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DT Daily at MWC 2018: Sony Xperia XZ2 phones, Android Go slims down, lifi lights up

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DT’s intrepid Andy Boxall continues our coverage today from Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona. Be sure to catch our full coverage of the event.

Sony Xperia XZ2 phones bring the Bullet Time

Sony arrived at MWC2018 with a pair of newly redesigned Xperia phones called the XZ2, and like a lot of other smartphones, it comes in two sizes, a regular “big” model and a more pocket-friendly “Compact” variant. Both come packed with the tech we expect and run on Android, but one highlight feature is the super-slow-motion ability of the camera, which can shoot at and astounding 960 frames per second at full 1080 High Definition resolution. We’re looking forward to all the fun you can have with that feature alone.

Go into the light

Wifi is as essential as oxygen to most people these days, but it’s also finicky, somewhat insecure and can be frustrating to set up. Solution, LiFi, or wifi using light. PureLiFi has developed a special phone case and laptop adapter to facilitate using the new technology, which has several advantages over wifi including much higher throughput speeds due to expanded bandwidth, better security since it doesn’t work through walls, and simple expandability because, hey, who can’t screw in a lightbulb? Don’t answer that.

LiFi isn’t widespread yet – its still in development – but it has the potential to be a worthy upgrade to the WiFi systems we’ve been using for decades now.

Go, Android, Go!

If you can’t spring for that shiny new $1,000 halo smartphone (and most people can’t), you might get stuck with a crappy “feature phone” that makes calls, texts… and that’s about it. Not much fun. But Google’s Android Go mobile operating system is a slimmed-down version of full-blown Oreo designed to work on phones costing less than $100, while providing many – even most – of the features of the full OS, including web access, GPS, and access to lighter-weight versions of Google’s wide suite of apps. Now, just about anyone can have a smartphone.

We’ve got more news on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, and be sure to tune in to this week’s DT podcasts: Trends with Benefits (general tech shenanigans)  on Thursdays, and Between the Streams (movie and TV topics) every Friday.

Andy Boxall
Andy has written about mobile technology for almost a decade. From 2G to 5G and smartphone to smartwatch, Andy knows tech.
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