Gadgetory

this coverage of mwc is brought to you by bitdefender mobile security wearable tech is a booming part of the mobile space and we award this year's best wearable to the device out of Samsung's camp that definitely turned a lot of heads the Samsung gear fit takes parts of the gear smartwatch and quite literally turns it on its side to create a hybrid Fitness wristband the first thing you'll notice about the gear fit is it's incredibly vibrant and enjoyable flexible o LED display of which can be outfitted into a replaceable band with Fitness in mind that the gear fit comes with a heart rate monitor and many apps to track not only your lap times but also to track your overall fitness however to make sure that you don't miss out on what your phone is doing the gear fit is able to receive and preview notifications also while allowing control of your media applications the device looks very sleek and doesn't take up too much space on your wrist while remaining easy to use with an adjustable wristband by merging the best of both worlds and stylish and vibrant fashion the Samsung gear fit gets are not for best wearable tech the tablet game was absolutely booming at mwc and three different devices really caught our eye the first to receive our award was the Lenovo yoga tablet 10 HD plus a sleek and portable offering that elegantly provided a solution to a common tablet gripe to eliminate the need for a third-party stand or accessory to prop up your tablet the enlarged bottom portion of the tablet that houses the large battery also has a built-in stand that helps it stand upright for easy viewing or at a lower angle for easier typing despite its added function the tablet remains very sleek with a metal finish and now packs a full HD display with an updated snapdragon processor to bring good performance you can enjoy at any angle our second tablet award was given to the huawei mediapad x1 while it might not see much penetration in various markets around the world we commended huawei for packing in full phone call and SMS capabilities into one of the best looking and handling 7-inch tablets around perhaps what we found most enjoyable about the x1 was its display which sports very small bezels in what is actually one of the thinnest and lightest tablets we've had the pleasure of handling and when you really need it you can answer that important phone call or respond to that important text all from the same device arnaud goes to huawei for bringing the phone into a very nicely built tablet experience the last tablet award went to sony for their update to one of last year's best 10-inch tablets the Sony Xperia tablet Z to the previous xperia tablet z was one of our favorite devices of last year with its black slate highly angular design that was not only powerful but also water-resistant and this year we find it's update even better than the original the same duel glass finish and sturdy frame have now been lightened making this one incredibly nimble 10-inch tablets the corners have also been slightly rounded out eliminating any rigid feel you may have had with the previous offering an updated version of Sony's Xperia U I brings even more optimizations into a tablet that might have already been good but has just gotten even better and as we move into the phone awards we start off with the best budget smartphone and that is undoubtedly the alcatel one touch idol to the update to the original idol brings a bigger better display and more power to the already affordable package the 5-inch display comes with 720p resolution for good viewing a MediaTek processor brings 1.2 gigahertz to the smooth handling interface and expandable storage is always welcome on the phone that comes in at the sub 200 price points but truthfully what struck us most was the great build quality well you might initially think is a metal finish is actually non glossy plastic on the back that opts for an understated but still very attractive form factor you might not be able to tell right off the bat that this is a very affordable device and that is exactly what helped put the idol too over the top in the budget category now from the budget we move on to the mid-range and a phone with incredible style from HTC has taken the crown the HTC Desire 816 just might be trying very hard to not be a mid-range device but we're not complaining about some of the flagship features that come built-in coming in a very easy handling 5.5 inch form factor due to the smooth rounded sides and a glossy plastic back panel is a Snapdragon 400 clocked in at 1.6 gigahertz backed by one and a half gigabytes of ram we might not have been able to show you the quality of the 5.5 inch 720p display but we can tell you it is definitely a great performer and even further bucking the mid-range trend is a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera that is complemented by an industry-first a 5-megapixel front-facing camera to help you get the best self portraits or 720p resolution video as possible we're very excited to get our hands on the HTC Desire 816 in the near future as it is our best mid-range device of mwc we blow it up to the large form factors to bring you our best phablet of mwc the LG G pro 2 as the update to the very well received optimus g pro that came just a year ago at mwc as well the g pro 2 takes inspiration from the LG g2 while introducing a few new enhancements of its own the 5.9 inch display might be larger for some people but we still didn't find it that hard to handle underneath the vibrant and great screen experience as the Snapdragon 800 powering a full-featured user interface that brings a few new additions to the table mainly the NOC code which allows you to tap the screen in standby mode via a set pattern to wake up and unlock the phone easily the g pro 2 also has a camera that sports the updated o is plus capabilities making its picture some of the best and sharpest we've seen on any phone big phone means big features and the LG G pro 2 thus deserves the crown of best phablet of mwc and finally we have the best flagship device and has the new flagship phone by samsung that brings a lot of new to the table while managing to still feel incredibly familiar the galaxy s5 gets our award for best flagship smartphone a new design for the back does away with a glossy plastic that plagued earlier models and opts for a perforated material that not only stops fingerprints but helps with the feel top processing power keeps the updated TouchWiz UI with my magazine second screen about as smooth as it has ever been while powering new features like the fingerprint scanner and the built-in heart rate monitor on the back but what might be the most talked-about addition is the camera as it sports the first 16 megapixel ISO cell technology that could be used for features like say lack of focus and real-time HDR for what might be one of the best smartphone camera experiences to date it's definitely the phone that everyone is talking about one way or another and it gets our award for the best flagship phone of mwc but we would be remiss if we didn't mention the runner up to the best flagship simply because it does deserve recognition has the very close second the Sony Xperia z2 while Samsung might continue to add to their general formula Sony continues to refine there's two great results the Xperia z2 moves to an IPS display that provides the best in class viewing angles we always knew the Xperia line could offer and its smaller bezels helped create one of the most attractive and easiest handling Xperia experiences to date especially with the lighter body and even more improved built with an optimized 20.7 megapixel G lens camera to boot there was a lot to be excited about with the Xperia z2 and we are right there with our own excitement over it the only real unfortunate part of the Sony Xperia z2 is the fact that it's not going to penetrate as many markets as we know the Samsung Galaxy s5 will it does deserve to be out in as many markets as possible but until that happens we have to give the Sony Xperia z2 the runner-up position and so there you have it for the best of the mobile world congress of 2014 mwc undoubtedly had a lot of blockbuster announcements and they all make 2014 look very bright for the smartphone tablet and wearable spaces reviews of all these devices will come as they are released so make sure you keep it tuned to android authority because we are your source for all things android