Strange screens, cashierless shops, and Japanese atomic clocks

The booth of rare screens

Beyond the plague of humanoid robots and Xiaomi electric cars, if there's one photogenic stand at MWC, it's Lenovo and Motorola's. Nowhere else will you find so many computers in unusual formats, especially laptops: ones that automatically extend upwards to display a full page, or to both sides to provide more space for video games. These extendable screens, by the way, are manufactured by Samsung Display. Lenovo is also exhibiting at MWC a laptop with two internal screens, one with a 3D effect, and a doubly modular model: it has a detachable external screen that functions as a tablet, combined with a removable keyboard, and interchangeable connection ports for when a USB-C isn't needed, but an HDMI port is. Motorola, Lenovo's mobile brand, has announced in Barcelona a smartphone...googled which uses the alternative operating system GrapheneOS. There's a slight touch of revenge involved, because Motorola Mobility was owned by Google between 2012 and 2014, which ruthlessly divested itself of the company to replace it with its own Nexus brand (now Pixel).

Automatic Stores

Much of the space occupied by the two largest stands at MWC, Huawei in Hall 1 and Ericsson in Hall 2, consists of their respective indoor areas—impregnable strongholds accessible only by invitation, as they are reserved for major clients such as telecommunications operators and governments worldwide. I plan to visit both stands this Wednesday, but I've already strolled through the outdoor areas open to the general public, where less strategic products and services are displayed. Both brands feature simulated stores: the Chinese giant, a mini automated supermarket where there's no need to go through a checkout because cameras detect which products you take from the shelves—and they are quick to clarify that they don't capture any facial images of the shopper; the Swedish firm demonstrates the benefits of 5G network segmentation, a technology that offers its clients guaranteed bandwidth, in this case for the most crucial function of a business: payment terminals. According to Ericsson, while a standard 5G network experiences 332 failed transactions, segmented 5G only experiences three. The difference in revenue is more than €24,000. At MWC, there is a third example of retail: the beverage cart for airplanes that Airbus is showcasing in the Airport of the Future area. It features a camera that detects which product the flight attendant serves to the passenger, charges them, and deducts it from the available onboard stock.

The rising sun of advanced communications

If you're interested in cutting-edge technology, a visit to a Japanese exhibitor at MWC is a must. This year, the National Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) is showcasing recent examples of its two main areas of expertise: pure research in this field and state funding for projects in companies like NTT, KDDI, and Softbank. It's a successful model that we in the EU should perhaps consider. Among the examples on display in Hall 6 are a Toshiba quantum key distribution server already in use by banks and the military; a cyberattack monitoring system; a service for precisely synchronizing network time using an atomic clock, which will prevent collisions between robots connected to the future 5G network; and a multidirectional speaker that simultaneously broadcasts translations of messages from Japanese to English, Chinese, and Spanish, ensuring the listener only hears their own translation.