Skip to main content

Bots roll, cameras shake, and anything turns into a tablet on day 2 of MWC 2016

Mobile World Congress (MWC) is buzzing right along, and day two at the massive show proved to be another fruitful one for awesome gadgets. We saw rolling robots you can control from your phone, a brilliant way to bring your home theater with you on the go, Sony’s futuristic new interactive projector concept, and Oppo’s plan to kill the smartphone camera shakes. Check out our video to get caught up on all the latest cool gear from the big show in Barcelona.

Oppo shakes up phone cameras

Oppo Smart Sensor
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Has Oppo rid the world of the smartphone camera shakes? That’s what it hopes to do with the Smart Sensor, a clever piece of tech that shifts image stabilization from the camera lens to the sensor itself. Why? It’s faster, more energy efficient, and is smartly tuned to be at its best inside a phone. Camera shake ruins pictures, particularly when they’re taken in lowlight, A demo we saw put Oppo’s prototype phone up against the LG G4, and the results were impressive. Oppo wants to have a phone with the Smart Sensor inside on sale before the end of the year. We can’t wait.

Read more

Avegant’s Glyph serves up a home theater for one

Avegant Glyph
Ryan Waniata/Digital Trends

We see a lot of wearables at MWC, but the Avegant Glyph is by far the coolest. It may look like a virtual-reality headset, but it’s more like a giant TV screen that’s beamed directly into your eyes, trading out a standard display for 2 million mirrors that send light through adjustable lenses. The headset makes movies and media come to life like nothing we’ve seen before. The Glyph first appeared on Kickstarter, but it’s coming to a store (or website) near you in the next few weeks.

Ready more

Sony takes its new projector into the future

sony xperia projector
Image used with permission by copyright holder

After a pretty lackluster CES, Sony dropped a bunch of new concept devices on the MWC crowd this year, including this futuristic new interactive Xperia Projector. The self contained device allows you to turn pretty much any surface into a virtual tablet, teasing countless possibilities if and when the projector hits store shelves. For now, it’s just really fun to play with.

Read more

LG channels BB-8 with its own Rolling Bot

LG Rolling Bot
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

We’re pretty big fans of the new LG G5, but one of its accessories really caught our eye. The LG Rolling Bot is a small spherical ball that looks a little bit like a headless BB-8 from Star Wars. And just like BB-8, this rolling robot is all about fun. It’s designed to let you roam around your home remotely when you’re at work or on vacation by using the G5 as a controller. But our favorite part might just be the laser pointer, which is perfect for driving your cats crazy while you’re away. We don’t know the price yet, but LG will sell the Rolling Bot later this year.

Read more

Ryan Waniata
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ryan Waniata is a multi-year veteran of the digital media industry, a lover of all things tech, audio, and TV, and a…
Need a cheap soundbar? You can’t beat this $99 LG deal at Walmart
The LG SPM2 2.1-channel soundbar on a white background.

Even a very cheap soundbar may do wonders to improve the audio of your home theater setup. If you're on a tight budget but you want better sound in your living room, you should check out the LG SPM2 2.1-channel soundbar. From an already affordable original price of $129, it's down even further to just $99 following a $30 discount from Walmart. Its price may be back to normal as soon as tomorrow though, so if you're interested you better make your purchase right now to be able to pocket the savings.

Why you should buy the LG SPM2 2.1-channel soundbar
Compared to the best soundbars that you can buy right now, the LG SPM2 2.1-channel soundbar is extremely basic, but it's going to get the job done if you simply want better audio when you're watching your favorite shows and movies on your TV. Our guide on how to buy a soundbar explains that as a 2.1-channel soundbar, the LG SPM2 offers two channels -- the standard left and right channels -- and it comes with a built-in subwoofer that enables extra bass. Other soundbars offer more channels and support surround sound, but they're much more expensive than the LG SPM2.

Read more
LG is having a massive OLED TV sale for Mother’s Day
The LG B3 Series OLED 4K TV in the living room.

If you want to give a new TV to  your mom this Mother's Day, why not make it an LG OLED TV? Here are three OLED TV deals that you should consider -- the 42-inch LG C3 evo OLED 4K TV for $900, down $400 from $1,300; the 55-inch LG B3 OLED 4K TV for $1,200, down $500 from $1,700; and the 48-inch LG Posé OLED 4K TV for $1,500, down $299 from $1,799. You can't go wrong with any of these offers, but you need to make the purchase right now if you want to get them in time for the holiday.

In OLED TVs, every pixel on its screen is a self-contained organic light-emitting diode, which eliminates the need for a backlight. This gives them one of their biggest advantages over other TVs -- the ability to create perfect blacks. In our OLED TV versus QLED TV comparison, other reasons why you'd want to go for an OLED TV include superior response time, wider viewing angles, less power consumption, and better eye comfort.

Read more
Best soundbars of 2024: a sound upgrade for your TV
The Sonos Ray soundbar in white.

No monolithic TV is complete without a pulse-pounding sound system to back up the visuals. Unfortunately, not every household can afford the hefty upfront cost of a full surround sound configuration, not to mention all the speaker wires you’ll need to figure out how to hide. Fortunately, most TV companies and several noteworthy audio brands also make soundbars.

Designed as a quick plug-and-play solution for TVs of all sizes, soundbars contain multiple speaker drivers. While most models are great at delivering an enhanced stereo experience, there are some soundbars that will actually simulate 5.1 and 7.1 systems. Heck, some can even provide Dolby Atmos virtualizations.

Read more