Day one of MWC 2011 certainly lived up to expectations, with plenty of new and dazzling devices officially announced.
With confirmations and releases taking place pretty much constantly throughout the day, we thought you may appreciate a quick recap of today’s events.
First up, LG made official the world’s first glasses-free 3D mobile phone in the shape of the Optimus 3D, together with the LG Optimus Pad device.
The LG Optimus 3D is a dual-core smartphone that offers a complete 3D experience – letting you view, record and share 3D content. And the company also announced a brand new partnership today, with YouTube, with plans to bring a special YouTube channel to LG Optimus 3D users. Francsico Varela, Head of YouTube Platform Partnerships said: “3D technology has traditionally been reserved for the major Hollywood movie studios. With the new LG Optimus 3D anyone anywhere in the world can shoot 3D videos, upload them to YouTube and share them with their friends. We’re excited to see the creative videos our community captures and shares with this new technology.”
The LG tablet can also make claim to world-first thanks to its 3D camera. The Optimus Pad is also capable of showing glasses-free 3D images, runs on Google’s Honeycomb platform and is powered by a 1GHz Tegra 2 dual-core processor. When it comes to size, the tablet is described as portable and with an 8.9 inch display, “a departure from the trend toward tablets featuring 7- and 10-inch screen”, the press release states.
LG clearly wants the Optimus Pad to stand out from the crowd, which is currently dominated by Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab devices.
After yesterday’s introductions by Samsung, for the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 10.1, the company has unveiled just one new handset today: the Samsung Wave 578. On the surface, this mobile appears fairly standard, with a 3.2 inch screen, 3.2-megapixel snapper and front-facing camera, and Bada OS. However, the Wave 578 comes with new typing technology QuickType which promises swifter messaging onscreen; and NFC technology. With NFC onboard, you’ll be able to make payments in participating places using your phone.
Acer unleashed a trio of new tablets onto the market today, as well as an impressive-looking new smartphone. Two of the Acer tablets, the Acer Iconia Tab A100 and Acer Iconia Tab A500, are Android Honeycomb-based devices with a dual-core processor, and two cameras. The A100 is the smaller version of the A500, and comes with a 7 inch display (whereas the A500’s screen measures 10.1 inches), and less RAM onboard.
The third tablet is called the Acer Iconia Tab W500 and runs on the Windows 7 platform. The W500 can perform like a netbook thanks to the keyboard/docking station that comes with the tablet.
And if phones are more your thing, Acer also unveiled the Acer Iconia Smart handset. Similar to the Dell Streak, the screen is so large (4.8 inches) that the Iconia Smart sits in the middle of smartphone and tablet territory. Among its features are Google’s Gingerbread OS, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and 8-megapixel snapper.
Next up is ViewSonic which launched two new tablets and a smartphone – although it’s debatable whether that should be two smartphones and a tablet. The reason for this is the ViewPad 4 is referred to by the company as a tablet but with a 4.1 inch capacitive display and Gingerbread OS, we’re not so sure. Debate aside, this device sports high-end features including a 5-megapixel camera with HD video support; mini-HDMI output; and ViewScene, technology that changes your home screen imagery according to your location, using GPS.
The ViewPad 10Pro is most definitely a tablet device, with a 10 inch display. And its most noticeable feature is its dual-booting status, allowing you to change between Windows 7 OS and Android 2.2 OS.
The company also introduced the ViewSonic V350 smartphone which has a dual-SIM, ideal for combining work and personal needs into the one handset. This phone runs on Android 2.2, and comes with Wi-Fi support and a 5-megapixel snapper.
Motorola delivered some good news today for UK phone fans. The company confirmed that the Motorola Droid Pro (as it’s known in the US) is coming to Europe as the Motorola Pro – bringing with it a QWERTY keyboard, 3.2 inch display and Android 2.2 OS. And another reason to cheer is Motorola also gave confirmation that the XOOM tablet will arrive in the UK sometime in Q2 2011. Rest assured, we’ll bring you further details on release dates and pricing as soon as we know.
ZTE also unveiled two new smartphones during MWC today, in the shape of the ZTE Skate and ZTE Amigo. The Skate packs quite a punch, with a 4.3 inch display, Gingerbread OS, and 5-megapixel camera. The Amigo has a smaller display, a 3.2-megapixel camera, and Froyo OS – although it does combine its touchscreen with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
Rounding off today’s events is Doro. The company announced four new phones, all with an emphasis on user friendliness and simplicity: Doro PhoneEasy 615, Doro PhoneEasy 610, PhoneEasy 680, and PhoneEasy 682. As well as being easy to use, these handsets come with additional features – for example, the 615 model has 3G support and a 3.2-megapixel snapper; and the 610 version has a dedicated key for text messages.
Have any of these phones and tablets caught your eye?
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