MWC 2015: Sunday Recap for 01 March 2015

The annual Mobile World Congress officially began today however, like at many of these big trade shows, there are always pre-event announcements and press conferences to announce new devices.

Although there were many devices announced on Sunday, I want to focus and summarize those that are Windows, Windows Phone and Microsoft related.

Each day of MWC 2015 we will highlight the new hardware and services in a blog post like this to bring together those items in one central place for your review and reference.

Lenovo Ideapad MIIX 300 Windows 8.1 Tablet

This is one of the latest entries in the sub-10 inch tablet category which takes advantage of the free Windows 8.1 with Bing licensing to deliver the full version of Windows in a compact device.

- 8 inch IPS WUXGA screen (1200 x 800)
- Intel Atom processor
- 2GB DDR3L RAM
- Up to 64GB of eMMC storage
- MicroSD card reader
- Up to 7 hours of battery
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
- Dual cameras
- Platinum silver finish
- Includes a one year subscription to Office 365 which includes 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage and 60 Skype Worldwide minutes

The MIIX 300 will be available starting in July through major retailers and will cost $149. I wonder if it comes in a clean version. Still too soon maybe?

HP Spectre x360 Ultra-thin 2 in 1 PC

This looks like a premium product, with premium specs but without the typical premium price tag.

Of course the HP Spectre x360 comes with the normal collection of specs:

- Intel Core i5 and i7 dual core processors
- 4GB and 8GB memory configurations
- 128GB, 256GB and 512GB SSD options
- 13.3 inch full HD touch screen (some configurations have Quad-HD at 2560 x 1440)
- Three USB 3.0 ports that utilize HP’s USB Sleep and Charge mode so that devices can still charge even if the device is in sleep mode
- 1 Mini Display port and 1HDMI port
- Full size backlit keyboard with number pad
- Wide angle HP True Vision Full HD camera
- Wireless 802.11ac includes 802.11 a/b/n for backwards compatibility
- Battery life estimated at close to 12.5 hours in certain modes

The Spectre x360 is available right now at HP.com and will be available at Best Buy on 15 March.

Here are the specific configurations the HP Spectre x360 will be available in:

- With an Intel Core i5 Processor, Full HD touchscreen display, 4GB LPDDR3 system memory and a 128GB SSD – $899.99 (U.S.).
- With an Intel Core i7, Full HD touchscreen, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD – $1149.99 (U.S.).
- With an Intel Core i7, Quad HD touchscreen, 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD – $1399.99 (U.S.).

Right now estimated ship dates from HP online is mid-March for the i5 models and immediate shipping on the i7 option.

Acer Liquid M220 Windows Phone

Acer decided the time was right to come onboard with the Windows Phone ecosystem and they are introducing their first Windows Phone device. It is joining the inexpensive Lumia handsets that are already out there and will cost 79 Euros or $89.

The press release was light on specs but this video summarizes those that were made available publicly. 

The phone will be upgradeable to Windows 10 when it is released later this year however the device may only be available in Europe, Middle East and Africa. No word about US based options.

Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge

I only mention these new Android based handsets for one reason that is the fact there will be Microsoft apps bundled on these devices out of the box.

Users will find Skype, OneDrive and OneNote in their own folder which will already be pinned to the devices homescreen.

Since Microsoft and Samsung settled their royalty related court case last month this is likely one of the elements of that settlement.

----------

Stay tuned each day as we recap all the big Windows and Microsoft related announcements during MWC 2015.