Day 4 at MWC – Less LTE, but that LG 3D Android tablet!
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011 Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
You asked for it.. Here it is all the way from Barcelona – Day 4 !!!!
Day 4. The rain is intense and I am soaked even before I reach the underground station. I decide to use the closer entrance and then I simply get lost in the labyrinth of tunnels. I wondered if I would be trapped here for ever, then I saw the sign to L1 and I was saved.
As they say all good things must come to an end and today is the last day of MWC 2011. It has been the busiest conference since about 2007. The exhibition floors were full right up until 4pm. The trading in Android pins continued on until the booths were dismantled around the barterers. It was quite amusing to see adults (men and women) arguing over how many pins would be required for the rarer examples.
Not that I took part, mainly because I was in seminars and did not get a chance to grab any pins…… My voice did not return this morning so I am largely mute unless asked directly. So the highlight of today was supposed to be a full day on the next steps on the Network Technology Evolution, now that LTE has arrived in time to plan for the next network. Well not really, as this session turned into a “how well we did to deploy LTE”.
A few points did emerge from this however:
- reuse of existing infrastructure is a must to keep costs down,
- data volume will explode over the next 5 years,
- the customer is driving all these changes the operators and vendors need to keep pace but will never surpass them,
- access will be heterogeneous,
- networks must be flexible, easy to manage, with inherent mobility.
The other aspect that is now to the forefront is the sustainability of the network. It should reduce the carbon footprint while still maintaining the level of performance or realistically exceeding the current performance. Voice (or Video) will still be a key driver and for LTE, this will be addressed eventually by VoLTE but for the next 12 months, until VoLTE is finalized, there will be circuit switched fall back options.
The sense of disappointment in the room was quite noticeable. I think everyone was expecting to hear about the next network outline. Even the Q&A session did not move it much further along. There were two videos from MIT that were shown regarding how the use of wireless may transform things in the future. These were probably the highlight of the session.
At the lunch break I decided to head back into Hall 8 and renew my enthusiasm by going to the LG stand to play with their 3D tablet. Getting soaked moving to the exhibition hall did not help, but the LG booth was very quiet. Time to play! The Android 3.0 tablets are quite amazing. The flow is smooth, no stuttering, the screens are brilliant and clear, they come with HSPA+ and up to 42Mbps with LTE in the wings.
They include three cameras…. wow… I hear you say three cameras! Well, one is on the front so you can video chat. The other two are on the back so you can shoot 3D video, that’s right 3D video! The two cameras are spaced about the same distance as the average eyes, in fact it appears as if the tablet is watching you with two eyes when you turn it over. I thought “gimmick” as you probably did. And, I was skeptical until I saw the video shown on a 3D TV (it cannot play on the tablet yet but I am sure they will work that one out too). OK, it is amazing. You do need to wear the polarized lenses but the depth and 3D’edness is striking even for me – I have trouble with 3D movies.
I want one. I proceed to try bribery to no avail as each of the booth support staff want one too. They will be packed up to send back to Korea tonight. Launch dates.. I hear you ask? Ha. They were not allowed to say or even speculate. However T-Mobile has already said it plans to launch in March. The tablets will be available worldwide. My enthusiasm restored, I headed to the Android section to get androidified. OK, I did a colleague instead.
Next up: lunch and a final session on the Network Evolution.
Previous posts from the MWC:
More on Day 3
Long Live LTE!
Pictures: Mobile World Congress exhibits
Street pics and schwag from MWC
Day 2 p.m., device liability and putting the cloud to work
Day 2, a.m. – No-Kill Apps and a totally mobile company
Video from Gemalto about Wi-Fi roaming
All about Android – Exhibits at MWC
Getting to Mobile World Congress
Morning of Day 1 at the Mobile World Congress
Tags: Android, LTE, tablet
