介绍： Mobile phones The new old thing
Conformity, nostalgia and 5G were on show at the Mobile World Congress

nostalgia英 [nɒˈstældʒə] 美 [nəˈstældʒə]n.怀旧;乡愁;对往事的怀恋;怀乡病

“A SEA of sameness.” A veteran of the Mobile World Congress(MWC), Ben Wood of CCS Insight, a consultancy, was not expecting much fr...

介绍： Mobile phones The new old thing
Conformity, nostalgia and 5G were on show at the Mobile World Congress

nostalgia英 [nɒˈstældʒə] 美 [nəˈstældʒə]n.怀旧;乡愁;对往事的怀恋;怀乡病

“A SEA of sameness.” A veteran of the Mobile World Congress(MWC), Ben Wood of CCS Insight, a consultancy, was not expecting much from the mobile industry’s main trade show this week in Barcelona. As one product launch followed another, it was easy to lose track. Whether it was LG, Huawei or Wiko, they all showed off yet more black rectangles with slightly varying specifications.

veteran英 [ˈvetərən] 美 [ˈvɛtərən]n.退伍军人;经验丰富的人，老兵adj.
老兵的;有作战经验的;[美国英语]退伍军人的;老练的，资深的，经验丰富的

Another reminder of the smartphone business’s maturity was that the most talked-about new device was the Nokia 3310 feature phone , an updated version of a phone first made 17 years ago. With limited internet connectivity, it appeals partly as a “digital detox”.

maturity英 [məˈtʃʊərəti] 美 [məˈtʃʊrəti]n.成熟;完备;（票据等的）到期;[地]壮年期
detox英 [ˈdi:tɒks] 美 [ˈdi:tɑ:ks]vt.使戒去毒瘾（或酒瘾）adj.用以解毒的;用以去毒的n.戒瘾诊所;戒瘾病房

The mobile industry is far from done in terms of genuinely new products. But the action has moved to parts of the business that do not lend themselves to splashy events and massive crowds. Most innovation in the next ten years will happen in the telecoms network rather than in devices.
genuinely英 ['dʒenjʊɪnlɪ] 美 [ˈdʒɛnjʊɪnlɪ] adv.真诚地;真正地;真地;诚实地

For now the industry is gearing up for the next generation of wireless technology, “5G”. In time for MWC the International Telecommunication Union, a UN agency, agreed on the specifications for 5G: speeds must be up to 20 gigabits per second, enough to download a movie in a few blinks of an eye. At the show, makers of networking gear, such as Samsung, announced products for the first 5G networks. These are expected to launch in 2018, mostly in South Korea and in Japan, where the new wireless technology is expected to be shown off during the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.

Much still needs to be invented to make 5G a reality. Mobile carriers will, for instance, have to rejig their networks to make them more like a “computing cloud”. The idea is that network operators, just like providers of computing power, should be able to cook up new telecoms services within seconds. One technique is called “slicing”, meaning phone networks can be divided up to serve different purposes, such as providing super fast connectivity for self-driving cars or reliably hooking up connected devices as part of the Internet of Things.

Mobile innovation is not doomed to be hidden in the network. But you will have to look more closely to spot it. In Barcelona finger print readers appeared in smart phones costing less than $100. If these move to even cheaper devices, it would be a boon to people in developing countries who could easily authenticate themselves online. Another development was that 360-degree cameras are becoming smaller and cheaper.