The Mobile World Congress 2014 was held in Barcelona, Spain from 24th to 27thFebruary 2014. The event showcased some of the most tech-savvy gadgets which had never been in the market before. A couple of them even shocked visitors simply because no one thought that devices could do so much.
This four day event is coming to an end but has left ample doors open for the future especially for gadget-lovers like me. Big companies like Samsung and Procter&Gamble are going to be introducing amazing devices in 2014 and in my opinion; the Mobile World Congress 2014 was one of the coolest tech-events held in a very long time. From high-resolution interchangeable lens to mobile phones made specifically for old-aged people, here are a couple of devices that caught my attention:
Samsung S5 at the Mobile World Congress
First thing’s first, lets talk about what “Samsung”, the world’s leading (self-claimed) company brought to the table. Actually three new devices caught my attention and to be honest all of them were worth the time. Samsung introduced a successor to the Samsung Galaxy Smartphone range; the S5.
This device gets personal with the user. It had a range of new applications and with new icons for encouraging ‘simplicity’. Physically, there were not a lot of changing around but Samsung held on to the simplicity factor for its new device and made the Samsung Galaxy S5 look more sleek and stylish.
The phone has a 5.1-inch OLED display – somewhat bigger than the S4′s screen. Samsung has mixed a few environment friendly characteristics, for example, the capability for the display to alter its levels in respect to surrounding lighting conditions and an additional low dimming mode for utilization in dark rooms.
The phone also features new personalized apps promoting categories like Speed, Outdoor, Curiosity, Fun, Social, Style, Privacy, Fitness and Life. The phone is reported to track your heartbeat levels as well, most probably through an application but it’s nonetheless a cool new feature. The phone is also going to support biometric features so that you can use your fingerprint to unlock the phone.
Samsung Gear Fit
Samsung seems to be very concerned about fitness this year so it introduced the Gear 2 smartwatch and the Gear fit fitness band, where both gadgets seemed to be incorporated with top-of-the-line display features and icons. Their shininess was all that matters, I guess. These gadgets are aimed for people to have a healthy life (obviously), but will also enable people to be more organized when it comes to meeting their daily deadlines and taking out time for their fitness workouts.
Proctor&Gamble
Proctor&Gamble introduced something very interesting; a Smart toothbrush. Is it just me or are all kinds of gadgets are going ‘smart’. This device is going to keep a check on your dental conditions with the help of a toothbrush and a connection to your smartphone. P&G’s Oral-B division introduced the device as the world’s first smart toothbrush which is going to allow people to track their dental health and post their results online for their dentists or friends to see.
Who would want to do that?
But nonetheless, the device does look super high-tech. The application for Oral-B will be available for download from every leading app-stores including iOS and Android based devices. The cleaning session will take 2 minutes, divided by 30 seconds for every corner of your mouth and if results are satisfactory, the screen is going to say: Congratulations, Your Teeth are Shining. Now every time we miss a dentist’s appointment, we can come home and use this device instead. Talk about all the money you can save too, although this device cannot entirely replace a dentist’s work now can it?
Silent Circle and Greeksphone
These two companies collaborated to devise a phone which will cater to a ‘special group of people’. The device is aimed at people who value their privacy and since with all the social media and connectivity going around (not to mention rumors about the CIA spying on messages and telephone calls), this device is pretty decent when it comes to privacy. One of Black-phone creators, Phil Zimmerman says that the phone is not NSA proof so don’t think that this phone is going to save you from the authorities, however when it comes to posting stuff online, the phone is going to be operating on PrivatOS, a system that works with privacy enabled applications. It will basically be super careful on what you post online and make sure everything posted is consented to.
Overall, the event was the perfect tech-hub where people were fascinated and overwhelmed at the same time. New devices are always a charm to look at however many tech-critics think that our pace of introducing advanced devices is too fast. The general public seems to be enjoying the pace though.
