Mobile World Congress has become one of the premiere events of the Android news cycle in recent years, and 2016 was no exception. Of course, there were the big announcements from LG and Samsung, but we've gone into exhaustive detail on those devices already. Let's take a look at all the other Android news that broke at Mobile World Congress this year.
Google's Project Tango
Google was on-hand at MWC to show off Project Tango with the help of Lenovo. Why Lenovo? The Chinese firm announced at CES that it would be making the first consumer-ready Tango device this summer. While we didn't get a look at Lenovo's hardware, there was a neat demo of Tango technology.
Using data from Glympse and GuidiGo, Google created an interactive Tango experience in a Barcelona museum. Users could use Tango's orientation and location sensors to guide themselves around the building, see where other people were in augmented reality, and get more information on exhibits just by looking at them.
Tango is going to be a big deal later this year when it finally comes to consumer devices, and this is just a hint of the functionality we'll have.
Sony
Oh, Sony. Sometimes it seems like Sony is trying really hard to make Android work, but mostly it just stumbles from one mediocre product launch to the next. The Xperia Z5 family just launched in the US (without fingerprint readers, because of reasons), and now Sony has confirmed the Z series is no more. For now on, it's main device line will use the X moniker. To those ends, Sony has announced the Xperia XA, X, and X Performance.
The XA is the cheapest device in Sony's new lineup with a MediaTek processor, 2GB of RAM, a 5-inch 720p LCD, 16GB of storage, a 13MP camera, and a 2300mAh battery. Sony insists upon calling this a "super mid-range" phone. The next step up is the Xperia X. This one has a new Snapdragon 650 processor, 3GB of RAM, 5-inch 1080p display, 32GB of storage, 2620mAh battery, and one of Sony's new 23MP cameras. At the top of the heap will be the X Performance with a Snapdragon 820, 5-inch 1080p LCD, 3GB of RAM, and a 23MP camera.
The strange thing is Sony hasn't announced an actual release date. The phone is launching early this summer with Android 6.0. Google will have already revealed a dev version of the next Android OS by then, and other big phones will be on the horizon. Sony doesn't usually announce phones so far in advance, at least for the initial markets. Speaking of, these phones will launch first in Asia with the X and XA moving on to Europe after that. The X Performance will apparently not be available elsewhere at the same time. Pretty weird, Sony.