14 DAY TRIAL // Even though the 2011 Mobile Worlds Congress starts on February 14th, it has become usual for the big players on the market to host special events one day before the grand opening. This year, three companies have scheduled special events on February 13th: Samsung, Nokia and Sony Ericsson.
We will be attending Samsung and Nokia conferences and keep you updated with the announcements.
Starting at 5.30 PM GMT Nokia is hosting “An Evening with Nokia at Mobile World Congress”. The press briefing starts at 6.30 PM, but we have no additional information about the announcements or if there will be any at all. However, in light of the recent partnership between Nokia and Microsoft, we don't expect to see any MeeGo devices anymore.
Our guess is that Finnish company will make a short briefing about its plans for 2011. Even though it might be too early to get a full 2011 roadmap of what's to come from Nokia, we should at least be able to find out what exactly is the company's strategy for Symbian^1, Symbian^3, MeeGo and Windows Phone 7.
One of the most exciting events at this year's congress is Samsung's “Mobile Unpacked” conference, which starts at 6.00 PM GMT and promises “something big that reveals our vision for 2011.” The Korean manufacturer is expected to launch the sequel to the popular Galaxy S Android smartphone. The event's logo “Evolution is Fate” might suggest a possible new name for the Galaxy S 2, unless it’s just simple play upon words.
Furthermore, Samsung is also expected to announce the Galaxy Tab 2, which is supposed to be the company's first tablet built to run Android 3.0 Honeycomb out-of-the-box. There isn’t much info regarding the tablet, but due to the recent 3D trend, Samsung may as well include a 3D display with the device.
In addition, rumors say that the Galaxy Tab 2 will have a screen resolution of 2048 x 1200 pixels, but if the device still features the same 7-inch display, such a high resolution may be a little exaggerated. However, for a 3D display this can be interpreted as 1024 x 600 in 3D. We will know more about the tablet when/if the device is showcased at the 2011 MWC.
We'll start the first official day of the 2011 MWC at LG's booth, where the Korean company has scheduled the “Into the New Dimension” event. The main attraction of the conference, which starts at 11.00 AM GMT on February 14th, will most likely be the LG Optimus 3D device. The invitation says that we will “experience the new world that LG is opening,” which hints to the aforementioned handset, which is indeed something totally new and bold for the manufacturer.
From 12.30 PM we will be visiting Intel's booth for the “Intel Press and Analyst Briefing at Mobile World Congress” where we will be provided with an in-depth look at Intel's mobile portfolio of technologies, products and services, including MeeGo, Intel AppUp center and the Intel Atom processor.
As a matter of fact, Intel has quite a few interesting events announced for this year's MWC and we intend to attend all of them if possible. We also hope to get a glimpse at the company's mysterious Medfield devices and find any information regarding the upcoming Nokia MeeGo smartphone, which was expected to be released later this year.
At 2.00 PM GMT we will be attending the Wholesale Applications Community press conference. The Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) is an open, global alliance of the world's most important carriers and device manufacturers with a common goal of uniting the fragmented applications marketplace.
WAC will be commercially launched during the 2011 Mobile World Congress and we will be provided with details on the progress of the organization over the past year. The following executives are expected to have short keynotes: Randal Stephenson, CEO and President, AT&T; Hans Vestberg, President and CEO, Ericsson; Jean-Phillippe Vanot, Deputy CEO, France Telecom and Vice Chairman, WAC; Julio Linares, COO, Telefonica; Michel Combes, Deputy CEO, Vodafone and Chairman, WAC.
We will be opening the second day at 9.30 AM GMT with live news from one of the most important events scheduled at the 2011 Mobile World Congress, HTC's press event where everyone expects a lot of goodies to be announced like the HTC Flyer tablet, the Desire 2, the Pyramid and other rumored and unannounced devices.
Unfortunately, we do not have any additional information regarding the event, as we've only been provided with the time, hour and a barcode that will allow us to be admitted at the event. More mystery is always good and showing a barcode that you received on your mobile phone to be allowed to attend an event sounds rather James Bond style. We will try to do some live blogging while at it.
Next on the agenda is Toshiba who will be hosting a 'lunch showroom' where we will get the opportunity to get hands-on with the company's latest devices. We will also be meeting with Toshiba Europe's top executives and find out about the company's latest announcements in the business. We hope to get a glimpse at Toshiba's rumored Honeycomb, Tegra 2, 10.1-inch tablet and any other new Android smartphone that the company intends to share with us.
Wednesday, February 16th, starting at 9.00 AM GMT, Softpedia editors will be revisiting Intel's booth for the “Intel Application Labs Developer Learning Event,” where we hope to learn more about the company's Intel AppUp developer program, developing for MeeGo, tools and resources available and how the Intel AppUp center works.
Later on, at 4.00 PM GMT, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Intel Ultra Mobility Group, Anand Chandrasekhar holds a keynote on “Mobile Devices: It's What's Inside that Counts.”
The keynote examines key trends in the mobile device segments that have the potential to revolutionize the user experience over the next 5 years.
In between these major events, we will be visiting a high number of booths including: Microsoft, Sony Ericsson, ViewSonic, ZTE, T-Mobile, Motorola, Dell, Comodo Console, Bolt, SPB Software, eyeSight and many more.
Be sure to track our website's news feeds to get the latest information about the upcoming events and devices at the 2011 Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona.
