The time is upon us, the Mobile Nations team is packing up, hitting the airport and making the trip to Barcelona, Spain, for the annual Mobile World Congress. Everyone who's anyone in mobile will be in attendance, which includes Microsoft as well as some other Windows and Windows Phone vendors.
We've a busy time in store over the coming week, so here's a quick run down of what's in store, what to expect and how you can follow it all.
Microsoft - Monday March 2
This is the big one for the Windows Central community. At Microsoft's last event, the Windows 10 get together in Redmond, we were told we'd hear yet more about Windows 10 at MWC. While Sunday is media day for many other companies, Microsoft is the first out of the gates on day 1 proper of the show with an 8.30 a.m. press event on Monday, March 2.
Mark Guim and myself will be in attendance and Microsoft will be streaming the whole thing live{.nofollow}, and we'll be liveblogging the dickens out of it, so you won't miss a beat. Besides Windows 10 there's a good chance we'll see some new hardware, with replacements for the 1320 and 630/635 having been rumored in recent weeks.
One thing we're pretty sure we won't be seeing is any kind of high end, 'flagship' device. Microsoft has said it's making one, and even confirmed a partnership with Qualcomm to use the Snapdragon 810 in said device, but we're pretty sure MWC isn't the time or the place for it.
Keep an eye out closer to the time for links to our liveblog. Whatever Microsoft has to show, we're excited to hear it.
Windows Phones
We've already had the first Windows Phone announcements of MWC, coming from British brand, Kazam. On hand in Spain with a pair of new Windows Phones for the budget conscious smartphone buyer, we're looking forward to getting a closer look at the event.
Kazam might not be the only ones showing off new phones, either (not counting anything from Microsoft.) There have been rumors that Acer could be developing a new Windows Phone device, and we've already had word from Kyocera that it has some kind of prototype Windows Phone to show off to the gathered media.
But if anyone has a Windows Phone at all, you can bet we'll find it and bring you a closer look.
Windows tablets
As the weeks go by more and more Windows 8.1 tablets hit the market. Many share similar specs and even similar price points, but there's no denying there are plenty to choose from. Again, Kazam was first out of the gate pre-announcing its range of tablets before the event begins.
Otherwise, we've no idea on what we might see. The likes of Dell, Acer, HP and Lenovo are present at the show, and all companies could easily launch something running Windows 8.1.
Whether any do, only time will tell.
Everything else - Samsung, HTC and others
Of course, Windows Central isn't the only Mobile Nations team that will be busy out in Barcelona. Our buddies at Android Central have potentially an even busier week in store, started by huge events thrown by HTC and Samsung. HTC in particular could be worth paying close attention to, since there's always a chance that the M9 could one day launch running Windows Phone. We can only hope.
Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S6. Love it or hate it, the Galaxy S is one of the biggest mobile launches of the year.
Away from those two there will be news from LG, Huawei and more besides. We'll also be visiting people like Qualcomm, Sandisk and MixRadio, so there's a whole host of mobile related coverage that's headed your way.
How to follow it all
Our dedicated Mobile World Congress hub will keep you up to speed with everything from the show from all of the Mobile Nations sites. In one handy place you can see every single post that comes out of the event, so be sure to bookmark the link below.
- Mobile Nations at Mobile World Congress
If you're looking forward to anything in particular, drop us a line in the comments below!
