Huawei Mate X
There's no doubt about it the star of Mobile World Congress2019 vintage. Visit "form factor of smartphones is finally evolving to offer something other than a simple geometric rectangle. In the wake of Samsung, Huawei offers an even more spectacular version of what a foldable smartphone with a very large screen. The Mate X allows you to multitask on its XXL screen, while it comes with an optional 5G (3 seconds to download 1 GB). Its 4,500 mAh battery can be charged at record speed thanks to the Supercharge 55 watts, giving a gain of 85 % in just 30 minutes.
Once you've handled it, you'll be left with an impression that oscillates between great seduction and circumspection. Clearly, it's a magnificent object, and its 8-inch pOLED screen is of impressive quality. When closed, it sits well in the hand and is just a little thicker (11 mm), longer and heavier than a large high-end smartphone of the moment. Pressing a physical button unlocks the screen, and you have to extend it by hand to open it fully. The sensation of a certain fragility Despite the 100-odd components of the patented hinge mechanism, there's a slight unevenness when you run your hand over the fold. So these demonstration prototypes are not perfect, and the technological challenge is immense, but we can be sure that by the time the back-to-school launch (€2,299 with 8GB RAM and 512GB ROM), the manufacturer has succeeded in further improving its star product. The fact remains, however, that its configuration with the screen on the outside requires the use of a special case to protect it.
Samsung Galaxy Fold
It's impossible not to mention the great rival of Huawei's foldable model, the Samsung Galaxy Foldpresented a few days before the Mobile World Congress and displayed here directly opposite the Chinese model, their two stands juxtaposed. Here, the design choices are different, with a large 7.3-inch screen that folds away inside the smartphone. This has the advantage of protecting it when the device is closed, whereas the Huawei constantly exposes its screen, which is inevitably more fragile than that of a normal smartphone, made from anti-shock and anti-scratch safety glass (generally supplied by Corning's Gorilla Glass brand). There remains the question of bending, which is more pronounced with this solution. Once closed, the Samsung offers only a small 4.6" external screen, a a surprising step backwards to which our eyes are no longer accustomed. To put it plainly, it's designed primarily to be used open, and it remains to be seen whether this will prove practical in everyday use. It hides a solid 4,380 mAh battery and a latest-generation processor accompanied by 512 GB of memory and 12 GB of RAM, a record.
Only a few months' use of these two promising models will reveal the true benefits of their XXL screen format, as well as their inevitable drawbacks. Above all, let's hope that their supposed fragility will be disproved by use, because given the advertised prices, they will have to be truly durable: expect to pay around 2 000 € when it was launched before the summer.
Lastly, TCL showed prototypes of foldable screens with different configurations, but did not yet announce a specific model. Royole is also marketing a model (not yet fully developed), and Xiaomi, Motorola and a few others are working on their own versions of foldable smartphones. So there's plenty to look forward to in the coming months!
Nokia 9 Pureview
Nokia has long worked with the renowned German specialist in photographic optics, Zeiss, to offer photophones quality. But with this new top-of-the-range model, presented at Mobile World Congress, it is taking things a step further by incorporating no less than 5 objectives on the back, in collaboration with Light, a company that made a name for itself a few years ago with a relatively compact camera incorporating 16 lenses. It is then the power of the associated software that assembles the shots taken to take advantage of an immense level of detail and produce high-quality images. Once the photo has been taken, it is also possible to adjust the depth of field and the sharpness of the image.
Other assets of this very neat and well finished smartphone include a pure Android 9 Pie interface that offers great reliability and ease of use, and above all, updates as soon as possible with Android One certification. All of which means you'll be able to keep up with the highest levels of security developed by Google. All for €699.
Xiaomi MiMix 5G
At Mobile World Congress, 5G is the talk of the town. It's all over the stands, and it's as conspicuous by its presence in the halls of the Barcelona show as it is by its absence from the world, apart from a few very localised test areas for the time being. The fact remains that most smartphone manufacturers are offering their 5G devices, with speeds promised to be 10 times faster than 4G. Among them, one of the first to join the market is already boasting an ultra-competitive price, as is customary for its manufacturer: it's the Chinese company Xiaomi, with its MiMix 5G advertised at €649.90 (around €150 more than the 4G version), and available in France from the second half of the year. There are also 5G handsets from LG (which is moving away from the French telephony market), Samsung, ZTE, Huawei, Sony, OnePlus and Oppo.
Of course, all these 5G terminals are compatible with current 4G, 3G and other networks.
Another interesting consequence of 5G's potential is that a number of brands (Huawei, HTC, etc.) are offering routers that provide a connection worthy of the best fixed Internet access, whether on the move or in a fixed location. All that remains to be done is to set up a network worthy of the name, which will begin in France, step by step, next year...
Huawei MateBook X Pro
Does the name and design remind you of the world successfully defined over the years by Apple and its MacBook Pro? That's understandable... Huawei is clearly trying to take over Apple's PC business. And it's true that the new top-of-the-range MateBook X Pro presented at Mobile World Congress is very attractive, both in terms of its design and its performance. Its 13.9-inch edge-to-edge touchscreen is impressive, and its metal construction ensures a high level of quality in a very compact package. It is powered by an 8th-generation Intel processor up to Core i7 8565 and is connected via Bluetooth 5 and high-speed WiFi (1,733 mb/s). The new Huawei Share system Extended allows content to be easily shared or copied and pasted between a Huawei smartphone and a computer at a speed of 30 mb/s, by bringing the smartphone close to an area beneath the keyboard. Here too, the brand is seeking to create a more closed universe between its different models, in the image of the Apple brand. Finally, a chip is dedicated to the security with integrated fingerprint reader. You can expect to pay €1,599 for an i5 configuration, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of memory, and €1,999 for i7, 16GB and 1TB: also very top-of-the-range prices.
