Hello and welcome to Inside Scoop, I'm Sumi Das.
Joining me is senior editor for CNET, Jessica Dolkor.
Jessica, thanks for being with us.
Always.
Okay, so very green with envy here, literally wearing green because you have some exciting travel plans coming up.
You're going to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
You've been to the show a number of times.
Oh yeah.
You've noted the themes over the years.
Tell us, what are the big themes and trends for 2015 that we expect to see?
Well, we're still going to see smart phones.
They are important to the show.
But we're also going to see a lot of wearables.
Okay.
Just out the wazoo.
Everybody's gonna have one.
Not much of a surprise there.
Yeah.
Wearables are pretty much big at every major tech show now, right?
They are, and they're getting bigger.
Yeah.
The companies that haven't had a wearable, look to them to release.
Our first one might be a fitness band, might be a full-fledged watch.
If they've come out with them before, look for more of them.
Okay.
This is really gonna be big, in addition to smart phones.
And, and are the shifting in any way?
Are they getting smaller?
Is it, is, are there, have you noticed unique, sort of like movement?
Yes, it's interesting.
they're, we've, here at CNET have guessed that there will sort of be two tiers of smart watches.
The really techy smart watches that are all completely digital.
yeah.
And then ones that look more like an everyday fashion watch but that have very subtle smarts.
So not quite dumb watches, not quite smart watches but somewhere in between.
But maybe those appeal to a broader audience right.
So we will see a lot more of those.
Yeah and definitely more with an eye on fashion.
people who don't like big watches.
Fossil's getting into this game, right?
Or people who like a little bit of pizzaz.
Exactly, so there are a lot of opportunities here and I think we're going to see a lot of these at the show.
We're not going to see as many tablets, this is kind of shrinking and declining a little bit.
At CS we didn't see many, and I think we'll see some but it really won't be an emphasis.
Okay.
Let's talk about specific products that we think are going to be unveiled because we have a pretty good idea at this point, right?
Yeah, this is going to be a big show for Samsung just like last year.
We expect that Samsung is going to unveil the Galaxy S6 in two variants, the regular rectangular one and then also one with a curved edge.
Reminiscent or very closely related in fact to the Galaxy Note Edge that we saw paired with the Note 4.
<< Okay.
<< In September.
So it's going to be sort of like the regular one is the mass market device that probably everyone will get.
This is a flagship phone for them.
And then the curved one will be sort of niche, at least that's how it's going for the Edge.
So this is gonna be a five inch device.
So it's not gonna be a big fablet with stylus.
That's what the Node is for.
This one is gonna be more for the every day person.
Okay.
So that covers phones.
Samsung is also going to probably introduce a watch.
Yes.
Now Samsung has been working its way toward a round face watch.
This seems to be.
What people get really excited about.
So the rumor is that we're gonna see one of those as well.
And it makes sense.
This is a big stage.
Mm-hm.
It's a big show for Samsung.
And we think that they will deliver.
Okay.
So that takes care of Samsung.
There are going to be, of course, lots of other companies there.
Right.
Give us.
Give us an idea who.
HTC is having a press conference as well.
They used the stage to launch their own flagship phone we're gonna see the successor to the HTC One M8 we're calling this the M9 right now so it.
Who knows what we're gonna have but it will be a flagship to rival the Samsung one.
Haven't heard any rumours of any unique shape for that though.
[LAUGH]
Okay.
Alright.
Microsoft is going to be there.
It's Microsoft's first year as a phone maker.
Last year it was Nokia and then Microsoft bought that part of Nokia.
So it will be interesting to see what they do there.
And now, if they keep up with the theme of the last two Moog World Conferences,you will see sort of entry level and mid-level devices that are geared toward emerging markets.
I would love to see the first Microsoft Lumia flagship there but with the Windows 10 preview only coming out.
Around this time, and the, the full release coming out sometime in the summer.
We might not see that happen.
Well, have enough fun over in Barcelona for the whole lot of us who are staying behind.
And we will trust you to keep us updated on what happens at Mobile World Congress.
Absolutely, stay tuned.
Jessica Dolcourt, Senior Editor for CNET.
Thanks for being with us.
For Inside Scoop, I'm Sumi Das.
Thanks for watching.
