Mobile World Congress 2017 Recap: Tomorrow's Technology, Today.
It’s been a week since the close of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and much like our experience at CES (see our report here) we’ve witnessed an imminent change in the way people will interact with technology. At CES we saw a paradigm shift from “everything will be connected” to “everything will be cognified,” and MWC imparted its own quantum leap from a focus on “more, better, faster” connectivity to a profound shift in the way we think about the power of connectivity.
5G will bring with it brand new use cases, encourage new consumer behaviors (think about how you video consumption will change when you can download two movies in a second), and threatens some established business models; (e.g. what are fixed internet providers planning to do when 5G is faster than broadband?). Needless to say, there’s a lot of hype and a ton of promise coming out of the tradeshow. What you’ll find below are some of the highlights from our time on the show floor, demonstrating the power of connectivity to enhance the digital experience:
Edge Computing pushes the computation of data away from the cloud or data center and closer to the devices that need the computation, a pre-requisite for the enablement of truly autonomous cars (which have been dubbed “data centers on wheels”), but also to provide high-fidelity experiences in places where congestion and network traffic can be an issue.
Evolving Assistants: Most of the assistants currently on the market rely on voice prompts to search for information or provide utility through 3rd party skills. Sony’s Xperia Agent concept adds facial recognition, video conferencing, and syncing to your calendar and other services. Functionality like this offers us a glimpse of the power provided by the combination voice and visual UI.
Deep Learning and Image Recognition: One of the most impressive technology demos we witnessed on the floor took a 2-dimensional image from a single Kinect camera and translated it into a 3-dimensional model within a VR environment in real time. This technology gave us a look at the power of AI in building virtual experiences from live content.
Advanced Biometrics: You’re probably used to using your thumb to unlock your phone, but soon, biometrics like your heart beat, or your iris may provide stronger, additional security. As sensors collect more data and more of our personal information flows through our devices, having stronger identification will help provide the security necessary for peace of mind in a world dominated by IoT.
Thinking back to how strongly the theme of connectivity figured into all of the technology demos and predictions about 5G, I’ve come to see the the pillar of Connection as a multiplying force for Cognition and Connection while also acting as the glue that binds them together, enabling momentum toward a future of ambient computing, where glass screens no longer hold dominion over the digital experience, and sensors everywhere act on context, preference, and artificial intelligence.
The Future is here. It just hasn’t been downloaded… yet.
See the full report below: