10 phones to look forward to this year

The Mobile World Congress, the Mecca of mobile conventions is an event that is always on the radar of the tech community. The MWC 2017, held in Barcelona, saw a slew of announcements and launches from Nokia, Sony, Motorola, LG and Huawei.

Here are the top 10 phones announced at this year's MWC:

1) Nokia 6

Nokia's flagship device, the company first step into the Android market, comes with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 5.5' full HD display and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 435 processor. The Nokia 6 also boasts a 16MP rear camera with PDAF and an 8MP front camera.

It will be available in four colour variants namely Matte Black, Silver, Copper and Tempered Blue and will be launched at a price of 249 Euros (around Rs 17,600). There is also an ARTE Black version of the smartphone with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage for 299 Euros (around Rs 21,000).

2) Moto G5/G5 Plus

The Moto G5/G5 Plus is the newest offering by Motorola and they are their most unique one, so far. The Moto G5 Plus comes with a 5.2-inch full HD display, a 3,000mAh battery with Turbo Power quick charging support, Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, 32/64GB of expandable storage as well as a fingerprint scanner. The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm's mid-range Snapdragon 625 processor paired with 2/4GB of RAM. When it comes to optics, the G5 Plus features a 12MP camera at the rear alongside a 5MP front camera.

The Moto G5 on the other hand comes with a smaller 5.0' full HD display, 32 GB of expandable storage and the slower Snapdragon 430 processor. On the imaging front, the G5 has a 13MP rear camera with a 5MP camera at the front.

3) Huawei P10/P10 Plus

The Huawei P10 comes with a 5.1' full HD display, Huawei's new flagship processor - the octa-core Kirin 960, up to 6GB of RAM, Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and a 3,200mAh battery. The internal storage goes all the way up to 128GB depending on the variant.

The Huawei P10 Plus on the other hand comes with a 5.5' Quad HD display and a bigger 3,750mAh battery. The dual camera setup at the back consists of a 20MP sensor and a 12MP sensor with laser autofocus, optical image stabilisation and a dual LED flash. While one sensor captures photos in colour, the other takes monochrome shots. Additionally, there is an 8MP camera at the front.

4) Nokia 5

The Nokia 5 is the mid-range device in Nokia's new Android smartphone line-up and comes with a 5.2' 720p HD display, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage expandable via a micro SD card and the Snapdragon 430 processor.

On the imaging front, it comes with a 13MP primary camera with PDAF and an 8MP front shooter. As with the Nokia 6, the Nokia 5 also comes with 100 per cent unadulterated stock Android.

5) ZTE Gigabit

The ZTE Gigabit is the first smartphone in the world to feature consumer-ready 5G technology which allows the device to attain gigabit speeds on supported cellular networks. It is powered by Qualcomm's latest flagship processor - the Snapdragon 835 which comes with an advanced X16LTE modem which allows 5G support.

5G offers faster-than-Wi-Fi connectivity speeds enabling a person to "download full movies within seconds" and is much faster than current 4G speeds.

6) Nokia 3310

Between all the new smartphones and future-tech, the one thing that everyone looked forward to, was oddly a phone that is older than time: the Nokia 3310. A relic of a bygone era, this feature phone is one that has astonishingly managed to stand out, in a world that has become smart, phone-wise.

The new 3310 has a 2.4 inch, 240 x 320 resolution display. The phone lets you use the internet with its 2.5G band and an Opera Mini browser. It has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a MicroSD card slot, and more importantly, it has Snake! 

7) LG G6

The LG G6 comes with a 5.7' Quad HD display with a resolution of 2,880x1,440, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, a 3,300mAh battery, Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and water/dust resistance.

On the imaging front, the G6 sports a dual camera array on the back with two 13MP sensors with one of them having a wide-angle lens with a 125-degree field of view.

The LG G6 comes with a few standout features - It comes with Google Assistant on board, has an unusual 18:9 Full Vision display (instead of the regular 16:9), come with Dolby Vision and HDR 10 support for enhanced video and has a striking near bezel-less design with a 90% screen to body ratio.

8) Sony Xperia XZ Premium

The smartphone comes with 4GB of RAM, a 3,230mAh battery with QuickCharge 3.0 support and Android 7.0 out of the box. As with previous Xperia's, the power button doubles up as a fingerprint scanner.

The resolution of the camera has been reduced from 20MP to 19MP but it comes with the same triple-sensor system found in the Xperia XZ. It has an aperture of f/2.0 and comes with SteadyShot and an 'Anti-distortion' shutter. On the front, there is a 13MP camera with an aperture of f/2.0 for selfies.

9) BlackBerry KEYone

The BlackBerry Mercury, which was teased by the company back at CES 2017 has finally been launched as the KEYone at this year's MWC.

The BlackBerry KEYone is powered by the mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset paired with 3GB of RAM and  a 3,505mAh battery. Additionally, the device comes with a 4.5' fullHD display and 32 GB of internal storage which can be expanded via a microSD card.

The smartphone comes with a 12MP rear camera with an aperture of f/2.0 and an 8MP front camera for selfies. Software wise, the Mercury runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box along with BlackBerry's suite of DTEK security applications.

10) Nokia 3

The Nokia 3, the company’s lowest offering, comes with a MTK 6737 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, 8MP front and rear cameras and a 5.0' 720p LCD display.

Just like the Nokia 6 and 5, the Nokia 3 also features 100 per cent stock Android and comes with Google's AI based voice assistant - Google Assistant on board.

Also read - Nokia as Android smartphone: Will it work?