The TechCrunch team is in Barcelona this week to bring you all the action going on at Mobile World Congress 2024. You already know what we’re expecting, so sit back, relax, and stay tuned throughout the week as we bring you the products, announcements, and startup news from MWC that you need to know.
So far, we’ve seen some big announcements from companies, including new Android features from Google, Lenovo’s new laptop concept, and Xiaomi’s robotic dog. As MWC progresses, here’s how you can follow along with our team’s coverage.
Extended battery life for OnePlus
OnePlus’ upcoming Watch 2 is promising a jaw-dropping 100 hours “in full Smart Mode.” This claim comes after the company spent three years on its battery technology. Brian Heater spoke with Tuomas Lampen, OnePlus Europe’s head of strategy, about why the company took that long and how it was able to squeeze 100 hours out of the new watch.
“Battery is precisely the sort of thing OnePlus needs to lean into,” given that its first generation product only had about 25 hours of battery life. And that was with the GPS turned off.
Xiaomi’s CyberDog
After years of reporting on Xiaomi’s CyberDog, Brian Heater was finally able to see the robotic dog up-close at MWC. He got to see the little dog’s dressage shuffle and do a little dance, which he wrote reminded him “of a scaled down version of Boston Dynamics’ familiar robot.” Since Brian’s story in 2021, Xiaomi has made some changes to its dog, including a more realistic version of a head to replace the previous flatter one. CyberDog 2 can currently be purchased online for $3,000 – that’s nearly double the $1,600 price point of its predecessor.
Lenovo’s laptop concept
If you’ve always wanted to look at the back of your desk while working, Lenovo’s new transparent laptop will certainly give you that joy. That is, if it ever makes it to production. It looks like your standard laptop with a few exceptions — the screen has a transparent pane, and it and the keyboard part remind us of an augmented reality experience. Meaning the graphics are overlaid on whatever is behind it. For now, Lenovo enjoys showing off its creativity.
Google brings AI to new features
Today, Google rolled out AI into more of its services, including a new set of features for phones, cars, and wearables. These are using Gemini to craft messages, AI-generated captions for images, summarizing texts through AI for Android Auto, along with access to passes on Wear OS. In addition, Google Messages will get a feature that lets you access Gemini in the app. The feature is currently in beta and only supports English. The mobile giant is also launching some accessibility-related features as well. One is the Lookout app, which helps visually impaired people with things like food labels and documents, that will now generate AI-powered captions for images that have missing or inaccurate captions or alt text.
Also at MWC, DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis spoke on a panel with Wired’s Steven Levy to talk about Google being able to “unpause” the ability of its multimodal generative AI tool, Gemini, to depict people. The capability to respond to prompts for images of humans should be back online in the “next few weeks”, he said. Natasha Lomas reports that “Google suspended the Gemini capability last week after users pointed out the tool was producing historically incongruous images, such as depicting the U.S. founding fathers as a diverse group of people, rather than only white men.”
A desktop lamp to improve your mood
Seaborough, a Dutch company, showcased small devices designed to replace large light therapy lamps that mimics the sun’s impact on the production of serotonin in the brain. One sits next to the computer and the other clips above the display, looking a lot like an external webcam. Both plug into the USB port for power. You’ll have to wait a bit, though, as the lamp is still in proof-of-concept mode.
Infinix wants to put the back of your phone to work
The Infinix E-Color Shift improves upon the e-ink screen work started by Yota Phone years ago. What’s new here is the addition of color and what Brian Heater describes as “a fun aesthetic addition to the part of your device that is nearly always covered by a case, your hand or otherwise face down on a table.”
