Hi, AndroidZoomers!
If yesterday was a day to get oneself used to Mobile World Congress atmosphere, stroll around and meet old friends and make new ones; today has been a day to work, to know, to ask and be asked.
We put our hands on Nokia‘s Pureview 808. I won’t spend more than a few lines on this: as it couldn’t be otherwise, a 41 Mp pic is untweeteable, unfacebookable, ungmailable and unsendable in any known way beyond a ftp client or a too tech-savvy solution, and I don’t think Nokia is precisely working on that. Pics taken are great and pinch-out-able a lot of times before pixelling themselves, but I’m sure Nokia will be left alone in its own crazy race to bring Megapixels beyond reasonable levels. I’m sorry to say this, but Nokia hostesses have been the unkindest we’ve met, though perhaps wearing a press badge with AndroidZoom in it hanging from your neck doesn’t help at all, or maybe it means something I don’t dare to realize.
On the other hand, LG is making the most of their tech. To say that their gadgets are awesome is is an understatement. LG is sure that the future will be in 3D or it won’t be. Their 3D TVs are beyond comparison and, here’s the part I like most, latest generation LG Optimus P920, dual core and running ICS and featuring HD screens able to take 3D pics, 3D video and play them on screen without polarized glasses, well, we’ll need to get used to soon. I was absolutely skeptical about it, I kindly asked for a demo and, when it ended, I humbly sayed: “I’m amazed. It’s impressive. Thank you, good evening”. Belive when I say that it’s really hard to amaze me with a gadget if it hasn’t at least the NASA brand on it. I don’t know how these guys at LG have made it, but we might talk about not only one of the most powerful Android device ever released. This way, LG positions itself as a deluxe brand, in a perfect place to compete with any love brand you can tell.
We visited Android world. I don’t want to make a speech just saying that Android is better than anything else. I will only say that it’s the best part of all whole Mobile World Congress. It’s really fun. People’s laughing, you are attended by smiling people proud of what they’ve done or are doing, waiters show tattoed arms and piercings and there’s even a waitress with lilac rastas and a faerie look in her eyes. I asked for a snack or something in the afternoon but there was a crowd between the bar and me and she throwed over an ice cream sandwich to me! A true Android-like ice cream sandwich, I mean. It’s a fair, and in Android world it’s obvious that hostesses don’t have to pose straight and smile falsely to every passer-by guest. Although it seems a joke, there’s a slide to you can glide into and a childish wall to play with textures and lights. There’s also a virtual library and I don’t know how many more funny stuff. Have I said it’s the best part of MWC? Trust me, if I worked for whatever-zoom, I’d say the same words.
GSMA hosted the Global Mobile Awards. If you have followed us on Twitter, you should already know what I’m talking about, because we’ve tweeted every single prize awarded in real time. What it promised to be a boring ceremony became hilariously fun thanks to host Tim Minchin, who not only is a great comedian but also a talented pianist. He made a duo with Talking Tom Cat when both sang a song called “there’s an app for everything”, a song that made people laugh out loud. He stamped the awards a fast pace, put a pun here and there and was kind to award-winners who aren’t used to give “thank you for this prize” speeches. In the end, no surprises. Etisalat, Samsung, Whatsapp and Rovio among others were awarded and, nearly at the end, when the “best tablet” award was given to Apple’s iPad2, people booed because no Apple representant has gone to the event to receive the prize. Mr Minchin was shrewd and make an intended pun when asked if “maybe any Google staff can go up and take it on behalf of them” (no exact, but nearly quote). People laughed once again and the host ended the ceremony with another witty song. We should look forward for a GSMA’s video on Youtube or something, because these two songs Tim Minchin composed especially for the occasion were really great.
We also saw how Fujitsu’s Arrows tablet ran underwater and attended Alcatel‘s conference. Alcatel has managed to grow in these times through smart investment on emerging countries and sacrificing top notch developing. It’s been a sincere and straightforward conference watered with cava, which is Catalan champagne, perhaps a little softer and sweeter than its French counterpart. Great for Alcatel, as there’s no point in selling yourself as a spearhead of tech delopment when you aren’t. Instead of, they’re proud to reach virgin markets, improve design and do what they do best: selling cheap yet nice devices.
Eric Schmidt’s conference, keynote speaker, has been about how Chrome syncs computer and mobile bookmarks, history and favorites, all wrapped up in a main message: Chrome is faster, better and, obviously, cheaper than its competitors. He even dared to open a Q&A intake at the end, but people’s questions were either too odd or too personal opinion to be needed to be reproduced here.
I’m sure I’ve overlooked a lot of things. Stay tuned, we have a ton of pics and videos to upload yet and a thousand and one things to talk about.
Sun’s been shining all day long and, as we walked through the main avenue, fountains were leaving behind us little rainbows. Wish you were here.
Peter Warrior
EiC at AndroidZoom, from Barcelona.
