DT’s Andy Boxall has today’s roundup of the tech winners and other interesting bits from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
The envelope, please
We saw a lot of interesting tech at this year’s Mobile World Congress fiesta, but some things stood out more than others, of course. While Samsung’s Galaxy S9 nabbed the top award, it was by no means a shoo-in. We also saw innovation in the ability to blend a smartphone with a computer, the trickle down of a feature-filled OS to the feature phone level, and much more. Check out all the contenders and winners in our list of top tech from MWC2018.
Alexa, talk to the hand
For the moment, we chat with our home hub smartbots using our voice. But Elliptic Labs is working on a new way to control our in-home AIs: Hand gestures. They’ve already got a hand gesture reader that works with smartphones; extending that suite of controls to our smarthome hubs seems like a natural evolution of the tech. So instead of yelling at your digital assistant while the volume is cranked up on your favorite song, a quick hand gesture can lower the volume – or mute it all together. This isn’t just tech we want, it’s tech we need.
Now where did I leave my pager?
Pagers. Psion PDAs. Crackberries. Remember those? The folks at Planet Computers certainly do, and they’re ready to party like it’s 1999 with the Gemini PDA/phone, a clamshell device with a full-size (or at least fuller-sized) keyboard, 1080P screen, 4gb of RAM, big 4,200mah battery, LTE connectivity, the ability to rock more than one OS (Android and Linux), and a form factor that will definitely take up more than the usual amount of smartphone space in your jacket pocket. Ever wanted a really tiny laptop you can make calls on? Then the Gemini is your ticket to ride.
We’ve got more news on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, and be sure to tune in to this week’s DT podcasts: Trends with Benefits (general tech shenanigans) on Thursdays, and Between the Streams (movie and TV topics) every Friday.
