From a component technology perspective, there are a few things that I am looking forward to seeing at MWC 2012, including:
- NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 processor appearing in HTC smartphones – do we really need quad core processors in handsets though? What does it add? Is power consumption improved? I'm sure the experience will be impressive and we'll know more once we've seen Tegra 3 in action on a smartphone.
- Intel’s Medfield processor should be appearing in Motorola and Lenovo smartphones at least. The performance stats appear impressive, but I’ll be looking to see how the power consumption compares to ARM-based processors.
- Qualcomm's mirasol and Pixtronix display technologies. Mirasol is only available as a 5.7-inch display at present. When will the technology be good enough for phones, if ever? And how does Pixtronix fit into Qualcomm's portfolio alongside mirasol. Does Qualcomm really need two MEMS-based display technologies?
- Powermat and other WPC wireless charging products. I’ll be looking to see the growth opportunities for Qi-compliant products and asking whether they can gain traction without Apple's commitment to the Qi standard?
- Scalado has a new camera software, called Remove, that deletes people in the background of your photos. Looks quite interesting.
- Senseg touchscreen technology. My most anticipated viewing. Their technology allows you to create customizable and changeable buttons, edges and textures on the screen, taking haptics to the next level. It won't be commerically available for another 2 years yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing the demos.
This is just a taster. I'm sure there will be plenty more to talk about at the show next week.
If you have any thoughts, let me know.
Stuart Robinson