has a 1-inch camera sensor and a variable aperture lens, as well as dual-telephoto cameras. I briefly tried the Xiaomi 14 Ultra with the camera accessory mounted on the device, and what impressed me the most was how users get more control over the camera features the phone has to offer. The grip has a two-stage shutter button, a zoom lever, a customizable video recording button, and an additional custom dial; plus, it also functions as an external 1,500-mAh battery bank for charging. I wish Apple would also make a pro-grade camera grip for the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

I attended HMD Global’s launch event at MWC this morning with minimal expectations. To my surprise, the brand unveiled a modular smartphone under the new Fusion name, akin to Motorola's past attempt with Moto Mods. The concept revolves around customizing a smartphone like your outfits, utilizing six pogo pins on the device's back for attaching hardware accessories. While I haven't seen the reference design, the entire premise behind the Fusion platform intrigued me.

As I was on a flight from Frankfurt to Barcelona, one thought that crossed my mind was how our smartphones would look without apps. Even though it was just a fleeting thought, over the past few months, the discussion around app-less interfaces has been gaining momentum. Apps are the foundation of a modern smartphone ecosystem, but the more we hear about devices like the Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1, the more it appears that we are moving away from app-based interfaces on mobile devices. Just imagine for a second what would happen to the iPhone without apps, or what it's like using an Android smartphone with an app-free interface.    

If the tech industry has one message it wants attendees to take away from MWC this year, it is that generative artificial intelligence is “here.” Executives from smartphone brands, chip companies, and software makers will all be focusing their keynotes on the new AI. While smartphone makers, including Samsung, have already designed their flagship smartphones with Gen AI, I am hoping to see more brands going in full force on the messaging of AI in everyday products. However, for Gen AI to live up to the deafening hype, it must deliver more than just what AI chatbots like ChatGPT can do.

I had been in Europe for a few days before landing in Barcelona late in the afternoon, just a few hours before the busy press day. Although MWC only opens on February 26, the prior day is reserved for media, during which different brands will hold their launch events at various locations spread across the city. I will be running all over Barcelona, which is actually a lot bigger than I thought. My day will start with having breakfast in the morning, and as per the schedule, I will be attending one big launch event after another. So, yes, it will be a crazy day of non-stop working and filing stories.