When it comes to conferences, the preshow is often just as important as the opening day, if not more so. Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, is no exception.
Day 0 has already proven Android’s virility with five Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone announcements and two Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets, with much more to come.
Even before a trio of press conferences from Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Nokia got under way, LG announced its 9-inch, dual-core Optimus Pad tablet and spilled more beans on the Optimus 3D smartphone, a lens-less way to view 3D media.
A few hours later, Sony Ericsson surprised no one by officially unveiling the leaked–and even advertised–Xperia Play PlayStation phone during its press conference, but not everyone is impressed. The phone maker also confirmed the Xperia Neo and physical keyboard-toting Xperia Pro, and sat down with CNET to discuss its aspirations to become the top Android maker in the world.
Samsung also delivered its expected news of its next-generation Galaxy S II smartphone and dual-core Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Nokia already made a splash with last Friday’s announcement that it will abandon its proprietary smartphone operating systems in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform. Although Nokia didn’t have product news, CEO Stephen Elop answered journalists’ questions about the dramatic partnership.
All in all it’s been a busy day for CNET’s jet-lagged crew. Stay tuned for more in-depth analysis and hands-on reviews to come out of Barcelona this week.