As MWC 2023 comes to a close, the dust settles, and I do a big lie down, it’s easy to forget a few little things in the maelstrom. Well, just so we don’t forget, I thought I’d write some down. While Honor and Oppo join the foldable fight with big loud presentations, others are cooking up some unique stuff.
Anyway, head below for some cool tech stuff in that vein, or check out our MWC 2023 foldable roundup for the main pack of announcements broken down with hands-ons. We’ve also got a roundup of the Honor Magic Vs launch and the Realme GT3 with its 240W charging.
Nokia’s repairability mission
With the Nokia G22, the company is taking a different approach to the smartphone market than its competitors. And while the company isn’t at its old heights, this caught my eye for the simple fact that it’s unique.
With just a handful of tools, a simple online manual, and a space to do it, you can replace the G22’s battery super easily, and with a little more delicate unplugging you can even get the screen completely off. In my demo, I was a little bit hamfisted, but even an exhausted idiot like myself managed it.
This then means that there’s less shipping and waste if you need something simple like a replacement battery, and with the recycled materials used in the manufacturing of the device, it’s really going all-in on getting green, which is nice to see.
Miraxess
Miraxess wants to make the only laptop you’ll ever need – and it doesn’t even have a processor inside. What the French company does is build aluminium laptop shells with FHD screens and a keyboard for you to plug in your phone and make use of Samsung Dex.
Now, Samsung is quite quiet about Dex, but it lets you use the power of your smartphone to turn a monitor into a usable computer. While I like to use super-powerful laptops, I was quite surprised by the ease with which the system works.
The most impressive thing about Miraxess’ MiraBook is the build quality, with the company clearly gunning for Apple’s design language. This quality, however, comes with a cost, and with the device set at $499, it’s not exactly a steal. Still, it’s a neat idea that can reduce waste, help the planet, and streamline your device usage all at the same time, and it’s worth keeping an eye on.
OnePlus Featuring Keyboard 81 Pro
OnePlus Featuring is the name for the brand’s collaborative efforts, which all kick off with this new keyboard. It has an excellent, hard-edged aesthetic, with wide rims, a big metal stand to get it at a nice angle, and a dial in the top right-hand corner for analogue controls.
The main issue is the name, right? OnePlus Featuring sounds a little odd. Maybe they could’ve gone for OnePlusPlus – as in, OnePlus, plus some other company. Anyway, that’s enough free marketing ideas for the OnePlus folks, let’s keep this moving.
Lenovo’s rollables
Okay, so this has kind of been all over the internet (we’ve already written about it!), but Lenovo’s new rollable concepts are so odd and I think we should all appreciate them more. I don’t think there’s much use in a rollable, but I do find them hilarious.
Look at that laptop with the overextended screen! There’s just so much comedy in that funny little object. The phone is less comedic, except the screen does roll down, and then scroll down a tad, revealing the selfie camera behind, which is kinda neat. Fun stuff.
Xiaomi’s camera concept
Xiaomi joined the concept phone train recently by extending its Leica partnership beyond just some name branding. This idea lets you bolt a camera lens onto the circular camera bump on the back of your phone, and it’s pretty cool.
Sure, the small sensor in the phone is still the main limitation, so this is not a great replacement, but it does look pretty darn snazzy. That’s all really – it’s just a concept and probably isn’t that useful – but it does look nice, right?
Okay, that’s all the MWC 2023 tech you might’ve missed. It’s been a long week and Ben needs a big sleep – so take a load off and read more tech tales with our Tecno Phantom V Fold hands-on, or Samsung’s ray-tracing comments.
