What mattered at Mobile World Congress day 1: Samsung's hero phone, Nokia goes Android, Blackphone flouts the NSA
The world's biggest mobile conference officially opened this morning and after a crush of news, we've ferreted out the very top headlines from MWC 2014 today.
BARCELONA, Spain -- On the first full official day of Mobile World Congress, some of the industry's biggest names brought out their largest guns.
While today marked CNET's second day of coverage, it feels like the fifth -- that's just how much news this venue has generated in 48 hours. We wrapped up yesterday's wave of news already, and it's a good thing because the flood continued today. Here's some of what we saw.
Samsung Galaxy S5 debuts, along with a trio of new Gear wearables
The Galaxy S4 -- and Samsung's flotilla of follow-up Galaxy phones -- helped the company dominate global handset sales in 2013. But nothing is more stale than last year's tech, so it's time for the latest new and shiny -- or, in this case, the kinda new and shiny. At first glance, you could be forgiven to think that you're confusing the Galaxy S5 with its predecessor, the Galaxy S4 -- or even the S3. But appearances can be deceiving: under the familiar shell, Samsung's latest and greatest superphone crams in a clown car of new features, including a heart-rate monitor, fingerprint sensor, water-resistant case, better camera, and -- critically -- longer battery life.
Beyond the GS5, Samsung also revealed a trio of new Gear wearables. Geeks will note that these smartwatches drop Android in lieu of the new Tizen operating system -- thus the dropping of the "Galaxy" moniker -- but the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo also boast improved designs, better battery life, and wider device compatibility than the much-maligned original Galaxy Gear, which debuted just last fall.
The Gear Fit got the crowd chattering though. This health-tracker with a sleek curved screen looks beautiful and curves to your arm, and with its heart-rate sensor and ability to track your phone when you misplace it, may well be the dark horse favorite of Samsung's three new wearables. No price yet, however, for any of the new Samsung devices.
Nokia reshapes Android for its own purposes
Geeksphone Blackphone: An NSA-proof communicator?
Sony and HTC play it cool
HTC's Desire 816 has a 5.5-inch HD screen and a cheery coloured chassis (pictures)
See all photosHTC surprised everyone with some mid-range phones of its own (remember, the company is turning to lower costs to boost sales), and the most newsworthy is the HTC Desire 816. The Desire 816 looks an awful lot like the crowd-pleasing HTC One, but with a plastic case that comes in a variety of shiny, bright colors. The 13-megapixel resolution on the camera sounds totally decent, and the whole shebang should launch worldwide sometime in the second quarter. (Note to HTC fanboys: if you're underwhelmed, don't worry -- the company has already touted a March 25 event in New York City that's widely expected to be the launchpad for its 2014 flagship phone.)
Some random but endearing announcements...
Zuckerberg's victory lap
Facebook shocked the tech (and big business) world last week with its surprise $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp. And today, the man who drove the deal -- Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg -- was on stage at Mobile World Congress being interviewed by "The Facebook Effect" author David Kirkpatrick. While Zuckerberg touched on the WhatsApp buy -- and his impressions on how NSA spying revelations have impacted Facebook internationally -- the primary focus was on Internet.org, the coalition of mobile technology companies (spearheaded by Facebook) that are working to bring online access to the 5 billion or so people without it.
What's on tap for Tuesday and beyond
All that was just day 1 of the show here in Barcelona -- and things are just getting started. While the bulk of the press conferences and product unveilings are behind us, we've still got three more days of product demos, interviews, keynotes, and analysis on deck. Stay tuned to CNET for the latest.
CNET's full coverage of Mobile World Congress