From the laptop with the transparent screen to the first truly functioning flying car, the jewels of the technological industry are on display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which this year veer a little from the traditional focus on smartphones, with some interesting exceptions.
The four-day hi-tech event which ends on Thursday sees US company Alef Aeronautics show to the public for the first time the first working model of a vertical take-off car to receive a special certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) . The current prototype can carry two people for a maximum distance of about 170 kilometers, and the company plans to start production of a final version at the end of 2025. The company has already received almost 3,000 pre-orders for the car, which is sold for $300,000.
You can’t miss yet another robotic dog, this time produced by the Chinese Tecno Mobile. Inspired by the German Shepherd, it uses artificial intelligence and powerful sensors to understand voice commands and perform realistic actions such as bowing, giving a paw and climbing stairs. The robot – dubbed “Dynamic 1” – can also be controlled by smartphone apps and aims to provide the “joy of pet ownership” without the hassle.
The first real practical application, however, is that of an object that is still a prototype and which could revolutionize the way of working on the move: Lenovo’s transparent laptop. It has a 17.3-inch display that offers a completely borderless and transparent viewing experience.
Instead of the traditional keyboard, it has a touch surface onto which you can project the keys or use a special pen to draw on the screen. The company has not announced a release date for the product, but the transparency of the screen can be adjusted so that those around you can only see what you are doing if you want them to.
“Until now, the transparent display only existed in futuristic movies, perhaps in augmented reality glasses,” said Lenovo executive director Zheng Aiguo.
To return to more playful and if possible more futuristic applications, Hyodol, produced by the South Korean company of the same name, is a companion doll powered by artificial intelligence designed for the elderly. With her cloth body, flowered blouse and brown hair, Hyodol has every appearance of a children’s doll. But it’s packed with sensors and microprocessors, can play songs, remind seniors with a voice message to take their medicine, and can raise an alarm when no movement is detected for a certain period of time. At 35 centimeters tall, it is designed to speak when touched by the user and based on customizable time settings such as meal times. “We are committed to empowering seniors to live independently while staying connected to their community and loved ones,” the company said.
Dutch startup Whispp has unveiled a calling app that uses AI technology to hide speech impediments due to conditions such as throat cancer, stroke or even stuttering in the user’s natural voice in real time. Unlike other solutions for people with voice disorders that convert speech to text, the app allows the user to talk to anyone they want on their phone or laptop and maintain a natural conversation flow, while maintaining the sound of their own voice . “We’re really helping people who have lost their voice find it again,” said Whispp co-founder and CEO Joris Castermans, adding that he hopes the app will one day be on every smartphone “to make the world more inclusive “.
On the smartphone front, one of the most interesting innovations brought to Barcelona is the Honor Magic6 Pro which, when combined with the MagicBook Pro 16 laptop, offers a seamless experience thanks to AI features also taking advantage of Magic Capsule, which gives users Instant access to essential resources by eliminating the need to navigate multiple apps and Magic Portal to understand messaging and user behavior, simplifying complex tasks into a single process.
Generative artificial intelligence is the protagonist of this edition of the MWC in Barcelona, in which we will once again return to talking about 5G technology, albeit with an eye already on 6G. 5G has been the protagonist of the MWC editions in the last five years, but this is the year of the exhibition of real cases of use of this technology, which has not yet fully taken off due to the large investments it requires. For the MWC this is the “consolidation” edition after a few years of slowdown, even stop, due to the pandemic. More than 2,400 present their products in the eight pavilions on the Gran Via of the Fira de Barcelona. The MWC has long since stopped focusing on mobile technology and has become a conference more open to the concept of digital services, such as open platforms for developers. The expectation that there was last year regarding the metaverse is dampened and this year the protagonists are industry 5.0, extended reality applied to industrial uses, artificial intelligence as a tool made available for development and sustainability energy.