BARCELONA, Spain — Among the myriad of app companies presenting at ShowStoppers, a show the accompanies Mobile World Congress, Opera had one of the most pragmatic apps.
Opera Max has one goal: to save your bandwidth. It compresses data on its servers before sending to the end user. The company already uses it in its browsers, such as the Opera Mini, but this time, it’s not only web pages that are compressed — it’s also videos, photos and other types of data.
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The app is extremely simple to use. Start it up, and it lingers in the background, saving your data. Unless you’re adamant about experiencing the best possible video and photo quality on your smartphone, we see no reason why you shouldn’t try it out. Opera claims it’ll shave a good 50% of your mobile bandwidth during typical use, and many of us could do well with a lower mobile data bill.
There’s one catch, though — the app is only available for Android. An Opera rep told us the company is looking into developing it for iOS devices as well, but we didn’t get the impression it’ll happen very soon.
Opera Max is available now as a free download from Google Play.
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Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S5, which sports a fingerprint scanner and water-resistant casing.
In addition to the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo, Samsung unveiled the Gear Fit. The company's third wearable of Mobile World Congress is lighter than its companions and sports a 1.84 AMOLED curved touchscreen with a 432x128 pixel resolution.
Mark Zuckerberg spoke on the future of WhatsApp and Facebook's plans for Internet.org at the Mobile World Congress Keynote.
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Nokia unveiled the newest addition to its Asha line, the 230. This tiny budget Windows phone updates both the Asha line's hardware and software.
Nymi is a wearable bracelet that reads the user's heart rate to authenticate identity.
Samsung's new smartwatch drops the "Galaxy" moniker in favor of some added features: a heart-rate sensor and an IR blaster to control your TV among others.
Originally unveiled at CES 2014, Sony's SmartBand SWR10 features Lifelog, a 24 hour comprehensive tracking system.
ZTE introduced a line of Firefox smartphones, including the Open C.
ZTE introduced a flagship smartphone, the Grand Memo II.
Alcatel introduced the One Touch Idol 2, an Android 4.3 (Kit Kat) smartphone with a 5-inch display.
Alcatel introduced the Idol 2 mini in a range of bright colors.
LG introduced the G Pro 2 on Sunday, a device designed to give phablet lovers a significant performance upgrade. Complete with a 5.9-inch HD IPS display and a 13-megapixel camera with OIS+ (Optical Image Stabilizer Plus) it is powered by a 2.26GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and comes in Silver, White and Titan.
LG also introduced the G2 mini, a device the company is calling its first "compact smartphone." The screen measures just 4.7 inches and comes with either a 1.7GHz or 1.2GHz quad-core processor and a 13-megapixel or 8-megapixel camera capable of shooting 4K video.
Nokia unveiled the Nokia X, a budget-model Android phone priced at 89 euros (roughly $120).
Sony unveiled the Xperia Z2, the company's new flagship smartphone, a mere four months after introducing Xperia Z1 and one year after launching the first phone in the series, the Xperia Z.
Sony also decided to upgrade its mid-range smartphone offering with the Xperia M2.
Sony introduced the 10.1-inch Xperia Z2 Tablet with an ultra-thin, waterproof case.