Mobile World Congress 2018 should reveal new hardware products from a variety of big names in mobile smart devices. This event is a trade show fun by GSMA, and it's the place where some of the most important smart devices of the year are launched. Did I mention devices? Today I'm going to run down the basics in what we expect from MWC at the tail end of this month.
It would appear that it's time to ship the Nextbit Robin cloud-based smartphone - at last. After weeks and months after the device was first backed on KickStarter, the creators of the device have made the call for first shipments to be sent out. This first wave will be for KickStarter backers only, tending first to the first users that made the effort to lend their support - in the form of money - to get this company, and this device, off the ground in the first place.
This morning the device code-named Samsung Galaxy Alpha has appeared at the FCC, making its reveal and appearance all the more likely for next month. It appears quite likely that this smartphone will be revealed for the first time September 3rd. It’ll be there that the next Samsung Galaxy Note will be unveiled as well: Samsung Galaxy Note 4, for those of you keeping count.
It's time already to see the Moto G hit the market in the USA despite previous suggestion that we'd have to wait until 2014. That is, if you're all about working with the GSM model of the device rather than the CDMA version, meaning you'll be working with the likes of AT&T and/or T-Mobile rather than Verizon. This single model works with a 4.5-inch display and a quad-core processor for $179 USD off-contract.
Earlier this week, the Verizon version of the Moto X Developer Edition went up for sale, bringing with it a $649.99 price tag and the promise that a GSM version for use on T-Mobile and AT&T would soon follow. Such a handset is now up for sale on Motorola's website, bearing the same price tag and advisement that shipping could take up to a solid 7-day week due to demand.
A Technical University of Berlin telecommunications security research group has revealed that it was able to block local cell phones from receiving calls and text messages using a software modification on a GSM phone. As such, this method can be used as a telecommunications hack that prevents a specific network area from properly sending communication on to handsets.
![GSM Moto X spills with early processor power test [UPDATE]](https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/colors3-820x420.jpg)
This afternoon two rather up-close-and-personal videos have appeared showing the Motorola smartphone Moto X, the following involving a CPU/GPU test which shows a bit about this machine's innards. What we're told here by the user leaking the smartphone (once again) is that this smartphone works with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core SoC - but what we're able to see quite clearly in the tests he runs is that this is merely an upgraded MSM8960 with an Adreno 320 GPU, meaning it's one step above the Motorola RAZR HD, but still below the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S 4.
Here at Showstoppers 2013 during CES 2013, Evado Filip is showing off its new device called VivoPlay. The device has one very important goal: keep your children safe without suffocating them. Parents can link the VivoPlay to a companion iOS or Android app, keeping tabs on their child while letting them still be a kid.
PA Consulting has created a mobile phone basestation using the Raspberry Pi. In doing so, they replaced a giant 30-foot GSM cell basestation that is scarcely larger than your Internet modem. The consulting group based in Cambridge, UK, detail briefly how they achieved this in a video that you can watch after the jump.
Rejoice all ye owners of the GSM version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus because not only is it time for an Android software update, it's coming the easy way, too - right over the air. All you'll have to do is go into your settings and hit the software update button inside your device info near the bottom of your setting list and bam! There it is, ready to bring you up to an ever-so-slightly changed user interface.
Last week, we told you that the iPhone 5 comes with a special little bonus if you're buying from Verizon. The massive carrier's version of the iPhone 5 is GSM unlocked, meaning that users could potentially pop in a SIM card from another carrier, say AT&T for example, and use the phone on its network. This feature will definitely be appreciated by travelers, and today we have even more good news to share: Verizon says that it has no plans to lock down its iPhone 5.
Well this is an interesting bit of news: iDownloadBlog's Jeff Benjamin has discovered that Verizon's iPhone 5 is indeed GSM unlocked. The way he discovered this was by cutting up an AT&T micro SIM card and putting it in his freshly-acquired iPhone 5 from Verizon. To his surprise (and ours), the iPhone picked up an AT&T signal, and he was able to hop onto the carrier's HSPA+ network and do a little bit of surfing.