Mobile World Congress: A world beyond smartphones
There is more to the Mobile World Congress, one of the biggest tech shows of the year, than just smartphones. Here's a glimpse of some interesting stuff seen this year
Print Edition: Apr 02, 2023
There is more to the Mobile World Congress, one of the biggest tech shows of the year, than just smartphones. Here's a glimpse of some interesting stuff seen this year
Texts you can Trust
The humble SMS or text message is a powerful weapon in the hands of phishers. It results in not just financial losses for customers, but also loss of reputation for telcos. To help telcos avoid such situations, Hyderabad-based cloud communications firm Tanla has unveiled Wisely ATP, an AI-powered anti-phisihing tool that evaluates an SMS, including the sender, message body, and CTA (call to action) to identify if the text message has been sent as phishing bait. If it determines the SMS to be phishing bait, it informs the telco and blocks the message. All this happens in just 20 milliseconds and is over 99 per cent accurate!
Living Reality
AR glasses have been around for a while, and are a boon for the manufacturing and service industries as they superimpose information. But can they replace your regular glasses? Oppo thinks so. With its Air Glass 2 concept, it projects information on a user’s view without obstructing their vision. Weighing just 38 gm, this pair is powered by Snapdragon 4100 SoC and has a 200mAh battery. Most importantly, it has micro-OLED screens with up to 1,000 nits brightness per eye. Serving as a companion to your smartphone, it can be used for calls, viewing navigation routes and reading notifications—without requiring wired connectivity. It will also have the ability to translate between languages and convert voice to text for the hearing impaired.
Always Connected
Mobile phones may be ubiquitous, but networks are not. For places with no network coverage, it would be nice to have satellite connectivity (a boon during emergencies as well). While only a few smartphones offer this feature, Motorola’s Defy Satellite Link accessory brings it to all smartphones. This satellite hotspot connects to smartphones via Bluetooth and then logs on to Bullitt Satellite Messenger. Priced at $99, users will be able to access emergency features such as SOS assistance and sharing one’s location, in addition to satellite messaging. But you’ll also need a monthly subscription to use this service regularly.
Identity Safe
Identities are under threat in this connected world, more so when financial transactions are involved. To counter this, home-grown cloud communications platform service provider Route Mobile—which caters to enterprises, OTT players and mobile network operators—has developed TruSense, a digital identity and security suite. The suite leverages AI/ML for real-time risk assessment, ensuring safe, frictionless authentication without OTP, and facilitating seamless identity verification against authorised third-party data. This will prepare enterprises to thwart real-time identity theft and help prevent revenue loss. It will also help ensure that a company’s customers do not fall prey to fraud.
