Feeling like a tourist at MWC12

As you can see these days, this blog is being full of news about what the Mobile World Congress latest edition has brought to town. My colleagues Peter, Anna and Emmanuel were on location to make you feel you were right there (check out our Twitter and Facebook account if you want to have a better idea of it), while I was at Androidzoom’s headquarters giving them support and doing other tasks. But on Wednesday morning I was able to take a peek at what was going on inside the Barcelona’s Fair huge pavillons and I have to say that I felt like Alice in Wonderland, equally amazed and overwhelmed by what I found in front of my eyes. Being honest, I’m still a rookie at the whole smartphones & apps fantasy, and Androidzoom is the White Rabbit that got me here in the first place. So let’s say I went to MWC12 to learn more about the landscape around my job, but the experience ended up being beyond delicious.

Before I even put my feet in the very first pavillon I helped myself with the Congress thick catalogue and some maps to not lose my way around the area… As you can imagine, not so different from the hordes of tourists that come to Barcelona anytime of the year. Though as soon as I had got a glimpse of a inmense green robot waving at the visitors above one of the entrances, I forgot completely about the brochures and headed straight to it. The Androidworld was waiting for me. In comparison to the other stands and boxes, this one was the funniest by far. I think the corporate atmosphere was there too but fantastically hidden behind a slide, a music area, a typical fairy machine to pick up the Android-bear that, like any other of its kind, was  tricked for you to fail, and my favourite service: a bar where you can have free smoothies and ice cream sandwiches tailored with the Android figure (clearly a pun to the latest operative system). The happy atmosphere and friendly faces turned shark-levels hostile when it came to collect all the 84 costumized pins models that the participants developers like Foursquare or the BBC offered on their counters. But this is nothing compared to the enraged crowd that gathered a round the bar when the tenders threw licensed Android goodies… Like they were giving away money! (of course, I got my own, couldn’t be less, ha!).

Not being a fan of tablets and Yeti-like screens on phones myself, I can tell that I went back home in love with the new Samsung Galaxy Note collection. It has to be the pen, since I’m a bit nostalgic of PDAs, and the possibility of painting a moustache to the that random that hogs all the attention in your favourite holiday picture. Still, the devices on display didn’t work properly in some cases, maybe because they got exhausted with that many people testing them. These aspect needs improvement but, overall, I think it’s a great idea to boost smart devices features, especially for those who have a hard time taping the screen keys, or for those arty ones that love sketching and making notes. By the way, it was great seeing a exhibition painter doing real caricatures with the Galaxy Note 10 on the spot. Too bad I can’t tell you the result on my case, there was a lenghty queue.

Despite the magnificent organization and welcoming atmosphere and facilities at the WMC, the biggest drawback, and unfortunately, it is a basic one, was the Internet connection. I was anxious about trying Nokia’s Lumia after all the hype created around the giant’s attemp to tackle the smartphone market along with Windows Phone. Well, it couldn’t be thanks to the mediocre net. Instead of letting disappointment get to me, I took to opportunity to speak to one of the exhibitors. Wayne, like the rest of the Nokia gang, was wearing surpringsily not a suit, but a black and blue stripped shirts, jeans and sneakers. He informed about the interest of the company in the developing countries which is one of the reason behind their strategy on launching low cost, basic app-featured devices like their Asha series in which they continue using their own operative system.

I could go on sharing with you my views on the MWC, rating about the connection (that we expect to be better next year when the exhibition moves to a newer fair area in the city) and showing my amazement at the unexpectedly nice Blackberry’s tablet, but I’ll finish with only one more thing: being there has confirmed me that aplications and device are not a fantasy anymore

MAR G.P., discovering the Androidverse just like you.