Finally, we’re back – all set and ready for great things in 2020. And great things are already right on our doorstep as we’re starting off 2020 by attending the Mobile World Congress 2020 in Barcelona (again)

When? February 24th-27th, 2020
Where? Hall 8.1, Booth 59-1 | Fira Gran Via, Barcelona | Spain

We’re looking forward to seeing the newest inventions in the mobile industry: new smartphones, new tablets, and new smartwatches including the newest foldable devices and the development of the newest 5G handhelds. Let’s take a look at what we can expect from MWC 2020.

New Phones, New Tablets, and Much More

MWC has always been a place where the big players (except Apple) show off their newest devices, be it foldable phones, a new era of tablets or smartwatches, or the newest tech innovations. So, what can we expect this year? We took a look around to show you the most common predictions (Sources: pocket-lint and trustedreviews).By the way, if you want to know what caught our eyes at MWC 2019, check out our blog articles around it: #MWC19 – This is what caught our eyes in Barcelona and MWC 2019: Foldable smartphones, 5G and sound-emitting displays

But back to 2020!We already know that Samsung will be launching the new Galaxy S20 and the Galaxy Z flip on February 11th. So we’ll definitely get the chance to see those two devices at MWC, and maybe they’ll launch something new in their A-series – who knows?Although upcoming products are still a secret with Sony, they did already confirm that there will be a press conference at MWC Barcelona. Experts predict a new smartphone that probably builds on the Xperia 1.Nokia is also expected to launch a new smartphone at MWC – most likely an affordable 5G phone.

Huawei has been heavily featured in the media lately and obviously has a lot of things to deal with. That’s why no one expects them to show a new high-end smartphone in Barcelona this year but perhaps a new laptop or mid-range phone.In contrast, Microsoft is in a completely different position as they have a lot of new mobile devices to show off, like the Surface Neo and the Surface Duo, which open up in a whole new category of devices. It’s likely that they’ll be pushing them at MWC.Of course, MWC isn’t only about all the fancy new devices it’s also about trends and current topics in the mobile industry.

MWC 2020: Topics, Trends, and Technology

This year’s event topics are all about “Limitless Intelligent Connectivity” and 5G (again).It’s not surprising that 5G is the main topic in 2020 – although it already was last year.Technology made a big step with the first 5G smartphones actually on the market already and 5G networks slowly being rolled out. Now, the possibilities that are linked to 5G are becoming real.

AI, Big Data, and IoT are all powered by 5G and the speed and capacity it allows.As MWC writes in their brochure:

“For every industry that runs and relies on the technology that the mobile world provides, there are now new opportunities: to work smarter, use finite resources more efficiently and to dramatically improve the customer experience. And by connecting everyone to everything, across every industry these opportunities are without limits. Welcome to Limitless Intelligent Connectivity.”

At Testbirds it’s our job but even more, it’s our passion to keep a close eye on the innovations in technology and the impact those innovations have on different industries. That’s why, during the coming weeks running up to MWC, we’ll dig deeper into changes that come along with 5G, AI, and IoT in some of the biggest industries. And, of course, we want to show you how Crowdtesting can help you stay ahead of your competitors.

Automotive Industry: Connected Cars powered by 5G and AI

There‘s already a lot of talking about autonomous driving and connected cars. And the basic requirement for faster development and connected cars really being able to drive is a fast and reliable network – 5G, to put a name on it.

Digitaltrends.com expects that with the deployment of 5G in the U.S., the usage of autonomous vehicles will rise. With a fast and stable network, cars will be able to “communicate with other vehicles on the road, provide information to other cars about road conditions, and offer performance information to drivers and automakers. If a car brakes quickly up ahead, yours may learn about it immediately and preemptively brake as well, preventing a collision.

”Last year we were very proud to show you some insights into our tests with BMW Motorrad and their connected drive app. If you want to read more about that, go visit our blog post about the partnership or read our BMW case study.In our first article around MWC, we dive deeper into the topic and look closely at the automotive industry’s new possibilities attributable to 5G and AI, and how Crowdtesting and Testbirds come into play there.Read the article here: Connected Cars: How 5G influences Development

(Sports) Broadcasting Industry: Faster Broadcasting, New Possibilities

I think almost everyone’s familiar with the following scenario: you’re watching an important football match, the emotion has you on the edge of your seat and you’re excitedly looking forward to the first goal. While you’re still watching the players running towards the goal you can already hear your neighbour cheering. There’s nothing more frustrating.With 5G this scenario will hopefully never ever happen again. Especially since we’re looking into 2020 being a real “sports year” with EURO 2020 and the Olympics coming up, as a broadcaster, surely you want to be able to handle the traffic and be safeguarded in regards to broadcasting downtimes.

According to Digitaltrends.com, 5G will finally also make AR/ VR tangible. You might be able to have 50-yard line seats for the Super Bowl, although you’re actually still at home. Additionally, content creators will have more opportunities when we think about real-time interactions in virtual or augmented reality. This could be showing ads or recent statistics of the ongoing game.In our upcoming articles, we’ll show you how Crowdtesting comes into play when talking about testing the new 5G network, in regards to streaming and broadcasting, but also when talking about real-time interactions.

Smart Home and the Internet of Things (IoT)

With the rise of IoT, we’ll also see a lot of development in the smart home sector.We’re already able to control lighting and heating, as well as media or security systems. Smart homes are developing, with connectivity being added to all types of traditionally “dumb” appliances.Imagine opening your fridge to start preparing dinner, automatically triggering your dinner playlist on smart speakers all around your house, as well as telling your oven to start pre-heating and your kitchen radiators to turn off to preemptively compensate for the heat coming from your oven.

Additionally, all those smart home devices can likely be manually controlled via applications on your smartphone or smartwatch.At Testbirds, we already have a lot of experience in the testing of IoT products in a real-world environment. Later in this blog series, we’ll show you how we conducted promising end-to-end tests that helped our clients in their last steps before launch.

As you can see, we expect a lot of exciting developments around the rise of 5G and we’re happy to be a part of it. If you want to seize the opportunity and talk to us about upcoming challenges for your industry and how Crowdtesting can help you deal with them, come visit us in Barcelona.

We’d be happy if you schedule a meeting upfront to make sure we have enough time for your questions. Just send us a quick message with your preferred time slot. We’re looking forward to meeting you!