(upbeat music playing)
- At trade shows like Mobile World Congress,
there are loads of devices
that you might not want to buy and use yourself
but which have that one amazing new feature
that you just wish you could get your hands on.
For example, at CS 2018, we put our finger on the first
under display fingerprint center on a Vivo flagship.
And at MWC 2019 we saw the most rear cameras
we'd ever seen on a smartphone, with the Nokia 9.
So here are some of the coolest phone features we've seen
at MWC 2023 that we hope will become mainstream
in just a few years time.
The first phone I want to talk about is the Nokia G22.
Now that's because the work that HMD,
which is the company that currently owns the rights
to produce Nokia branded handsets,
has done to make it easier to repair.
It's partnered with the repair specialist
so IFixit just sells spare parts
for the phone for five years after it's release.
And there are also gonna be repair guides online
for carrying out common repairs
like replacing a broken screen, dead battery
or dodgy charging ports.
Now, thankfully that's not particularly unusual in 2023.
Both Samsung and Google have also partnered with IFixit
to sell replacement parts for their phones.
And even Apple has launched
a self-service repair program of its own.
But what's more interesting is that HMD has consulted
with IFixit on the actual design of the device
to make it more repairable in the first place.
Making spare parts easily available is one thing,
but actually doing the repairs
is a whole nother kettle of fish.
So I wanted to try replacing the Nokia G22's
battery for myself.
Now, full disclosure,
I didn't go into the repair process completely blind.
HMD's Adam Ferguson had already given me
a thorough demonstration
of the process of replacing the phone's battery.
And I had a team of IFixit employees standing
just feet away from me who I could tell were just waiting
to offer me advice.
Adam gave me a neat overview of what's involved
in the repair process and to HMD's credit,
I was able to successfully swap
out the battery and that was in a noisy convention center
while also trying my best to show off the process to camera.
There was no need to apply a heated pad to the phone
to melt away any adhesive like with recent Samsung
and Google devices because the phone was held together
with simple plastic clips
and I didn't have to use a suction cup
to delicately get the phone open.
Once inside, there were just two screws to undo,
compared to the half a dozen or more
you'll encounter in some other handsets.
Yes, there were two fairly delicate ribbon cables to remove
but that was the trickiest part of the job.
Now, some of the more experienced repairers
in the stand were getting a little bit competitive.
There was talk of being able to do the repair
in under five minutes or under three minutes,
but for me, as a first-timer on camera,
it was closer to seven.
But honestly, speed isn't really the point here.
The point is that me,
as someone that has never done this sort of repair before,
found the whole process pretty approachable.
And it's something that I'd recommend
that other people try for themselves.
It feels like a really positive step forward.
Now, I don't wanna claim it was a perfect experience.
Obviously if HMD had used a fully removable battery
like what Fairphone uses,
it would've been a far simpler process.
But HMD says it's gone with this approach
to allow it to offer a bigger battery in a thinner phone.
Both Adam and I also managed to rip off one
of the tabs he used to pull the battery out of its housing
which did make the process a little bit more tricky.
But hey, we got the job done.
And finally, over on the software side,
it would be great to see HMD offer more
than just two years of Android updates
and three years of security updates with the phone.
So it's not just the hardware you can keep
spick and span for years to come.
I think HMD has achieved something really impressive
with the Nokia G22
and I can't help but hope that more manufacturers take note.
(gentle music playing)
Next up, charger.
Now over on iPhone land, charging speeds
are kind of hovering around the 20 to 30 watt mark.
But in the world of Android,
things are starting to get truly wild.
The latest company to take a shot
at the fast charging crown is Realme.
It's Realme GT3
is getting an international launch
at MWC Barcelona this week
and it can fast charge at 240 watts.
Now Realme has almost immediately been overtaken
by Redmi which announced its own 300 watt
proof-of-concept fast charging device this week.
But Realme's device is actually
getting a widespread international release.
So we're gonna focus on that one for the time being.
Those 240 watts translate
into some truly bananas charging speeds.
Realme says it's enough to fully charge the phone's
4 to 600 000 000 power battery
in just nine and a half minutes flat.
Okay, so I know the idea of a phone that fully charges
in under 10 minutes kind of sounds like overkill,
especially in an era where people like to keep things simple
by just charging their phone overnight.
But hear me out.
What if the 240 watt fast charging was only for emergencies?
What if most of the time you used the same old
basic five watt power adapter you've been using for years?
But then, say you forget to charge your phone overnight
and you've got a flight,
or you are on an important work call
and your phone goes dead
and you know that just 30 seconds of charge
with the 240 watt charger can give you
an extra two hours of talk time.
And that's a true stat by the way.
I mean nine and a half minutes is like,
put the phone on charge, get in the shower,
come out and it's already fully charged.
Now, I know plenty of people have legitimate concerns
about the kind of impact
that these kind of fast charging speeds will have
the longevity of their devices,
but Realme at least is claiming
the GT3's battery should maintain
about 80% of its charging levels
even after 1600 charging cycles,
which, at one charge a day,
works out to a little over four years of use.
But again, these are lab tests
and I entirely understand if people are still skeptical
about real world durability.
I mean hell, I don't even know
if I'd use this fast charging tech every single day.
But as a backup feature to use in emergencies,
I'm really into the idea of more phones having access
to these ridiculously quick kinds of fast charging speeds.
I'll continue to charge my phone overnight,
thank you very much.
But I wouldn't say no to an emergency 240 watt boost,
just in case,
and who knows how much faster charging speeds
are gonna get next year.
Let's talk cameras.
And now you can't talk about cameras
around MWC 2023 without discussing this,
the Xiaomi 13 Pro,
which got its international launch at this year's show.
Now our Samsung made a big deal
about the Galaxy S23 Ultra's 200 megapixel main camera.
Xiaomi is taking a slightly different approach.
So no, the Xiaomi 13 Pro doesn't have the highest
resolution camera center in the world.
At 50 megapixels, it's IMX989 Sony Center
almost sounds kind of unremarkable at first glance
but what's special about it is its size.
It's a 1-inch type sensor, which might not literally mean
that it measures 1-inch corner to corner
but nevertheless, that means it's a lot larger
than most other smartphone camera sensors.
All else being equal, bigger sensors mean bigger pixels
which leaves you with a camera
that's better at gathering light.
Bigger sensors can also lead to a shallow a depth a field
so it's slightly easier to get nice blurry backgrounds
in your photographs.
Now, I have spent far too little time taking photos
with the Xiaomi 13 Pro to offer
any kind of conclusive thoughts
about how good this phone's camera is,
but the photos I've taken on it so far,
I've really liked.
Daylight shots look crisp and clean
and night shots just look really nice and natural.
It almost looks like something you'd normally
expect to have come out of a standalone camera.
I've included some comparison shots
with the iPhone 14 Pro
just to give you an idea of how it compares.
Now, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is far from the first smartphone
to have included a 1-inch type sensor.
Panasonic made one years ago.
Vivo's recent X90 Pro came equipped with one
and even Xiaomi itself used Sony sensor
in last year's 12S Ultra.
But the 13 Pro feels significant
because it's a regular-looking mainstream phone
from a brand that's become pretty popular
in a lot of countries outside of the US
and it's not exclusive to the Chinese market
like the 12S Ultra.
In recent years,
the story of smartphone photography has been the story
of computational photography.
It's about using powerful processes
to overcome the limitations of smartphones,
comparatively small camera sensors.
But the Xiaomi 13 Pro has been excited
for a future where smartphones offer the benefits
of both powerful camera software and hardware, alike.
And I really hope the rest
of the industry is paying attention.
Finally, I just wanna take a moment to recognize
that 2023 might be the year we actually start
seeing some serious foldable competition internationally.
Samsung has been releasing its Z fold
and Z flip devices for years, but outside of China
it's been running more or less unopposed,
say for the occasional release from Motorola or Huawei.
But this year it feels like there's a shift happening.
Just prior to the show, Oppo held the international launch
for its Find N2 flip
and then Honor announced the Magic Vs foldable
at the show itself.
There was also the announcement
that OnePlus plans to release a foldable
in the second half of this year.
And of course, there are early concept devices
from the likes of Motorola.
I don't think any of these announcements
herald the imminent arrival of foldables into the mainstream
but they certainly suggest the market's heating up
and more devices means more pricing
and functionality competition.
With the Find N2 flip, Oppo made a serious case
for bigger cover displays that are good
for more than just checking notifications.
And with the Magic Vs that's thinner and rated
to survive more folding cycles than Samsung Z Fold 4.
The competition has been a long time coming
and I'm glad to see it finally arrive.
Whether it's repairable devices, faster charging,
bigger camera sensors, or more foldable competition,
I think there's a lot
of cool stuff on the way for future smartphones
and a lot of it has a potential to become staple features
in the years ahead.
I just hope these features will actually become available
to devices that are widely sold in the US.
Um...
Oh, what's gonna be my terrible pun?
- [Cameraman] MWC, more like-
- More like more wicked...
- [Cameraman] Coverage?
- Coverage. Okay, cool.
If you're after MWC,
by which I of course mean more wicked coverage,
then check out thebadge.com.
- [Cameraman] Oh, that's so bad.