Introducing Instagram’s new “Friend Map” feature! Perhaps you’ve been longing for a midday coffee fix and were hoping a friend could swing by for a cup. Swayy is an iPhone app that lets you post your plans for the next few hours, a month, or even beyond in the future, going beyond simply stating your current location.
Mobile World Congress 2024 has started in Barcelona this week. You are already aware of our expectations, so unwind and tune in all week long for all the startup news, product launches, and announcements you need to know from MWC.
Several major announcements have come from several firms this year. These include Google’s new Android features, the first electric automobile from Xiaomi, and Lenovo’s see-through laptop on display at the major smartphone event. Here’s how you can keep up with our team’s coverage of the MWC as it unfolds.
Eye Catching Things On In Mobile World Congress:
There will be a lot of fun and new things to see at Mobile World congress. We have some of the most eye catching things for you so you won’t miss out.
HTC’s virtual reality headset, Motorola’s “rollable” concept phone, ‘Blackbox for your life’ from Jolla, and skincare tech from SynFlora are also on display at the major smartphone event.
1 March, Friday
Ultraleap Is Equipping Automobiles And VR Headsets With Haptic Contact
What follows is an explanation of haptics for those who are unfamiliar with the term. Tom Carter, co-founder and CEO of Ultraleap, discussed potential uses of the technology in the automotive and VR industries. But that’s not all the business can accomplish with it.
Swayy Allows You To Inform Your Pals Of Your Whereabouts.
29 February, Thursday:
Smartphones Future and Brain.ai
The media was given an excellent account of how generative artificial intelligence could serve as the basis for future electronics after a conversation with Brain.ai CEO and President Jerry Yue this past week at Mobile World Congress.
According to our fellow, the T-Mobile REVVL, also called the “T Phone” in other foreign markets like the EU, is expected to carry the operating system developed by AI and UI companies in the United States. Yue promises to disclose the exact model, release date, and nature of the agreement shortly.
According to Yue, we aim to offer individuals a new degree of control they do not now have regarding privacy and security. The computer’s knowledge about you is now combined into several programs. These artificial intelligence models are attention-grabbing black boxes that make recommendations. AI can be explained. At each stage of this process, we will be providing you with an explanation for our recommendations. AI is owned by more people rather than by giant, mysterious tech companies.
28 February, Wednesday:
Liveliness seeking a fitness partner for you
Liveliness is developing a community application on common sports interests. The free software lets users create activities for which others can sign up and has a chat feature. Additionally, it has a newsfeed of (non-user) scheduled activities like street yoga classes, jogging clubs, and calisthenics sessions that are all intended to help users learn and improve at various sports. Among these are paid events, which allow the startup to earn commissions. Additionally, it plans to commercialize the software by charging a premium edition that offers users access to extra functions.
Sports wearable from Sweanty
The Spanish startup Sweanty has developed a stick-on patch that tracks athletes’ sweat to measure salt loss and assist in customizing their rehydration regimen. After every training session, the method ensures athletes hydrate with the appropriate quantity of minerals (or isotonic liquids). The wearers of the patches receive a customized hydration strategy via a companion app once their “sweat profile” is analyzed.
Qilimanjaro: Winner of 4FYN at Mobile World Congress
The Four Years From Now (4YFN) pitch contest looked to Qilimanjaro to identify the “best startups” worldwide and declared victorious. The company serves as a full-stack quantum computing firm with headquarters in Spain. Its main areas of interest include cohesive quantum annealers and high-quality qubit architectures, which can be faster to market because they don’t require quantum error correction. It received a twenty thousand euro award.
Out of hundreds of applications, Qilimanjaro was one of the five finalists in this week’s competition:
- The South Korean company Bitsensing is creating a radar system that, without needing cameras, can determine whether or not people are in a vehicle.
- Israel-based Mica AI Medical is developing software to help its operating system recognize and categorize problematic mammography data early on, especially for women having denser breast tissue.
- Established in Spain, Ocean Ecostructures is creating a program for biodiversity regeneration to reduce the negative environmental consequences of “grey oceans” and possibly regenerate marine life.
- The Dutch company Whispp has created an “assistive voice tech and phone application” that translates voice impairments such as whispering into a person’s normal voice in real-time.
Kombucha Eco-friendly thread
You might like this application if you prefer something other than the flavour of kombucha. Natasha Lomas talked with Laura Freixas regarding her Doctor of Philosophy research project, which uses a base of fermenting hipster tea to “upcycle” organic waste into filaments while exploring the Four Years From Now (4YFN) display floor. The bio-filament, which Freixas and her colleagues in the Barcelona School of Design and Engineering are attempting to market, goes by the name Biocel. Mycelium, be ready because kombucha is about to arrive for you.
Nothing 2a Phone
The London-based phone startup Nothing is gradually releasing details about the Nothing Phone (2a) rather than announcing it with great fanfare like other companies in the technology sector do. In theory, it’s the third phone owned by the firm. According to Brian Heater, As you’ve probably deduced from earlier phones, the first “a” denotes a budgetary emphasis. Choosing which flagship features to forgo to lower the price while maintaining as much of a premium feel as feasible has been the main game in recent years.
The Phone (2a) bears many similarities to Nothing’s previous models. Still, it differs because it is driven on a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro chip, a variation designed especially for the phone.
27 February, Tuesday:
The Concept Rollable Phone By Motorola:
Can you tell me the largest wristwatch size that you would be willing to wear? Check out Lenovo’s products if you subscribe to the “bigger is better” school of thought. A “rollable concept phone” that wraps around your wrist has been designed by the company for Motorola. Since there is no evidence that this could be turned into a product, the word “concept” is crucial. Anyway, it’s entertaining to watch.
HTC Vive – An Enterprise Product:
The mixed reality was HTC’s spinoff around ten years ago. Throughout that time, Vive’s headsets have shifted their focus from consumers to becoming more of an enterprise tool. HTC’s Vive general manager Dan O’Brien and head of product operations John Dabill talked about Vision Pro, the metaverse, Magic Leap, and generative AI.
Synflora Is Tackling Acne:
Although it is the biggest organ in the body, our skin often goes uncared for. SynFlora, a biotech startup, offers a novel approach to skin treatment in this regard. The company’s initial focus is on acne, and they’re trying to find a way to treat it more effectively than just applying a cream to the skin. They’re also planning to use biotech techniques for harnessing bacteria to deliver tailored therapeutics, which could lead to a broader spectrum of treatments.
The Jolla “Blackbox For Your Life”:
Jolla, a maker of mobile operating systems, is envisioning a future where users can harness the power of advanced artificial intelligence without exposing their personal data to data-hungry third parties. The presented device functions as a hybrid private cloud/AI router, allowing users to access their data for AI queries. This is similar to having a private server “prepared for the generative AI era,” as Natasha Lomas from TechCrunch puts it.
eQub’s Digital Peer-To-Peer Lending Across Africa:
This is eQub, an Ethiopian company that emerged victorious in the fintech pitch-off at the Mobile World Congress’ startup event 4YFN 2024. The company’s business development lead, Nahom Michael, clarified that the name derives from an Amharic term for a localized version of P2P lending. Like a tanda, an Equb is a cooperative group whose members pool their resources to save and then divide them up in a revolving fashion. The increasing number of Ethiopians with bank accounts, mobile phones, and restricted access to credit is eQub’s target audience, so the company is working to digitize the experience, beginning with an app.
Eliminate Wireless TVs:
The 55-inch Display Flex was the topic of discussion when Mike Butcher spoke with Balaji Krishna, CEO and founder of Displace. This $3,000 4K OLED TV is “wireless” and doesn’t require any kind of mounting to adhere to walls. The unveiling took place in January during CES. According to Krishna, additional screen versions and features are on the way. A 27-inch “Display Mini” TV, ideal for smaller bathrooms or kitchens, is one option we can discuss at the moment. Additionally, Krishna dropped hints about “a contactless payment reader” and an “AI-powered shopping engine” that would allow users to buy things through advertisements.
Sport Monitoring System By Lizcore:
By digitizing and enhancing the indoor climbing experience, Lizcore has accomplished what Natasha Lomas believed was impossible. Climbers can use Lizcore’s progress tracking system without bringing their phones or smartwatches on the ascent. The startup’s app and its compact NFC wearable, the Lizy bracelet, are all that’s needed.
The Concept Rollable Phone By Motorola:
Can you tell me the largest wristwatch size that you would be willing to wear? Check out Lenovo’s products if you subscribe to the “bigger is better” school of thought. A “rollable concept phone” that wraps around your wrist has been designed by the company for Motorola. Since there is no evidence that this could be turned into a product, the word “concept” is crucial. Anyway, it’s entertaining to watch.
26 February, Monday:
AI Access Principles From Microsoft:
Today, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and VP, unveiled a set of guidelines entitled “AI Access Principles” at Mobile World Congress. These eleven points will “govern how we will operate our AI data centre infrastructure and other important AI assets around the world,” according to Smith. Ironically, Smith broke the news at a keynote address, leaving little room for follow-up questions, even though it seems like Microsoft is willing to engage in conversation and engagement with stakeholders.
The First Electric Vehicle From Xiaomi:
There is a lack of information on the highly awaited Xiaomi SU7, the first product from the Xiaomi EV. A “full-size high-performance eco-technology sedan” is all we do know, and it is scheduled to make its way to China sometime in the coming year. Xiaomi is not just a design powerhouse but also the creator of five essential technologies used in electric vehicles:
- The E-motor
- The CTB integrated battery
- The Xiaomi Die Casting
- The Xiaomi Autonomous driving software
- The smart cabin
Xiaomi is all set to showcase this SU7 at Mobile World Congress this year. Additionally, the “HyperOS” operating system will be preinstalled.
Smart Ring From Samsung
If you’re a female who has trouble sleeping, you might find that the new Galaxy Ring from Samsung is more comfortable than diamonds. In order to provide a comprehensive picture of the user’s health and sleeping habits, it has sensors that track their heart rate, movement, and respiration. We still don’t know the answer to the cost and battery life questions.
Upgraded OnePlus Battery Life:
An impressive battery life of 100 hours “in full Smart Mode” is promised by the forthcoming OnePlus Watch 2. The business spent three years developing its battery technology, which is why it made this claim. Brian Heater, by TechCrunch, talked to OnePlus Europe’s head of strategy, Tuomas Lampén, about the new watch’s 100-hour battery life and the company’s lengthy development process.
“Battery is precisely the sort of thing OnePlus needs to lean into,” Brian said last week, referring to the first-generation product’s 25-hour battery life. That was while disabling the GPS.
The Cyberdog 2, By Xiaomi
We finally got a chance to interact with Xiaomi’s CyberDog, a robotic dog, at MWC after covering the company for years. The experience of seeing the little dog perform its dressage shuffle and dance brought to mind “a scaled-down version of Boston Dynamics’ familiar robot,” as our representative wrote it. A more realistic head has replaced the old flatter one, among other updates to Xiaomi’s dog since 2021. CyberDog 2 is now selling for $3,000 on the internet, which is almost twice as much as its $1,600 predecessor.
New Laptop Concept From Lenovo:
Introducing Lenovo’s new transparent laptop—the perfect solution for those who want to gaze at their desk from behind while working. Which is, if it is ever mass-produced. The screen and keyboard components evoke images of an AR experience, in which pictures are superimposed on whatever is behind them; otherwise, it resembles a regular laptop with a few notable deviations. Right now, Lenovo is having fun flaunting its inventiveness at Mobile World Congress.
Google Integrates AI Into Upcoming Products:
Google introduced new AI features for phones, automobiles, and wearables today, among other services. Some examples include creating messages with Gemini, captions for photographs created by AI, text summarization for Android Auto, and access for passes on Wear OS. Furthermore, a functionality will be added to Google Messages that allows you to access Gemini from the app. Currently, the functionality is available exclusively in English while it is in beta. The smartphone giant is releasing new features that are designed to make the platform more accessible. One such software is Lookout, which provides assistance to the visually impaired with tasks such as reading food labels and papers. It has recently added the ability to produce captions for photographs that lack proper or missing alt text, driven by artificial intelligence.
In a discussion with Wired’s Steven Levy at MWC, DeepMind creator Demis Hassabis discussed how Google has managed to “unpause” Gemini, their multimodal gen-AI tool, from depicting humans. He promised that in the “next few weeks”, the feature that allows users to reply to pictures of people should be operational again. Google removed the Gemini function last week due to users pointing out that it was creating photos that did not align with history, according to Natasha Lomas. One example is how it showed the U.S. founding fathers as a mixture of individuals instead of only white males.
A Desk Light To Lift Your Spirits:
The Dutch firm Seaborough displayed little gadgets at Mobile World Congress, these gadgets are meant to supplant bulky light therapy lights that simulate the sun’s effect on the brain’s serotonin synthesis. Two clips, one of which appears to be an external camera, lie above the screen and one of which is adjacent to the computer. They may be charged by connecting them to a USB port. However, the light is currently only functioning as a proof-of-concept, so please be patient.
With Infinix, The Rear Of Your Phone Can Do More Than Just Look Pretty:
The Infinix E-Color Shift is an upgrade on YotaPhone’s earlier efforts with e-ink screens. What’s fresh is the use of colour and what we think is “an attractive and entertaining accessory for the area of your smartphone that is usually hidden in a case, in your hand, or lying flat on a table.”
Doublepoint’s Updated Wowmouse Gesture-Touch:
An updated version of Doublepoint’s WowMouse gesture-touch control software is now available for Android wristwatch users. Just pinch!
