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So it looks like the Samsung Galaxy S5 may make an appearance at MWC 2014 after all - but why? Samsung, do you have something to hide?


If Samsung was looking to get the maximum publicity for its marketing buck it would stick to the standalone launch event which served it so well for the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4.

These events managed to generate almost Apple levels of hysteria and excitement - a buzz many manufacturers can only dream of, and one which should be carefully preserved, not thrown into a melee of announcements at MWC.

Im not saying people will ignore the Galaxy S5 if it does arrive in Barcelona, everyone (myself included) will still cover it with the same vigor as previous Galaxy S launches as its going to be one of the big phones of the year, no matter what turns up - but Ill be doing it in the middle of covering announcements from a multitude of other manufacturers.

All part of the plan

Samsung is going to lose out on coverage compared to previous years - theres no two ways about it.
But perhaps thats exactly what its trying to do. Maybe Samsung has finally run out of ideas on how to reinvent the wheel on an annual basis and is fearing a backlash as it unveils a handset which boasts only minor improvements over the Galaxy S4.
 
People were not overly excited by the Galaxy S4, which brought a slightly updated design and new eye, face and hand tracking tech - branded a gimmick by some.

Taking a look at the Galaxy S5 rumors there doesnt seem to be a great deal to get properly excited about.

A higher resolution display is hardly going to blow us away, a 16MP camera still pales in comparison to the 20.7MP Xperia Z1 and 41MP Lumia 1020 and Samsung will be late to the fingerprint scanning tech with the iPhone 5S and HTC One Max beating it to the punch.

With less of a focus put on the Galaxy S5, there will be less analysis of its flaws as media outlets attempt to churn through all the new products at MWC - leading to coverage of the sentient points, which realistically, is all the consumer needs anyway.

While this earlier-than-expected launch would see Samsung get its handset out the door before HTC - the Taiwanese firm may have the upper hand with its own event in March, allowing the HTC One Two to garner a lot more interest, especially if it can get the phone on shop shelves within a fortnight of announcement.

And what about the design? Is Samsung finally admitting it might not be that desirable? Its still thought that the South Korean brand will stick with the tried and tested plastic chassis for the Galaxy S5, but consumers now have a taste for the finer things in life.

The metal clad HTC One and One Mini join the iPhone 5S and Xperia Z1 in terms of premium look and feel - something that Samsungs handsets have always lacked, and its falling further behind.

And the winner is...

This is great news for MWC. After a drab CES 2014 the relevance of trade shows was called into question, so having the Galaxy S5 showing up in Barcelona would be a massive coup for MWC - which may boast two major phone launches with the Sony Xperia Z2 also tipped for an appearance.

Weve also got some decent tier two phones in the shape of the Nokia X Android phone and the LG G2 Pro - they might not be big hitters, but will certainly garner some decent coverage.

That potentially spells more trouble for Samsung as the Galaxy S5 will be going head to head with one of its biggest rivals almost immediately.

Get the Galaxy S5 wrong and it could be over before its even hit stores, if critical acclaim is showered on Sony with Samsungs offering failing to impress - OK, thats a bit of a stretch as marketing also plays a huge part, but its not a fight anyone should want to pick.

Sure, the Galaxy S5 will be powerful and brimming with the latest tech - but I fear it will also be underwhelming, and Samsung knows it.

Wireless power today is mostly about convenience; not having to fish out a cable and get it the right way round when you plug it in. But once it becomes ubiquitous, it will change the way devices are designed; they can have smaller batteries or save space by not needing the power port at all.


This year at CES, as well as seeing the latest wireless power products and the next step in wireless charging technology, we also got some good news on getting more users and businesses on board with wireless power - 2014 will definitely be a big year for wireless charging.

There are over 60 different phones that have Qi wireless charging (the inductive charging standard) built in today - and 40 million of them have been sold - and because its a standard, you can put your phone down on any Qi charging surface and it will just start grabbing power.

If your phone doesnt have Qi built in, Incipio introduced a line of wireless charging pads and protective cases at CES that add it (including Lumia models like the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 1520 that have a connector designed to simplify adding a charging case).

That surface doesnt have to be a pad on your desk either. It could be a light or a mouse mat: silicon valley startup Kudos Tech had prototypes for both, although no dates for putting them into production yet.

You dont have to only charge a phone; IDAPT has added a Qi charging module to its clever Modulo battery system, which lets you connect up to five external 2000mAh batteries to charge your phone or tablet.

Snap on as many batteries as you need to take with you and drop it onto a wireless charger to keep them topped up before you leave.

Or it could be a car cradle (Nokia has a wireless charging cradle already and Tylt was showing off a prototype of its own at CES, with a perpetually sticky surface to hold your phone in place) or a tray built into your car. Both have NFC which can trigger your phone to launch a specific app, like GPS navigation, or pair with the cars Bluetooth automatically when you start charging it.

Car makers like that, John Perzow of the Wireless Power Consortium says, because it will let them take information from your phone – like your personal music collection – and display that on the screen on your dashboard. "They want a path for extending your personal device into the car and shifting some of the load to your phone, but you can only do that if you can charge the device."

The Jeep Cherokee will have a wireless charging shelf in the 2014 model, Toyota will put it in the Avalon and Prius and the German auto consortium that advises Mercedes, Volkswagen, Audi and BMW is recommending Qi, after a three year study on wireless charging.

We even saw an FAA-approved wireless charger for use on planes; expect to see it in private jets first rather than on your next economy flight though.

Making wireless power resonate

So with a standard like Qi and products already in the market, why is wireless charging still not common?
Perzow says that confusion over standards has been slowing adoption. Yes, theres the Qi standard, but there have been plenty of other wireless charging launches that havent been part of Qi. Even Qualcomm has its own wireless charging system for electric cars (it charges the motor, not your smartphone, but still, its something else to confuse people).

The WPC is trying to tackle that by bringing new wireless charging developments into the Qi standard, and we saw some of that at CES.

Today Qi uses near-field coupling, between the coil antenna inside your phone and the one inside the charging mat; you have to either put multiple coils in or rely on people lining up devices in just the right spot.

The latest Qi mats give you a little more freedom of movement but to be able to put devices down anywhere on the surface and to be able to fit the charging pad underneath a thick surface like a table or a kitchen worksurface requires the next technology to be included in the Qi standard, magnetic resonance.

Resonant charging lets you put the phone off to one side of the charging spot or have something else in the way and still get charge.

We saw a new charger from Convenient Power that has resonant charging thats fully backwards compatible with Qi, so we were able to stack two notebooks on the charger and put a Nokia Lumia on top of them and have it charge. Bolt the pad under a table and you can charge through the surface.

Convenient Power also showed us a five-device charger that automatically detects the power requirements of the phones and tablets you put on it and delivers the right charge, and again you dont need to worry about lining them up neatly.

New Zealand wireless power experts PowerByProxi also creates resonant chargers, although it will licence its designs to other companies rather than selling them directly like Convenient Power. Phones will need to have a new charging antenna but theyll still charge on older Qi pads.

The big advantage of the PowerByProxi system is that it puts devices in charge of setting the power level they need, and it can send different power levels to different devices. That means your almost-flat tablet can get lots of power instead of just the trickle of power needed to top up your almost-fully-charged phone
Getting new developments into a backwardly compatible standard like this is vital if we want to see wireless charging on offer at Starbucks and every hotel the way wireless networking is – something that would really make wireless power ubiquitous and something Perzow is working on.

"Infrastructure has been stalled because its a very conservative market. A hotel wants maximum usability and long life before theyre going to put this on every night stand. There needs to be an experience that adds value beyond charging," he says.

The new chargers that can be bolted under tables without having to chisel out a slot will help, as will more freedom of positioning. "You just put the phone down on the charger; you dont have to get the placement just right."

And so will management software that shows which devices are sitting on a table, charging, and whether the power is getting through to them properly. Making wireless power easy to fit, easy to support and easy to use could be what we need to see it everywhere in the next couple of years.

Near Field Communication technology (NFC) has spread its way across the mobile landscape like a forest wildfire, yet how many of us actually use it, let alone use it to its full potential?


We all know how NFC works (if not, then heres all you need to know about NFC) although one of its greatest applications is still being hidden away and unused; Googles Android Beam.

In order to help you make the most out of your hardware heres our guide to what Android Beam is and, more importantly, how it works.

What is Android Beam?

Having been baked into every iteration of Googles mobile OS since Android 4.0 Ice Cream, Android Beam is an app designed to make the most of NFC and enables the sharing of just about anything whether its a contact card, picture, web page or YouTube link.

How do I use it?

The first thing to check before we go any further is whether your handset supports NFC. This can be found within connectivity settings alongside Wi-Fi and mobile data.

Once this has been confirmed for both handsets its as simple as touching the two devices together, bringing the NFC chips in close contact. Unfortunately, this isnt always as easy as it sounds when it comes to working out where the chip actually is, although wed suggest that the chip is generally in the centre near the top.

The handset that youre hoping to send information from should pull the screen in slightly displaying the message "Touch to Beam".

Just tap the screen and youll find the information popping up on the second handset, or a link to the Google Play store to find the relevant app.

What if my handset doesnt show Android Beam?

As Android Beam comes built into the Android OS there is no specific app for you to boot up. Instead just enable NFC on both handsets and press them together. Often handset manufacturers will allow you to turn NFC and Android Beam on and off individually.

If you find that Android Beam doesnt appear within the Android NFC settings you shouldnt fret. The HTC One is a prime example as there is no mention of Android Beam anywhere; however following the above steps will still bring up the "Tap to Beam" page that we mentioned earlier.

Owners of Samsung branded devices will also find sat alongside NFC the S-Beam app, which is largely the same thing, as youll find out if you read on.

What is S-Beam?

S-Beam is a Samsung specific app that builds onto features that are already included in Android Beam. It still connects via NFC although all data is sent via Wi-Fi Direct. This makes transfer speeds faster when sending files such as your latest holiday snap or video.

Working through S-Beam is done in the exact same way as Android Beam, pressing the NFC chips in each device together, but it initiates a faster and stronger connection than Bluetooth.

Are there any downsides?

One of the biggest problems with Android Beam is NFC and the location of the chips. Availability of NFC is no longer an issue given that it now comes on many of even the cheapest handsets but locating the chip in the first place can be a pain in the posterior.

In mobile phones the problem isnt so bad given theres limited space to choose from, but trying to locate the chip on a tablet can be more than a little tricky.

This can often be found with a quick search online, although you then have to find a way of putting the two chips together. In tests we found that while the NFC chips recognised each others presence (with a small vibration) the sending handset occasionally didnt want to register Beam.

It is also probably worth pointing out, if not immediately obvious, that Android Beam does only work with Android phones. iPhones dont even come with NFC on board, at least not yet., and Windows Phones dont want to know.

What does the future hold?

Since its inception Android Beam has grown to encompass sending files via Bluetooth. This works by instantly pairing devices and turning on Bluetooth, sending the file then disabling Bluetooth. You can then move the phones apart as they no longer rely upon NFC.

Just as S-Beam incorporates Wi-Fi Direct so could Android Beam, something that may find favour from the recent Google-Samsung patent licensing deal. This would enable even faster file transfer than Bluetooth.

At a stretch its not too difficult to imagine Android Beam becoming part of the Internet of Things either, allowing you to tap your phone against an Android enabled refrigerator to share a shopping list or to a potential updated Chromecast dongle to enable Wi-Fi Direct streaming of content to a larger screen nearby.

While NFC hasnt quite caught on as a payment method, theres still a real desire to find cool ways to connect - heres hoping Android Beam keeps getting the development it deserves.

For more than two decades, ever since DOS and Windows 3.1x, dual-booting has been restricted to hardcore enthusiasts who found being able to boot from one or more operating systems convenient and useful.


If the presentation by Microsofts Joe Belfiore last week in Barcelona is an indication of how the mobile market will evolve, were about to see a comeback of dual booting with Android and Windows Phone sitting on the same phone.

The push is likely to come from Microsoft for whom this might be one of the biggest punts of its long history, similar to putting Internet Explorer into Windows 95.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

The gist of the later part of Belfiores presentation is that Microsoft is working closely with hardware partners to make sure that there is little or no change needed to get a smartphone (or indeed any ARM-based devices) to run Windows Phone or Android.

X86 devices like PCs, laptops and servers run Windows or Linux (or indeed MacOS X) indiscriminately and theres no reason why that shouldnt be the case for smartphones in general.

This is a logical step that is likely to be more helpful to Microsoft than Android - and this tacit agreement will end up being most detrimental to Apple.

How bold is too bold?

It seems likely that Microsoft may encourage partners to offer dual-boot as standard on all Android smartphones by offering Windows Phone for free or for a huge discount.

The cynical among us might suggest that as well as offering Windows Phone for free (or at a low cost), Microsoft will slash the fees associated with cross licensing agreements signed with scores of manufacturers of Android devices to persuade them to put Windows Phone prominently on the Android phone (perhaps on the boot screen).

Either solution will cost money but would enable Microsoft to get Windows into the hands of potentially tens of millions of Android users.

It will hope that they will try Windows Phone and be so enamoured of it that they eventually switch to a solely Windows Phone device or continue to use the two platforms altogether.

This would help Microsoft expand the number of smartphones running Windows Phone exponentially and we might even see Microsoft-backed versions of Android without Googles services (similar to what Nokia is doing), something which would be something of an ironic move.

As always though, the more competition in a market, the more likely innovation will thrive.

The business allure of dual-booting

So whats the point of dual-booting for consumers? Most end-users and consumers are unlikely to gain much from the exercise, depending on how dual-booting devices are pitched to the mainstream.

But there is a category of users for whom this will be a godsend and that is the business/enterprise audience.
Having Windows 8 Embedded or Windows Phone 8 plus Android on a sleek smartphone that can be used both for work and leisure will be an attractive proposal to some.

Microsofts mobile platform offers easy access to Office 365, Active Directory and the entire Windows ecosystem (including Xbox) and is an incredibly attractive alternative to BlackBerry.

Thats the theory many think Redmond will follow because the other option is to see Windows Phone stuck as the third choice after Android and iOS, and seeing numbers of shipped (but not sold) units increase over time.

Piggy-backing on Googles Android is definitely not an ego-boosting move for Microsoft but it is by far the most pragmatic.

It is also one that can yield great results reasonably quickly, which is what Satya Nadella needs at the moment to stamp his authority on the company.