Samsung, Nokia draw attention with new phones at MWC

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With the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) around the corner, biggest names in mobile devices such as Samsung and Nokia are arousing interest from consumers.

Samsung Galaxy S9 focuses on the camera

The South Korean tech giant unveiled its flagship Galaxy S9 smartphone last Sunday in Barcelona, Spain, with an emphasis on a collection of minor improvements to its camera.

Samsung’s new Galaxy S9 phone promises better pictures. /AP Photo

The S9 promises better low-light shots, while offering a video mode that appears to freeze fast-moving objects, matching a feature in some Sony phones. The S9 can automatically detect when there’s high-speed motion to record, such as a cork popping off a bottle of champagne. A fifth of a second of video gets stretched out into six seconds.

For the first time in a major phone, the S9 will let users change the camera’s aperture to let in more light, making for better images in dark settings.

Here are some additional things to know:

Unchanged: The S9 features the same screen, same virtual home button and same battery capacity as the S8. Samsung did move the fingerprint sensor on the back to reduce smears on the camera lens.

A second lens: The camera on the Plus model now has a second lens with twice the magnification, a feature already available in Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 and some iPhones. This means sharper close-ups.

Samsung Galaxy S9's feature for creating personal emojis to share. /AP Photo

Fun with selfies: Snap a selfie, and Samsung’s software will turn that into an emoji version of you for sharing. It’s usually a static image, though you can produce an animated version – much like the iPhone X’s Animoji feature.

Visual assistant: Samsung’s Bixby digital assistant mimics a similar Google feature that pulls up information on landmarks or other items you’ve just photographed. New Bixby capabilities let it instantly translate signs (point the camera, and the phone replaces the sign’s text in a matching color and font) and provide nutritional info for that restaurant meal you’re splurging on.

The new phones will be available from March 16.

Nokia 8110: ‘banana phone’ looks to the past

The new Nokia 8110 will be available in May at 79 euros (97 US dollars). /Reuters Photo

A serial of new products was unveiled by Nokia on Sunday, including Android Oreo (Go Edition) Nokia 1, Nokia 7 Plus, Nokia 8 Sirocco and the already-announced Nokia 6. Besides the mentioned four, an eye-catchy “banana phone” was released with the Sunday-launch, which is a new version of the iconic Nokia 8110 with 4G Internet.

With the bright yellow or black color, the phone kept its unique curved shape. Nokia 8110 was first introduced in 1996 and was famous for its appearance in the 1999 movie "The Matrix."

The 8110 will run an operating system known as Kai OS and has a battery life of up to 25 days. A group of apps includes Google’s Assistant and Maps, Facebook, Twitter, and the once beloved game Snake could be used on the phone.

Seeking to capitalize on their comeback over the past year, the makers of Nokia phones are expanding to include a premium Android smartphone, their first, and a remake of one of its biggest hits of the 1990s, the 8110 “slider” phone.

The new Nokia 8110 will be available in May at 79 euros (97 US dollars).

(Cover Photo: Reuters)

Source(s): AP ,Reuters