Mobile World Congress 2019 in review, days one and two

5G again dominated the headlines at MWC Barcelona for good reason, given that this is the year that the rollouts start in earnest.

While this year’s Mobile World Congress Barcelona is not yet over (at the time of writing), it’s worth taking a moment to consider the wider context – with 5G networks in the early stages of rollout (with the possible exception of South Korea), user equipment not yet in consumers’ hands and the elements that are aimed at supporting vertical industries still under-going standardisation in 3GPP Release 16 (which won’t freeze until March 2020) it was always going to feel ever-so slightly anticlimactic.

That said, it was pleasing to see that after such much collective effort across the whole industry, 5G is at long last a tangible reality, as most graphically demonstrated by the launch of the first 5G smartphones, including Huawei’s Mate X and Samsung’s S10 5G (the launch of the latter took place at Samsung’s 20 February Unpacked event).

There was also a great deal of innovation on show that wasn’t present last year. For instance, cloud-gaming platforms were present on several stands and I got to see a display on the Huawei stand that uses eye tracking technology to give the illusion of 3D objects, without the need for tinted glasses or a VR helmet. However as there is only one ‘sweet spot’, it can only accommodate solitary viewing experiences.