Tag Archives: MWC

D-LINK AQUILA PRO AI is a beautiful Wi-Fi 6 router that looks like an art object

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Our Internet needs are becoming more complicated even at home. Multiple devices ranging from smartphones to smart appliances compete for bandwidth, while different services like gaming and streaming demand more data than, say, a smart thermostat. The simplistic routers of yesteryears are no longer sufficient to face the challenges of modern lifestyles, but as these boxes become more sophisticated, their presence also becomes more obnoxious as well. The latest and greatest routers seem to want to be seen as powerful monstrosities rather than helpful tools that make our lives easier. Completely bucking the trend, D-LINK launched its AQUILA PRO AI smart mesh routers that finally look more at home in your home, masquerading as a piece of sculptural art that hides the powerful technology inside its graceful curves.

Designer: D-LINK

Granted, those antennas on your router aren’t just for show, but that doesn’t always mean they need to be visible, especially with today’s technologies. It might simply be a matter of pride that some of these literally black boxes show off the number of spikes they have as if those indicate how much power they actually possess. The result is a design that isn’t just space-inefficient but also unaesthetic to most people.

In contrast, you won’t find sharp points or even sharp edges on the D-LINK AQUILA PRO AI (models M30 and M60). What you will find instead is an elegant object that belies its superior technology, looking more like a piece of decoration rather than a router. Its name and unique shape, whose ends curl up and inward, are inspired by the Aquila constellation and the eagle, a majestic bird that exudes both power and grace. That association goes even beyond the general shape of the device, with feather-like patterns on the router’s ventilation.

The D-LINK AQUILA PRO AI isn’t just all looks, of course, as it also boasts the latest connectivity technologies, especially Wi-Fi 6. And since it’s a mesh router, you can combine multiple units and spread them around your house to get rid of dead zones and ensure fast, stable, and uninterrupted connections. It also comes with the latest privacy and security protections, plus conveniences offered by smart home platforms and mobile app control.

The D-LINK AQUILA PRO AI’s ground-breaking design doesn’t stop there either. It also tries to give back to the planet we live in by making use of PCRs or Post-Consumer Recycled materials for its housing, reducing its negative impact on the environment. This smart mesh router is stunning and beautiful proof that power doesn’t have to look harsh and cold. After all, there is both power and elegance in the form of an eagle taking flight.

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OPPO Air Glass 3 brings AI to your vision to improve your interactions

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Smart glasses, in contrast to AR headsets and visors, aim for a design that ideally should be indistinguishable from regular glasses. With today’s technologies and knowledge, however, that’s not easily possible, especially when you need to add powerful computing hardware to sophisticated optics. That’s especially the case when you need to offer some kind of smart assistant functionality, especially voice and speech recognition. In the past, you had to settle for rough translations and sometimes misinterpretations; comical but frustrating nonetheless. That definitely sounds like a job for AI, and that’s exactly what OPPO is bringing to the table, or rather to your eyes, with the newest iteration of its lightweight and discreet “assisted Reality” glasses that take a focused approach to wearables.

Designer: OPPO

AI is still the hot thing in tech today, in spite of and despite the bad publicity that misuse of the tool brings. Today’s AIs happen to be great at processing human language, both written and spoken, and they can now run the device itself with very little power, making them perfect for very small devices, including smart glasses. In its third iteration, the OPPO Air Glass 3 prototype harnesses the power of AI, specifically its own self-trained language model AndesGPT, to deliver a more natural way to talk to your glasses and get your job done.

AI might be the technical highlight of the new OPPO Air Glass 3, but its winning feature is going to be its design. OPPO is laying claim to the title of the world’s lightest binocular full-color glasses, and at 50g only, the claim does have merit. It looks just like regular spectacles with very thick frames, but nothing like those complicated and heavy mixed reality glasses. Despite that lightweight design, the Air Glass 3 still boasts a bright 1,000 nits display delivered by a tiny Spark micro projector, ensuring you can clearly see the virtual information even in bright environments. And with an ultra-thin waveguide, you don’t get the rainbow-like patterns that are often seen on optical see-through displays like these.

The OPPO Air Glass 3 manages to offer this more comfortable design thanks to its more focused functions. Rather than trying to cast its net wide with augmented reality, OPPO is instead focusing on “assisted reality” that emphasizes productivity over entertainment. You’ll still be able to see images if you want and control music playback, but the information that’s displayed in front of your eyes is limited to things like navigation, timers, translations, or even a teleprompter. In other words, it’s a sleek way to have all the important information you need right in front of you instead of having to fish out your phone from your pocket and get distracted in the process.

Of course, that means it will need to connect to an external device, particularly your OPPO smartphone. The Air Glass mobile app provides that connection you need with OPPO’s AndesGPT to ensure you’re getting the best performance possible without weighing your head down. OPPO is also laying the groundwork for more AI-enhanced features and experiences by investing heavily in its own AI center in the hopes of empowering all its products, especially its smartphones, with these features.

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Whopping 28,000mAh Energizer phone unveiled at MWC 2024 with a week-long battery life

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Battery Saver Mode? What’s that??

Meet the Energizer Hard Case P28K smartphone from Avenir Telecom. I hesitate to call it a smartphone because it’s pretty much a brick with a screen… but this smart brick does have a pretty incredible spec to boast about. This device is a behemoth in the battery department, boasting a staggering 28,000mAh capacity that promises to last a regular user an entire week on a single charge. It’s a follow-up to their previous 18,000mAh model from 2019, marking a significant leap in battery size and, implicitly, in user independence from power outlets.

For context, a 28,000mAh battery is roughly 9x more than your average smartphone, which has an average of around 3000mAh. That translates to much more battery capacity, stretching to a week (or maybe more) with regular use… but it also leads to, well, that massive brick-ish format. The Energizer Hard Case P28K measures a staggering 27.8mm thick (that’s nearly three smartphones thick) and weighs a whopping 570 grams (over 20 ounces). I pity the fool who texts with this in bed and accidentally drops it on their face. That being said, the phone is at least rated IP69 for dust and water resistance…

The 18,000mAh Energizer Phone from 2019 (above), versus the P28K smartphone (below)

Fast charging at 33W is also a welcome feature, considering you don’t want to spend 5-6 hours topping off the entire battery. However, details regarding the full charge time remain unspecified, raising questions about the practicality of recharging such a large battery. The phone’s specifications are modest, with no 5G support and a processor that won’t turn heads. Yet, with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, a trio of rear cameras, Android 14, and a sizable 6.78-inch 1080p LCD display, it covers the basics well enough for users whose primary concern isn’t cutting-edge tech but battery life.

Scheduled for release in October at a price of €249.99 ($271.37 USD), the P28K positions itself as a unique offering in the smartphone market. However, it’s notable that it won’t be available in the US, a decision that may reflect market research or regulatory challenges, but it certainly raises curiosity about the global distribution strategy and target audience for such a niche product.

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TECNO combines AR Glasses and a Windows handheld PC into a new gaming experience

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Thanks to a certain fruity company, AR glasses and headsets are back in the news. We’re still at an exciting exploration stage where we are trying to discover what works and what doesn’t as far as user experiences go, at least based on the limitations of current technology. AR glasses and their headset cousins often come in two basic designs. One packs all the necessary computing hardware to drive AR experiences, which is great for independence but not so much for comfort. On the opposite side of the spectrum lies headsets that need to connect to a desktop or laptop, removing performance limits but tying users down to a heavy or immovable computer. Leveraging the recent trend in gaming PCs, the TECNO Pocket Go is an all-in-one solution that combines the best of worlds by pairing lightweight AR glasses with a powerful gaming computer that you can hold in your hands.

Designer: TECNO

As much as might dream of hi-tech Ray-Bans like Tony Stark’s, we still can’t fit that much hardware inside regular spectacles given our current level of technology. To make augmented or mixed reality glasses lightweight and relatively comfortable to wear for long periods of time, they need to have only the bare minimum to display high-quality images for both eyes. At the same time, however, it will need an external computer that does all the heavy work of processing what needs to be displayed, but it also has to be portable enough not to get in the way of your mobility.

That’s the perfect combination that the TECNO Pocket Go tries to offer, a system that’s made up of the TECNO AR Pocket Vision glasses and the TECNO AR Pocket Windows Handheld computer that comes in the form of a large game controller. The AR Pocket Vision boasts a 0.71-inch Micro-OLED display that can emulate a gigantic 215-inch screen, at least if you want something of that size. It has a 6-axis gyroscope that can accurately detect your head movements and translate that into data that the AR software can use. Despite the name, the AR Pocket Vision also pays close attention to sound, delivering an immersive audio experience thanks to N’BASS nano-structured acoustic materials and TECNO’s own unique vibration enhancement algorithms that turn in-game audio into vibrations.

The AR Pocket Windows Handheld delivers an even more portable experience that is 50% smaller and 30% lighter than your average handheld gaming PC today. Of course, it accomplishes that by taking the screen out of the equation since it will be connected to the AR Pocket Vision glasses anyway. That means the design can focus on performance and cooling while also improving the overall ergonomics of the handheld computer. It even has a replaceable battery so users can enjoy uninterrupted gaming and entertainment on the go.

Having an AR headset and a handheld computer working together is a very potent combination, and having both under a single brand and a single system significantly simplifies the overall user experience. And while the TECNO Pocket Go is primarily aimed at immersive gaming, such a power and portable system can also open the doors to other experiences, provided you’re fine with using a gamepad to control it all. TECNO hasn’t given word on when this pair will launch, but it will definitely spark the interest of gamers who want to take their handheld gaming experience to the next level.

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Future Smartphones could have backplates made from 3D displays, fiberglass, or even fragrant leather

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While most smartphone companies focus only on advancing the inner components of their devices, TECNO’s working on something even exciting – outer materials that enhance and elevate the smartphone’s design to new levels. The company gave us a sneak peek of what they’ve been working on, and let’s just say it goes above and beyond simple glass or metal assemblies. TECNO’s team have been researching color-changing materials, 3D stereoscopic displays (on the back of your phone), organic fabric leather, fiberglass, and even fragrant materials that can give your smartphone a unique aroma. Obviously, none of these materials are ready to deploy at the mass scale that TECNO produces its phones at… but it’s exciting to think of a future where phones won’t look the same, or even smell the same!

1. Chameleon Coloring Technology

Perhaps the holy grail of smartphone design (aside from fully transparent phones) has been the idea of a phone that can change color… and TECNO seems to have developed a technology capable of this. Dubbed Chameleon Coloring Technology, the material stands out as the first in the industry to harness ultra-fine prisms for full-spectrum, polarization-free color shifting. This state-of-the-art technology operates through angular rotation induced by an electric field, enabling it to capture every color hue vividly. It boasts an ultra-fast reaction time that sets new industry benchmarks, achieving responsiveness in a mere 0.03 seconds. Alongside its rapid performance, it promises an extended lifespan and operates on minimal power, with consumption measured at the milliampere level. The technology also features versatile color adaptation capabilities, allowing for the independent customization of essential color functionalities and enabling selectable color absorption to suit a variety of needs.

2. 3D Stereo Optical Grating

If you thought changing colors was exciting, what if the back of your phone had its own dedicated 3D display that showcased depth without requiring glasses?? The 3D Stereo Optical Grating is a cutting-edge technology that uses advanced materials and a special pattern to produce a 3D effect without the need for glasses. This technology can create a sense of depth and make images look like they’re floating right in front of you. It can also change the way colors and patterns appear. This method works by bending light in a specific way, which can be applied across an entire surface or just parts of it. It’s perfect for large-scale printing processes where vivid colors and detailed patterns are needed quickly and accurately. Plus, it’s capable of adding movement to images, making it a smart choice for creating lots of high-quality products in a factory setting.

3. Layered Fiberglass

Layered fiberglass stands out from standard glass because it’s built to be much stronger and more flexible, even when it’s just as thin. This means it can take more bending and pressure without breaking. Plus, it’s surprisingly lightweight, making it a better option for things that need both durability and ease of handling. To give it a sleek, shiny finish that mimics the look of metal, a special coating technique is used. This isn’t like regular spray paint; it’s a high-tech process that leaves the fiberglass feeling smooth to the touch, almost luxurious. The texture is top-notch, and it has the added bonus of resisting smudges and fingerprints, so it stays looking clean and polished for longer. This makes layered fiberglass not just tough and good-looking, but also practical for everyday use where touch and cleanliness matter.

4. Colored Textured Glass

Colored textured glass is crafted by blending molten glass in various colors, like clear, shades of blue, and white. This mixture is stirred evenly in a special container using a precise method, resulting in beautifully textured glass. The color infuses throughout the glass, ensuring it remains vibrant and enduring over time. This glass can be tailored to personal preferences, offering a unique, almost magical hue that resembles the depths of precious stones. Additionally, it has the ability to mimic the appearance of fine ceramics, all while being thinner than actual ceramics.

5. Fragrant Leather

This might be the most bizarrely interesting piece of innovation yet. TECNO’s Fragrant Leather is an innovative material that infuses scent into vegan leather through a special process. Tiny capsules filled with scented oils are mixed into the PU resin of the leather, with the amount carefully adjusted to get the perfect strength of fragrance. This sensory-rich material combines durability with a pleasing aroma and practical use. It’s designed to retain its scent for a long time, and with normal use, away from harsh conditions like direct sunlight or extreme heat, the lovely smell can last for more than a year, and TECNO’s been formulating popular scents like cologne, ocean, and even rose.

6. Organosilicone Fabric Leather

While most synthetic leathers come with a polyurethane coating, TECNO’s working on a synthetic leather that uses an ‘organosilicone’ coating instead. This fabric is specially coated with a silicone polymer, which makes it particularly user-friendly because it’s simple to clean and doesn’t hold onto odors. Additionally, it’s an eco-friendly option with very low volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, meaning it’s better for indoor air quality. The durability of organosilicone fabric leather stands up to various weather conditions, and it’s also recyclable, supporting a more sustainable lifecycle. What’s more, this material represents a leap forward in fabric technology by utilizing high-grade silicone coatings, reducing reliance on carbon-based materials and thus decreasing carbon emissions.

7. Renewable Fiber

We’ve seen fiberglass used everywhere, but have you seen it on the back of your phone?! TECNO’s developed a special brand of fiberglass that’s made from recycled plastics. The fibers themselves come from shredded plastic bottles that would otherwise end up as landfill or ocean waste. The result is a plastic that’s flexible, durable, gorgeous-looking, unique because the fibers are laid out differently on each phone, and innately fingerprint resistant given the fiberglass’ texture. There’s also the added bonus of it being sustainable because not only is it made from recycled plastic, but it can further be recycled too!

8. Color Blending Leather

Leather is currently a favored material for crafting deluxe smartphone back covers in the tech industry. However, the variety of leather colors on the market is quite restricted, typically offering only single or dual-tone options. TECNO has been working on a Color Blending Leather that incorporates color-changing patterns into leather, allowing it to shift hues through the day. This process allows for the merging of multiple hues, creating a seamless and vibrant artwork directly on the leather itself. The result is a multi-layered color effect with a distinct and refined texture that’s also practical, resisting dirt and wear. This innovative color blending technique is set to infuse a dash of fashion-forward flair and artistic expression into the realm of technology accessories.

9. Borderless Foldable Main Screen

While companies like Oppo, Huawei, and Samsung have truly been pushing the boundaries of folding phone technology, there’s always been one obstacle nobody could overcome – the bezel. TECNO, however, is proposing modifying the structure of the Ultra Thin Glass (UTG) to remove the bezels entirely. While we don’t have any physical or visual evidence of this, it seems like TECNO could potentially launch a folding concept soon with zero bezels.

10. Satellite Communication Technology

Finally, TECNO is also looking at ways to bring satellite communication to its own phones, just like Apple did with the iPhone 14 series. “When located in an environment with poor or no signal, the Satellite Communication Technology enables users to maintain contact with the outside world, ensuring safety when camping, hiking, and mountaineering,” says the company.

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Lenovo ThinkBook Transparent Display Laptop is a stunning preview of the future

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Laptops are getting more powerful each year, but aside from the hardware upgrades, the basic design of these portable computers hasn’t changed significantly in the past decade. Yes, they are getting thinner and lighter while still delivering much-needed performance, but the clamshell design has still reigned supreme despite the conception of detachables and convertibles. That said, we might be on the cusp of a major design shift in this product segment while still holding tightly to that standard design. From dual-display and foldable laptops, new technologies are enabling new laptop designs that tickle the imagination and challenge the status quo. At MWC 2024, Lenovo is pushing the boundaries even further with a laptop that both delights the eyes and boggles the mind thanks to its transparent display.

Designer: Lenovo

Transparent displays are the stuff of science fiction, originally just eye candy designed to amaze viewers and inspire dreams of the future. Over time, it has also become the goal of many display manufacturers, and we’re finally starting to see the technology making its way into signages and even TVs at home. While new products are showing off what’s possible, the Lenovo ThinkPad Transparent Display Laptop proof of concept is really testing the limits of what you can do with such a screen, especially when you need to actually create content rather than just watch videos.

This concept product is the world’s first laptop with a 17.3-inch Micro LED transparent display, or practically the world’s first laptop with a transparent display of any size. And it’s truly a sight to behold, almost no different from those hi-tech transparent screens that have become a staple of almost any sci-fi show or film. It’s mind-blowing how you can clearly application windows and their contents while still getting a glimpse of what’s behind the screen. Even more magical is seeing only certain parts of the screen become “opaque” when it’s displaying an object, leaving the rest of the screen completely transparent.

Lenovo isn’t stopping there, though, and it has unsurprisingly found a way to inject some AI into that feature. It uses AI-Generated Content to display dynamic images or overlay information depending on the physical objects behind the transparent screen. In a sense, the ThinkBook Transparent Display Laptop integrates the physical and digital worlds not just visually but also through actual interaction between these two spaces. All thanks to artificial intelligence, of course.

That isn’t the only novelty that Lenovo is bringing to this proof-of-concept laptop. To really drive home that futuristic image, this ThinkBook does away with the conventional physical keyboard and instead uses a capacitive glass surface for typing. This surface also transforms into a drawing pad with an active stylus. This technology isn’t actually new to Lenovo, which launched an innovative yet also short-lived Yoga Book in 2016. In theory, this kind of display-based keyboard opens the door to customization and flexibility, but the ergonomics of such a device is just too poor to be worth the fancy features. Still, it’s hard to deny that this dazzling Lenovo ThinkBook Transparent Display Laptop shows the possible future we will be facing, and the fact that this proof-of-concept design is already in such a usable state suggests we’re not that far from making those fantasy devices a reality.

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The Honor Magic6 Pro focuses on AI – Here are things we like

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HONOR launched two new AI-focused products, the HONOR Magic6 Pro smartphone and the HONOR MagicBook Pro 16 AI PC, at MWC 2024 in Barcelona. The global technology brand’s latest products demonstrate a significant advancement in its all-scenario AI strategy. The HONOR Magic6 Pro is the latest addition to the HONOR Magic Series and comes with impressive improvements in photography, display, and performance, all of which are enhanced by AI. The smartphone runs on MagicOS 8.0, an Android-based operating system, and now includes platform-level AI capabilities. The HONOR Magic6 Pro also debuts the industry’s first intent-based user interface.

Designer: HONOR

To enhance user experience, the Magic6 Pro includes features such as Magic Capsule and Magic Portal. These are designed to provide streamlined access to information and simplify complex tasks. For example, Magic Portal can recognize addresses in text messages and guide users to navigation apps. This improves the efficiency of daily interactions with the device.

There are also collaborations with global partners, including Qualcomm, to integrate the LLaMA 2 large language model. This allows the Magic6 Pro to perform tasks such as Q&A, text creation, and reading comprehension in an offline environment.

Stepping into the spotlight, the HONOR Magic6 Pro’s camera system is nothing short of a photographic powerhouse. It’s spearheaded by a jaw-dropping 180MP Telephoto Camera that brings distant scenes closer with a 2.5x optical zoom, ensuring that what you capture is as sharp as if you were standing right there. And when you need to reach out, the camera can push up to a 100x digital zoom, bringing the farthest of details into clear view.

But that’s not all. The Magic6 Pro also packs a 50MP Ultra-Wide Camera, perfect for those expansive landscape shots or to get the whole gang into one epic selfie. And let’s not overlook the main 50MP camera, a true chameleon with its variable aperture. Whether you’re capturing the thrill of a nighttime street race or the vibrant colors of a butterfly in broad daylight, this camera adjusts to let in the right amount of light, ensuring your photos are always lit to perfection.

 

All of this is wrapped up with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) to keep your shots steady and Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) to smooth out the action. So, whether you’re snapping photos at a football game or chasing the perfect sunset, the HONOR Magic6 Pro is designed to deliver stunning clarity, detail, and color in every shot.

Durability and viewing comfort are also emphasized in the HONOR Magic6 Pro, featuring the industry’s most drop-resistant screen glass and a 6.8-inch LTPO Eye Comfort Display with various dimming features to reduce eye strain.

The HONOR Magic6 Pro delivers exceptional performance with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform, enhancing CPU and GPU by 30% and 25%, respectively. This upgrade results in a staggering 98% improvement in AI feature performance over prior models.

As for battery innovation, the Magic6 Pro introduces the second-generation Silicon-carbon Battery, featuring a robust 5600 mAh capacity that excels in low-temperature performance. This allows for extended use in harsh conditions, with the ability to watch videos for over an hour at -20°C on just 10% battery.

Charging is ultra-fast, with 80W wired and 66W wireless options, fully charging the device in just 40 minutes. This rapid charge is a game-changer for those who are always on the go.

The device’s leading-edge battery capabilities are part of why it earned the top spot in DXOMARK’s global display rankings and received five DXOMARK labels for its superior camera, audio, display, battery, and selfie features.

In addition to the smartphone, HONOR has launched the MagicBook Pro 16, a laptop that uses AI to enable cross-OS compatibility. They also revealed the HONOR Pad 9, which boasts a large display and an eight-speaker audio system.

The HONOR Magic6 Pro will be available in Black and Epi Green, with pricing incentives for early subscribers and bundle offers. The company’s strategy aims to deliver human-centric innovations and an interconnected AI experience across devices, focusing on addressing consumer needs and enhancing the efficiency of daily interactions.

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Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass Discover Edition is most capable eyewear for the future of truly immersive visual experience

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Mobile World Congress (MWC) is a platform for the biggest of brands to unveil their cutting-edge tech innovation that’ll set the way forward for the years to come. Taking the stage to reveal an AR headset, Xiaomi has sent ripples in the industry, dotted with bulky headsets for wireless AR consumption. The Chinese OEM launched a sleek, lightweight pair of AR glasses that you wouldn’t mind wearing in public.

Designed to herald an “ear of wireless AR,” this compact headset called Wireless AR Glass Discover Edition is designed to connect to user’s smartphone. Though it is a prototype for now, Yanko Design managed a hands-on with wireless eyewear at MWC, and we believe Xiaomi has done a great job with the design and feel: the glasses seem almost ready for the market, but we suggest you don’t start setting assigned your fortune for this one just yet.

Designer: Xiaomi

Xiaomi Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition weighs only 126g or 4.4 ounces on the nose, which is insignificant compared to the chunkier AR/VR headsets we have seen in our day. This lightweight yet sturdy design is made possible with the use of a magnesium-lithium alloy and carbon fiber construction.

You can trim the design, use lightweight materials in construction, but the most weight on such a wearable device is its battery. Xiaomi has carefully installed an in-house developed silicon-oxygen anode battery that reduces the physical load, translating into a minimum weight increase on the device.

The Xiaomi AR Glass Discovery Edition is powered by a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 processor under the hood, and packs a pair of micro OLED displays boasting retina-revel resolution and brightness of up to 1200nit. Xiaomi says its AR glasses feature 58 pixels per degree (PPD) which is more than twice the PPD on the Meta’s Quest Pro that runs on the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1.

Courtesy of the retina-level display, these AR glasses deliver a truly immersive visual experience. The glasses allow a user to blend the virtual and real worlds, seamlessly accessing either with a single click. For this, the front lenses are electrochromic that adjust to light conditions, depending on the user’s preference. They can blackout when the user wants to focus on the virtual world.

Xiaomi has released a video presentation of the AR Glass Discovery Edition showcasing several features that the glasses have to offer. This includes specially developed hand gestures in addition to smartphone-based touch controls. The hand-tracking feature allows user to open apps, drag and drop virtual objects in the physical world, swipe through pages with a finger, and do a lot more.

However, exciting Xiaomi’s AR glasses concept may seem; there’s no word on price or availability as of yet so we will only have to live by the video presentation and the images below.

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Tecno Phantom V Fold could make heads turn with its folding capabilities

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Folding smartphones are still a limited premium outside of China. Samsung probably is the only big seller. To give some competition to the mighty Galaxy Z Fold series, which is in its fourth edition already; Tecno has unveiled the Phantom V Fold at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 in Barcelona.

Foldable smartphones from Huawei, Motorola, OPPO et al have not really outpaced Samsung in the department. The South Korean electronics giant has thrived on its first mover advantage and has creased out anomalies that its initial foldable phones showed, to launch a better variant year after year.

Designer: Tecno

How much of a buzz will Tecno’s premium flagship foldable make in the 70-odd global markets the brand caters to; or more importantly, how many of these overseas markets will the Chinese OEM release the foldable variant in, is what remains to be seen. But for now, what we know is that the Phantom V Fold is here with an innovative design feature, which puts usability in the primary category.

By virtue of its marketing material, Phantom V Fold is the first left-right foldable smartphone. It is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor; a flagship 4nm SoC promising smooth performance and low power consumption on a foldable smartphone.

Besides the Phantom V Fold, Tecno has debuted the Spark Pro 10 selfie phone and a refined Megabook S1 2023 laptop at the MWC. The Shenzhen-based smartphone maker has also released True 1 and Ultimate 1 TWS earbuds, a Wi-Fi router, a wireless security camera, and a few other smart home devices.

Tailored for the Gen Z, Spark Pro 10 arrives with advanced selfie capability for which the phone features a 32MP ultra-clear glowing front camera with dual flash. On the back, the phone has a 50MP solitary camera and is powered by a gaming-level MediaTek Helio G88 processor. Alongside this smartphone with a glow-up for selfies, Tecno has upgraded the Megabook S1 with a 13th-gen Intel Core processor. The 1.35kg laptop was launched initially in December 2022.

Coming back to the Phantom V Fold, the smartphone touts an interesting optics setup. The premium foldable smartphone rocks a penta-lens system: a trio on the back, and two on the front screen. The entire system, designed to make the photography experience exciting, is spearheaded by a 50MP main lens with a super light-sensitive custom sensor. We do not have information about the price and availability of the Tecno Phantom V Fold at the time of writing, but it wouldn’t be long now before we have official information rolling in.

The post Tecno Phantom V Fold could make heads turn with its folding capabilities first appeared on Yanko Design.

Best of MWC 2023: Mobile Gets Design-Conscious

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Mobile devices have long been a part of our modern lives, from the smartphones that are always in our hands to the smartwatches on our wrists to even the laptops that have become our reliable mobile work partners. Despite almost two decades since the iPhone paved the way for modern smartphones, these devices have mostly been seen as geeky products that are more obsessed with specs and features rather than the humans using them. Trends, however, have started to change, and the players in this industry have started paying closer attention to the value of design, almost to the point of making it the next buzzword. MWC 2023 is unsurprisingly filled with the latest mobile innovations and thought experiments, but it is also showcasing the growing design awareness among brands. This year, we’ve taken a tour of what’s up for show in Barcelona to bring you Yanko Design’s top picks for the Best Product Designs at MWC 2023.

ABLE Human Motion

We easily take our physical capabilities for granted until we suddenly see ourselves deprived of some of them. Some people, however, are not so lucky and might be born with some disability or encounter a tragic accident sometime in their lives. With today’s technologies, they shouldn’t have to be forever confined to a wheelchair or worse, and thankfully there are now many companies utilizing modern tools and techniques to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Designer: ABLE Human Motion

ABLE Human Motion, for example, is dedicated to helping people with walking disabilities enjoy life to the fullest. We’ve seen exoskeletons designed to give well-bodied people more strength to lift or move stuff, but ABLE Human Motion’s exoskeletons are instead made to give people back what they might have lost. Best of all, you won’t feel embarrassed wearing something sleek and well-designed, especially if it makes you look like some armored superhero in the process.

Honor Magic Vs

It might still baffle people as much as awe them, but foldables are slowly but surely becoming more common in the market. Samsung still remains the most familiar brand in that niche market but was never the only one. Due to some rather colorful circumstances, however, Huawei’s foldable phones barely made it outside of China. Fortunately, its former subsidiary is helping bring its legacy to the global market, and it’s posing a challenge to Samsung’s dominance.

Designer: Honor

The Honor Magic Vs, an updated version of the brand’s first foldable, carries a mix of specs and features that definitely stir things up a bit. Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold, there is no gap when the phone is folded shut, a trait that is becoming more common among non-Samsung foldables. Its external display is interestingly curved at one edge only, making it visually distinct from other horizontal foldables. It isn’t perfect, of course, but another player in the market creates variety and good competition that will only help foldables grow.

HTC Vive XR Elite

Meta seems to be playing with fire when it comes to its metaverse vision and even its Quest line of VR hardware. It might have the luxury of playing around, but HTC is all-in on the extended reality or XR industry, whatever buzzword you might call it. On the heels of the Meta Quest Pro, HTC unveiled its own standalone Vive XR Elite headset, offering a design that seems to take us closer to that ideal minimalist eyewear painted by science fiction and Hollywood.

Designer: HTC Vive

As the product’s name suggests, the HTC Vive XR Elite takes the headset beyond just virtual reality, sprinkling a bit of augmented reality into the mix. Its more impressive feat, however, is being able to cram even better hardware inside a more compact design that makes you feel like you’re wearing large glasses rather than ski goggles. It’s still far ways off from sleek Tony Stark shades, but it represents a significant step forward in a market that has seemingly stagnated of late.

Huawei Watch Buds

The popularity of wireless earbuds only confirmed what we had known all along, that most humans have become terrible at remembering even the simplest things. Now people are likely to lose one of two buds, forget the charging case at home, or forget to charge the buds before going out. These accessories aren’t smart enough yet to remind you of all those things, so one stopgap measure it make sure they’re always with you all the time, always charged, and ready to go when you need them.[/caption]

Designer: Huawei

The new Nokia 5710 XpressAudio solves that by turning the phone into the buds’ charging case, but obviously, that can’t happen with our very thin smartphones. Huawei’s solution is to put the buds inside a smartwatch instead, creating a locket-like cover that reveals teeny earbuds charging inside. Sure, the design makes plenty of compromises, and it looks almost comical to a certain degree. It’s hard to deny, however, that the novelty certainly has appeal, especially if you’re the type to fancy yourself as a secret agent with spy tools hidden inside their timepiece.

Huawei Watch GT Cyber

Although many decry how smartwatches present fake luxury, there are definitely benefits in having the ability to change a watch face to fit your style or even your changing mood. That’s only true for the display, though, since you’re practically stuck with whatever watch body you purchased. At most, you can swap out straps for other colors or materials, but the chassis for the watch itself remains unchanged.

Designer: Huawei

The Huawei Watch GT Cyber tries to change the status quo by letting you swap out cases as well. Granted, the available cases all look more like stylish tanks, but the idea itself is probably something worth exploring. It does require a healthy ecosystem of case makers to meet the varied tastes of consumers; otherwise, it remains a design experiment with no future in sight.

Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 (woven Flax Cover)

Unless you’re going for a gaming heavyweight, chances are you’d want a laptop that’s sleek and stylish, almost like a luxury item you’d want everyone to drool over while you work in public. Plenty of laptops do fit that bill with their brushed metal or shiny covers, but nothing grabs the attention better than something that’s not common fare as far as laptops go. That “wow” factor is definitely what the new ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 is going for, particularly with its brown, fabric-like cover that’s sure to turn eyes and heads around you.

Designer: Lenovo

This material, however, isn’t just eye-catching. Made from 100% agricultural product harvested from Flax plant fibers, this woven Flax material increases the new laptop’s sustainability prospect while also making it stand out with its unique elegance. This material is bonded to the top cover, which itself is made from 75% recycled aluminum. Thankfully, the ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 isn’t just a pretty face, either, and it possesses the best that Lenovo has to offer for businesses and consumers alike.

ThinkPhone by Motorola

Motorola is one of the oldest names in the mobile phone market, predating even the smartphones that now rule the land, but now it is also under the ownership of yet another giant that has the lion’s share of the PC market. Given its history and pedigree, it was really only a matter of time before these two worlds collided in a very particular way, so the arrival of a ThinkPad-branded Motorola phone was both surprising but also long overdue.

Designer: Lenovo

Unlike a typical smartphone, even those made by Motorola, the ThinkPhone wants to make its association with the popular laptop brand obvious. From the iconic branding to the diagonal patterns running across its back, this phone wants to stand out visually among the rest of the crowd as something meant for serious business. It also has plenty of integration features with Lenovo’s ThinkPads, so its intention to be a mobile partner to those laptops is also unambiguous and clear.

Nokia G22

Today’s smartphones are beautiful and powerful pieces of technology, but all that becomes pointless when the battery dies out, or the screen gets cracked beyond use. Repairing phones is expensive and difficult, but it doesn’t exactly have to be that way; just that the current mobile industry has been set up that way. There are few champions of longer-lasting and easier-to-repair phones, and HMD Global just joined that club with the new Nokia G22.

Designer: HMD Global

Unlike the excruciatingly tedious and nerve-racking processes you’d see in teardown videos, it only takes a guitar pick and a screwdriver to open up this phone. Five minutes is all you need to pull out the battery and 20 minutes to replace a broken screen. It’s not exactly a trivial process, at least not yet, but it’s exponentially better than what we have as “standard” today. Hopefully, this trend will catch on so that we can have beautiful phones that last for years, no matter how many times you accidentally drop them.

Nothing Phone (1)

The phone (1) gets an honorary mention here for doing what no other phone company has managed to do with their debut product… make a big, industry-wide splash. While industry giants merely dismissed the Nothing phone (1)’s Glyph Interface as just a gimmick, it was surprising to see companies like OnePlus, Realme, and Unihertz copying the lighting feature on their own phones, announced at MWC this week. Major win for Nothing and its founder, Carl.

Designer: Nothing

The phone (1) is just the beginning for this new fledgling brand, and it gets the award for its impact, but also for holding its title of being the Flagship killer. Available now at just $299, the phone (1) is an absolute steal, with its drop-dead gorgeous design, more-than-average chipset, and impressive battery-life upgrade thanks to the new NothingOS 1.5 update. Of course, the transparent back and Glyph Interface still have our thumbs up, and we can’t wait to see what future devices will look like.

OnePlus 11 Concept

OnePlus’s claim to fame was that it Never Settled for mediocrity, trying to push the limits of what a smartphone can deliver without pumping the price up too much. Although it couldn’t stem the tide of market prices forever, it continues to be the outlier among its peers. It’s also one of the few brands willing to make seemingly crazy and outlandish experiments that may or may not become a real product. After the disappearing camera act of the OnePlus Concept One, the company is setting its sights on something cooler, literally and figuratively.

Designer: OnePlus

In a nutshell, the OnePlus 11 Concept’s Active CryoFlux is like PC liquid cooling for phones used to create a stunning visual effect. The concept phone’s clear back becomes something like a light show as the icy blue cooling liquid flows through pipes and around the circular camera bump. It’s definitely quite the sight to behold, and OnePlus naturally makes big claims about its effectiveness in keeping a phone cool, allowing it to maintain good frame rates longer. If it does become a retail model, it will definitely appeal to mobile gamers that might want something a bit different from the usual RGB designs.

OPPO Find N2 Flip

Although book-type horizontal foldable phones are definitely jaw-dropping the first time you see them, even Samsung admits that the clamshell-type foldables are more popular and approachable. Whether it’s because of their more familiar form or because of their more accessible price tag, the likes of the Galaxy Z Flip are expected to make up the majority of sales in this category. Ironically, there are even fewer players on this court, which makes OPPO’s belated challenger also more significant.

Designer: OPPO

Like its horizontal sibling, the OPPO Find N2 Flip pushes the envelope with what you can do with this kind of foldable. It offers a larger external screen and a more competitive set of cameras, packed together with flagship-level hardware and a nearly crease-less display. There are a few kinks here, and some missed opportunities there, but for a first attempt, it’s definitely a laudable move forward for the entire market segment.

OPPO Air Glasses 2

The high-profile failure of the Google Glass made many companies a bit warier of turning regular specs into AR-equipped devices, but that dream never really died. The industry now seems to be better prepared for this kind of wearable, and some are setting expectations right. It’s not going to be the hi-tech secret agent device of fiction, but the OPPO Air Glass 2 definitely takes the cake for being one of the most discreet smart eyewear around.

Designer: OPPO

Lightweight and sleek, the OPPO Air Glass 2 focuses (no pun intended) on a set of features that is more relatable rather than fancy, including real-time translation and captioning, navigation, and, of course, some messaging. The display seems like it’s embedded in the lens itself, but you can actually change it to use corrective lenses for those with eyesight problems. It’s admittedly less sensational than other AR glasses, but it is ultimately more practical and more approachable for regular consumers.

Qualcomm Snapdragon AR and XR Platforms

Although the rhetoric around the metaverse seems to have died down a bit, companies are still pushing the envelope in making the technologies empowering it more accessible. That means more headsets and glasses that try to deliver an extended reality experience without weighing us down or making us look laughable in public. There are quite a number of devices now that offer these capabilities without tying you down to a stationary desktop or laptop, and many of these standalone VR, AR, or XR wearables are unsurprisingly powered by Qualcomm’s processors.

Designer: Qualcomm

Qualcomm is the world’s leading silicon maker for mobile devices, but the large Snapdragon family doesn’t just cover smartphones, tablets, or even laptops. It also powers wearables, from smartwatches to this new generation of headsets and eyewear that carry their own computing power inside of them. As these devices get sleeker and more fashionable, it won’t be surprising to see Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR and XR dominating this market as well, powering the gear that will make the metaverse, or whatever its name will be, our next real universe.

realme 10 Pro Coca-Cola Edition

Smartphones are no longer just hi-tech tools to make our lives easier, they have also become tools for self-expression. People slap on stickers, skins, and cases not just for protection but also for show, displaying their favorite colors, characters, brands, and much more. Some smartphone makers have tried to tap into this trend, and realme just one-upped everyone else with a partnership you never saw coming.

Designer: realme

You can definitely try to force some associations between smartphones and the world’s most popular beverage, but the realme 10 Pro Coca-Cola Edition is definitely special even without that. The mere fact that it’s weird and quirky speaks to the youthful and energetic vibe that both brands are aiming for. The phone itself is actually well-designed, and the attention to detail extends even to the smallest thing, like a SIM tray ejector in the shape of a bottle cap. It doesn’t hurt that the hardware is quite competitive as well, so die-hard Coca-Cola fans won’t feel left behind if they get their hands on this limited edition collector’s item.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Series

There are definitely many people that dislike how it diverges from the “vanilla” Android experience, but there’s no denying that Samsung is pretty much the leader of the Android market across many tiers. That doesn’t mean they always put out a winning flagship, like the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7, but they do have notable designs every so often. Although the Galaxy S23 series offers upgrades across the board, it looks almost similar to its 2022 predecessor, which is actually part of what makes it great.

Designer: Samsung

Rather than coming out with something different for the sake of being different, Samsung seems to have settled down on a more familiar and more stable design language that will become its DNA, at least in 2022 and 2023. This strategy has made the iPhones easily identifiable, even if you miss the telltale logo on the back. Additionally, the Galaxy S23 is a refreshing dose of minimalism at a time when smartphone camera bumps have become obnoxiously big. Hopefully, Samsung will stick to this classic look, even for just one more round.

Tecno Phantom V Fold

You know that foldable phones have made it big when even brands you might have never heard of start launching one. Tecno is a relatively younger and smaller player in the global scene, but it’s making a leap of faith by launching its first-ever foldable phone internationally from the get-go. The formula for horizontal foldables hasn’t exactly changed in the past four years, so it’s interesting to see newcomers that can bring fresh ideas to the table.

Designer: Tecno

The Tecno Phantom V Fold’s defining feature is pretty much its camera design, something you won’t see on any of its kind. The constrained spaces of foldable phones have pretty much limited where you could place components like camera sensors, so it is quite surprising that Tecno managed a feat that bigger brands have failed to accomplish. Whether that will be enough for it to grab sales, only time will tell, but it has definitely raised the bar for future foldables.

Xiaomi 13 Pro

Although we interact with our phone’s screens nearly 100% of the time, it’s really their backs that give them their character. Some manufacturers have taken that to heart perhaps a bit too much, creating camera and back designs that are truly eye-catching, though not always in a good way. Less sensational and simpler designs can sometimes be more memorable, and the new Xiaomi 13 Pro tries to walk the fine line between the two extremes with a unique yet minimalist design.

Designer: Xiaomi

The phone’s camera bump is admittedly big, but it tries to create the illusion of a smaller size by visually dividing it into three parts. That also has the effect of emphasizing each camera’s unique strength, especially because of their association with Leica. The back cover is also made from “medical-grade bio-ceramic material,” and while you won’t be able to see the difference, your hand will appreciate the softer touch. Of course, the Xiaomi 13 Pro also has premium specs, so you’d be getting your money’s worth both in looks and in performance.

Xiaomi AR Glass Discovery Edition

It seems that one of the most numerous mobile devices at this year’s event is smart eyewear. From full-on headsets like the HTC Vive XR Elite to more discreet glasses like the OPPO Air Glass 2, there is no shortage of wearables that offer all kinds of mixed reality experiences. This market segment is starting to get crowded, to Xiaomi is quickly making its presence known with an AR headset that could be one of the lightest of its kind.

Designer: Xiaomi

The Xiaomi AR Glass Discovery Edition might be a mouthful, but it practically encases the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 inside a magnesium-titanium alloy and carbon fiber frame. That’s the same powerful processor that runs in the bulkier Meta Quest Pro but in a lighter body that only looks like oversized sunglasses. It still has to make room for hardware, of course, especially since it functions standalone without connecting to a computer. It’s still lighter than most AR and VR headsets but promises nearly the same capabilities without burdening your head too much.

ZTE nubia Pad 3D

3D is becoming more than just something you see in movies or games. With the advent of mixed reality technologies and experiences, the role that 3D objects play has become a little more significant. Most people presume that enjoying 3D content would require wearing a headset or at least some special glasses like those you’d use in cinemas. There are now some TVs and even a few laptops that will let you see “real” 3D content without having to wear those glasses, but ZTE is presenting something that is more portable and potentially more usable by everyone.

Designer: ZTE

The nubia Pad 3D is perhaps the first tablet of its kind to enable viewing stereoscopic 3D content without any eyewear. It leverages Leia’s technology and ecosystem to power its features, not just for viewing 3D content but also transforming plain 2D content, like streamed videos, into something you view in 3D. The large 12.4-inch slate has dual cameras front and back to also allow users to become creators as well, generating 3D visuals from real-world objects or even their faces.

The post Best of MWC 2023: Mobile Gets Design-Conscious first appeared on Yanko Design.