Mobile World Congress trips to Barcelona, covering phone and PC launches.
Derrick Koh, Lenovo's Head of Communications for Asia Pacific, messaged me on Facebook to invite me to the Lenovo booth media tour at MWC 2014. I dropped by with Jason Goh and previewed new phones like S860, S850, and S660.
On Tuesday, 25th February 2014, the day began with breakfast and a 30-minute talk by Nokia Entertainment Evangelist Dean Patrick on Nokia Mix Radio. At MWC, we joined two blogger sessions with Dirk Didascalou, SVP of Mobile Phones R&D.
On Monday, 24th February 2014, we woke at 6am to reach the venue by 7.30 for good seats, ahead of the 8am press conference. Nokia announced just five new low-end devices: the Nokia X, X+, XL, 220, and Asha 230.
Thanks to Nokia Connects for inviting me to Mobile World Congress 2014, my third event with them, after Nokia World 2011 in London and MWC 2012 in Barcelona. This year's itinerary was a day shorter, but I found it worthwhile.
Alongside its three Android phones, the Nokia X, X+, and XL, Nokia also announced the Nokia 220 and Asha 230. Both come in single or dual-SIM versions, and the Nokia 220 retails for €29, roughly S$51, running an ODM OS.
Nokia has launched its first family of Android phones, sort of, at MWC 2014. I say 'sort of' because the Nokia X family lacks Google Play services, swapping them for Microsoft's, and the Nokia X slots between Asha and Lumia.
Before the summary, here are some videos filmed during Mobile World Congress 2012 by Nokia Connects, featuring a skateboarder, a free runner, and a BMX rider using the social features of the Nokia Lumia 900, all shot around Barcelona.
Here are some sample photos taken with the Nokia 808 PureView, the standout camera phone of Mobile World Congress 2012. None of them have been edited; they're straight from the 808 PureView and uploaded to Flickr.
The Nokia Lumia 900 was announced at CES 2012 with LTE, exclusive to AT&T. At Mobile World Congress 2012, Nokia revealed a HSDPA+ Dual Carrier variant for high-speed data, up to 42Mbps download, in countries without LTE, like Singapore.
The Nokia Lumia 610 was the only new Lumia announced at MWC 2012, the 900 having debuted at CES. It arrives alongside Microsoft's strategy of lowering Windows Phone's minimum hardware requirements, and thus cost, by supporting cheaper chips.
The first three phones announced at Mobile World Congress 2012 were the Nokia Asha 202, 203, and 302. The Asha family is affordable and aimed at emerging markets, first introduced at Nokia World 2011. All run Nokia's Series 40 OS.
Not much happened on the fourth and final day of MWC, and I skipped the conference, as I was flying back to Singapore. I woke around 9am, had breakfast, then packed my things, requesting transport at 2pm.
Day three began like day two, with a breakfast Q&A with the Nokia Maps team, Pino Bonetti and Mark Thomas. A Nokia Maps update is coming soon to Lumia devices, offering zoomed-in detail and letting you create and share places.
Day two was a touch more relaxed, opening with a breakfast Q&A with Dean Patrick of Nokia Entertainment at our hotel cafe. He demoed the new Nokia Reading, which lets you read and buy e-books and audiobooks on Lumia devices.
The first day began at 6am, with the bus collecting us from the hotel at 7am. The Nokia booth sat in Hall 7, an eight-minute walk from the entrance. We reached the venue by 8am, but it was already packed.
Thanks to Nokia and Nokia Connects, I had the privilege of attending Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, from 27th February to 1st March. I flew Lufthansa for the first time, with no direct route, routing via Frankfurt.