The most important event in telephony and mobile technology, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) , has been held in Barcelona since 2006. At MWC the main world brands meet and present their novelties, which not only focus on devices of mobile telephony, but they propose a great deployment of technological innovation in different areas, from the presentation of high-tech t-shirts that correct bad postural habits, to the realization, at a distance and in real time, of a surgical intervention.
5G connectivity
5G connectivity has been the main protagonist. This fifth generation of mobile telephony is still in the testing period, but the enormous potential of this new evolution was seen at MWC. Sports broadcasts may be one of the great beneficiaries of this new technology: “Reality will be more noticeable,” said the President of Telefónica, Emilio Gayo, “A soccer game will look even better than on the field.”
Another example of the application of this technology was in the field of health. The Emergency Medical System (SEM) together with the Generalitat in its initiative plan at the 5G Consortium of Barcelona, presented a simulation of an accident in which it was verified that, from the ambulance itself, with a system of sensors and cameras Connected to the patient, a doctor from the hospital can support the service, in real time, and give the necessary instructions to the ambulance health team . This will ensure that the action of the displaced health facilities is faster, more agile and effective.
In short, the innovations that 5G connectivity brings compared to previous generations are:
1. Bandwidth and network speed one hundred times higher than the current one.
2. Network response time at a very high speed (below one millisecond).
3. Minimum energy consumption.
The new mobiles
Image obtained from the official website of the Mobile World Congress
As it could not be otherwise, there was still talk of mobiles at the MWC, for example, of the new folding mobiles ( Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X ). Being innovative, launching something new to the market is becoming increasingly difficult and the different quality of a mobile phone with a multitasking pull- down screen is attractive. However, the price is still a brake since it is high (approximately 1,700 euros for the Galaxi Fold and 2,299 euros for the Mate X ). The thickness and the current lack of connectivity networks in the case of the Huawei Mate X, which is equipped with 5G, also represent considerations to take into account when purchasing. We will be able to see it in the middle of this year, the scheduled time for its launch on the market.
For its part, the South Korean LG presents a middle ground, the LG V50 ThingQ , still priceless, but presumably cheaper than the previous ones. It has been said that it looks like a mobile that turns into a tablet, but it really is a terminal to which a second complementary screen is added. It is less bulky (8.3 millimeters thick and weighs 183 grams without the display attached).
With all this information, we should reflect on whether it is too early to access these phones with 5G technology . In Spain it will begin to expand commercially in 2020 and, although it is gradually being implemented, it is not expected to be fully established until 2025.
In the field of practical solutions, an interesting novelty also presented in this edition has been the Energizer Power Max P18K , informally called “shoemaker” because it is three centimeters thick. In exchange for living with its exaggerated dimensions, they guarantee that the battery can last without recharging for 50 days .
The concern that our mobile phone runs out of battery still does not have a definitive solution and for this reason we are still investigating long-lasting batteries . One option would be to use graphene , which is a graphite-like substance, almost transparent, which will apparently be a key element, although Fabrizio Tubertini, Senior Innovation Strategist at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), sees the use of batteries very far of graphene in the commercial field.
We closed the Mobile Word Congress 2019 with good feelings, it was an interesting edition of the event, loaded with new technological expectations to satisfy an avid market that grows, in quantity and quality, unstoppably.
According to data from the annual Mobile Economy report of the GSMA, the association that organizes the MWC, the number of mobile users has already exceeded the number of world population (7.6 billion people). At the end of 2017, the number of users reached 5,000 million, but the number of SIM cards used per individual reached 7,800 million (103% of the planet’s inhabitants).
