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Sunday, February 26, 2017

MWC 2017: Top 5 smartphones to look forward to - India Today


The most hotly anticipated tech event of the year is finally upon us and promises to be quite a spectacular one. The past few years have seen some great smartphones unveiled at the Mobile World Congress and this year promises to be no different.

Announcements from almost all major OEM's are expected, including Lenovo, Motorola, LG, Nokia, Sony, Huawei and even BlackBerry.

Also Read: HTC One X10 images leaked, set to launch at MWC 2017

The most hotly anticipated of them all is Nokia's announcement on February 26 where the once iconic manufacturer is expected to unveil a slew of Android powered smartphones and even a re-incarnation of the legendary Nokia 3310.

The Mobile World Congress is being held in Barcelona from Feb 26 - March, 2017 and here are the top 5 smartphones expected to be announced at the event:

Nokia 8

Nokia's comeback has been the talk of the tech community for a while and is hotly anticipated by die-hard Nokia fans. Once the biggest phone manufacturer in the world, Nokia virtually became extinct thanks to its ill-fated decision to adopt Microsoft's Windows Phone instead of Android.

Nokia's new flagship handset - the Nokia 8 will be powered by Qualcomm's flagship processor - the Snapdragon 835 paired with either 4/6GB of RAM. Additionally, the smartphone is rumoured to come with a Quad HD 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels, 64/128GB of internal storage which will be expandable via a microSD card (of up-to 256GB) and Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.

Design wise, the Nokia 8 is set to come with slim side-bezels and a thin profile. On the imaging front, the handset is rumoured to feature a massive 24MP primary camera with optical image stabilisation as well as super electronic image stabilisation and a 12MP front shooter for selfies.

The smartphone is also said to come with Zeiss branded optics as seen on earlier Nokia devices. Taking Nokia's history with imaging into account, the camera is sure to be a highlight of the device.

Alongside the Nokia 8, the company is also expected to announce the Nokia 3, Nokia 5, the global variant of the Nokia 6 and a re-incarnation of the Nokia 3310.

Moto G5 Plus

The Moto G5 Plus is set to come with a design quite different to its pre decessor, with a circular camera panel, a metal body, slightly rounded edges, a home button up front and a new silver colour variant.

Nokia's comeback has been the talk of the tech community for a while and is hotly anticipated by die-hard Nokia fans

On the specifications front, the Moto G5 Plus is expected to come with a 5.2-inch fullHD display, a 3,000mAh battery with TurboPower quick charging support, a 12MP 'rapid focus' rear camera, NFC, Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box as well as a fingerprint scanner. Additionally, the smartphone is rumoured to be powered by Qualcomm's mid-range Snapdragon 625 processor which is the same SoC seen on the higher-end Moto Z Play.

The Moto G5 Plus is set to be priced at $250 (approximately Rs 16,800). However, we expect the Indian prices to be a bit lower keeping in mind that its predecessor, the Moto G4 Plus was launched at Rs 13,499 back i n 2016.

LG G6

The LG G6 promises to be a comprehensive update over its rather underwhelming predecessor which according to the company's own admission, did not sell very well.

Design wise, the G6 is set to be a quite a departure from the uninspiring G5 with a tall form factor, rounded corners, dual rear cameras at the back, a fingerprint sensor underneath the rear camera array and asymmetrical top and bottom bezels.

When it comes to specifications, the LG G6 is set to come with a 5.7' Quad HD display with a resolution of 2,880x1,440, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, a 3,200mAh battery, Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and water/dust resistance.

LG is shunning Qualcomm's latest flagship processor, the Snapdragon 835 in favour of the slightly older Snapdragon 821 in order to have the first mover advantage over the Samsung Galaxy S8. Incorporating the Snapdragon 835 would have delayed the smartphone's release to at least April and LG had its sights set on an early March release.

On the imaging front, the device will feature two 13MP cameras at the back with one of them having a wide-angle lens with a 125-degree field of view. The front camera lens is also set come with a wide 100-degree field of view.

Like the Samsung Galaxy S8, the LG G6 is expected to come with an iris scanner. Rumours also point to LG launching an integrated payment system with the LG G6 akin to Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Huawei P10

The Huawei P10 is set to sport a design very similar to its predecessor - the P9, with a physical home button up front and dual cameras with Leica branding at the back. The fingerprint sensor however, has been relocated from the back and has been integrated into the home button.

The P10 is set to come with a 5.5' display, Huawei's new flagship processor - the octa-core Kirin 960, 4/6GB of RAM, Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and a 3,100mAh battery.  The internal storage is rumoured to be either 32GB, 64GB or 128GB depending on the variant and there is also expected to be a model with a curved screen dubbed the Huawei P10 Plus.

On the imaging front, the dual camera setup at the back will consist of a 20MP sensor and a 12MP sensor with an 8MP camera at the front. What makes the rear camer a setup interesting is the fact that the sensors have been developed in collaboration with imaging legend Leica.

BlackBerry Mercury

BlackBerry teased the mercury back at CES 2017 and is widely anticipated by  fans of the once iconic company. The device is in a way, a make or break device for the company's fledging smartphone division and looks to be quite a head turner, both in terms of its looks and internals.

The smartphone sports a metal uni-body design with its distinguishing feature - the hardware keyboard up front underneath the display. What is extremely unique is the fact that the fingerprint reader is in tegrated into the space button in the keyboard.

On the specifications front, the BlackBerry Mercury is expected to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM and  a 3,400mAh battery. Additionally, the device will come with a 4.5'display with a resolution of 1620x1080 and 64GB of internal storage.

Software wise, the Mercury will come with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box along with BlackBerry's suite of DTEK security applications.

Also Read: New Nokia 3310 will be sleeker, come with larger color display

Last year, BlackBerry announced it will delegate manufacturing duties of their handsets to other companies and will stick to design and their security software package. The Mercury will be manufactured by TCL but in certain markets like Indi a and Indonesia where TCL will not be able to sell BlackBerry products directly, the company is in the process of finalising local manufacturers.

All in all, this year's MWC is expected to be extremely action packed. Stay tuned to India Today for all the action as it unfolds.



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