MWC 2024: Everything announced so far, including a ‘rollable’ Motorola concept phone

The TechCrunch crew is in Barcelona this week to carry you all of the motion occurring at Mobile World Congress 2024. You already know what we’re expecting, so sit again, chill out and keep tuned all through the week as we carry you the merchandise, bulletins and startup information from MWC that that you must know.

To date, we’ve seen some large bulletins from firms, together with new Android options from Google, Lenovo’s new laptop computer idea and rollable telephone idea and Xiaomi’s robotic canine. As MWC progresses, here’s how you can follow along with our team’s coverage.

Tuesday, February 27

Displace wi-fi tv

Displace MiniTV

Mike Butcher caught up with Displace founder and CEO Balaji Krishna, who mentioned the corporate’s 55-inch Show Flex product. It’s a a “wi-fi” $3,000 4K OLED TV  which sticks to partitions with no conventional mounting. It was launched in January at CES. Krishna says extra variations of the display, and new options, are coming. One we are able to speak now about is a “Show Mini” that will likely be a smaller 27-inch TV and designed for a kitchen or rest room area. Krishna additionally hinted at future characteristic based mostly on an “AI-powered buying engine” letting customers buy merchandise from advertisements, and a contactless cost reader.

Motorola’s rollable idea telephone

Picture Credit:

What’s the utmost dimension of a tool that you’ll put on in your wrist? If “larger is best” is your go-to reply, Lenovo has one thing for you. The corporate has designed what it’s calling a “rollable concept phone” for Motorola that folds round your wrist. Key phrase being “idea,” as a result of there isn’t a proof this might turn out to be a product. Regardless, it’s enjoyable to see.

Monday, February 26

Doublepoint’s up to date WowMouse gesture-touch

DoublePoint WowMouse app. Picture Credit: Doublepoint

Android smartwatch customers can now have their very own model of Doublepoint’s WowMouse gesture-touch management app. Pinch away!

Microsoft’s AI Entry Rules

Picture Credit: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto / Getty Photographs

Brad Smith, the president and vice chair of Microsoft, introduced a framework immediately known as “AI Entry Rules,” which is an 11-point plan that Smith stated will “govern how we are going to function our AI datacenter infrastructure and different necessary AI property around the globe.” Though the implication right here is that Microsoft is open to dialogue and dialog with stakeholders, mockingly, Smith delivered the information in a keynote speech, with no scope for follow-up questions.

Xiaomi’s first electrical automotive

Picture Credit: Brian Heater

Xiaomi EV’s first product — the extremely anticipated Xiaomi SU7 — is gentle on particulars. We do know that it’s a “full-size high-performance eco-technology sedan” with plans to reach in China sooner or later subsequent 12 months. Along with design, Xiaomi has developed the 5 core EV applied sciences: E-Motor, CTB Built-in Battery, Xiaomi Die Casting, Xiaomi Pilot Autonomous Driving, and Good Cabin. And, as mentioned before, it should have the “HyperOS” working system.

Samsung’s first good ring

Picture Credit: Brian Heater

Diamonds could also be a woman’s greatest buddy, however for those who’re a woman who can’t sleep, Samsung’s new Galaxy Ring could turn out to be your new favourite. A few of the options embrace on-board sensors to measure coronary heart price, motion and respiration to create a cross part of the wearer’s well being and sleep patterns. Questions round pricing and battery life stay unanswered for now.

Prolonged battery life for OnePlus

Picture Credit: OnePlus

OnePlus’ upcoming Watch 2 is promising a jaw-dropping 100 hours “in full Good Mode.” This declare comes after the corporate spent three years on its battery know-how. Brian Heater spoke with Tuomas Lampén, OnePlus Europe’s head of technique, about why the company took that long and the way it was capable of squeeze 100 hours out of the brand new watch.

Final week, Brian reported that “battery is precisely the sort of thing OnePlus needs to lean into,” provided that its first-generation product had solely about 25 hours of battery life. And that was with the GPS turned off.

Xiaomi’s CyberDog

Picture Credit: Brian Heater

After years of reporting on Xiaomi’s CyberDog, Brian Heater was lastly capable of see the robotic canine up shut at MWC. He bought to see the little canine’s dressage shuffle and perform a little dance, which he wrote reminded him “of a scaled down model of Boston Dynamics’ acquainted robotic.” Since Brian’s story in 2021, Xiaomi has made some modifications to its canine, together with a extra real looking model of a head to switch the earlier flatter one. CyberDog 2 can at the moment be bought on-line for $3,000 — that’s practically double the $1,600 value level of its predecessor.

Lenovo’s laptop computer idea

Picture Credit: Brian Heater

Should you’ve all the time needed to look behind your desk whereas working, Lenovo’s new transparent laptop will definitely offer you that pleasure. That’s, if it ever makes it to manufacturing. It seems like your commonplace laptop computer with a couple of exceptions — the display has a clear pane, and it and the keyboard half remind us of an augmented actuality expertise, that means the graphics are overlaid on no matter is behind it. For now, Lenovo enjoys displaying off its creativity.

Google brings AI to new options

At the moment, Google rolled out AI into extra of its providers, together with a brand new set of options for telephones, automobiles and wearables. These are utilizing Gemini to craft messages, AI-generated captions for photographs, summarizing texts by AI for Android Auto, together with entry to passes on Put on OS. As well as, Google Messages will get a characteristic that permits you to entry Gemini within the app. The characteristic is at the moment in beta and solely helps English. The cell big can also be launching some accessibility-related options as nicely. One is the Lookout app, which helps visually impaired people with things like food labels and documents and will now generate AI-powered captions for photographs which have lacking or inaccurate captions or alt textual content.

Additionally at MWC, DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis spoke on a panel with Wired’s Steven Levy to speak about Google being able to “unpause” the power of its multimodal generative AI instrument, Gemini, to depict individuals. The potential to answer prompts for photographs of people needs to be again on-line within the “subsequent few weeks,” he stated. Natasha Lomas experiences that “Google suspended the Gemini functionality last week after customers identified the instrument was producing traditionally incongruous photographs, akin to depicting the U.S. Founding Fathers as a various group of individuals, fairly than solely white males.”

A desktop lamp to enhance your temper

Picture Credit: Brian Heater

Seaborough, a Dutch firm, showcased small gadgets designed to switch giant light therapy lamps that mimic the solar’s affect on the manufacturing of serotonin within the mind. One sits subsequent to the pc and the opposite clips above show, wanting rather a lot like an exterior webcam. Each plug into the USB port for energy. You’ll have to attend a bit, although, because the lamp remains to be in proof-of-concept mode.

Infinix needs to place the again of your telephone to work

Picture Credit: Brian Heater

The Infinix E-Color Shift improves upon the e-ink display work began by YotaPhone years in the past. What’s new right here is the addition of shade and what Brian Heater describes as “a enjoyable aesthetic addition to the a part of your gadget that’s practically all the time lined by a case, your hand or in any other case facedown on a desk.”