For those who are not aware, IFA, which stands for Internationale Funkausstellung, is an annual consumer electronics show held in Berlin, Germany. There will be a lot of announced from mobile companies, and here a preview of what to expect from LG, Motorola, Sony, Samsung, as well as how to Live Stream some of their events.
LG
According to The Verge, the only significant move expected from LG in terms of new Android devices will be a new generation of G Pads. They recently "quietly" unveiled the 8-inch G Pad for the South Korean market at the beginning of August, and they recently announced a 10.1 inch G Pad II. LG tends not to show off any new phones at IFA, and it doesn't look like there will be any sign of any wearable technology.
However, rumors are going about that there could be an LG G4 Pro making an appearance, which might end up being a Galaxy Note 5 competitor with a screen size bigger or just as big. There are also talks of another update to the LG Urbane, replacing webOS with Google's own Android Wear.
What will be shown off at IFA 2015 should be quite impressive, as the South Korean company has stated that "anyone who sees our newest TVs at this year's IFA will walk away without a shred of doubt that HDR (High Dynamic Range) and OLED complement each other perfectly", according to the International Business Times. The company plans on launching 4K OLED TVs at the convention, two of them will be curved screen, two of them will be flat screen, and three of them will support HDR. The announcement about the TVs has already been made, but LG will officially be showing them off on the floor at IFA 2015.
LG is also planning on introducing some new kind of Bluetooth speaker that will have more colorful and fashionable designs, as well as a strap that will allow the user to have a wireless speaker like a handbag.
For those interested in what LG has to say at the event in Berlin, the IFA website announced that LG Display CEO and President Sang-Beom Han will be delivering the opening keynote at IFA 2015 on the 4th of September in Berlin. That is about all that can be found online of it at this writing, as it doesn't appear to be any news of how to livestream at this moment. It will run on Berlin time at 10:30-11:15, and the keynote presentation will be called "How Displays Will Change Our Lives". This information could change, so users that want to see a live-stream of the event should do an Internet search as the deadline closes.
Motorola
As far as smartphones are concerned, there might not be a lot as the company just had a big event in August as it announced the new Moto G, Moto X Style, as well as the Moto X Play. It is possible that there will be more as far as Lenovo products are concerned then there will be from Motorola.
However, this doesn't mean that there won't be at least one new Motorola product, and all reports seem to point to the Moto 360 2, which looks like it has just been announced. The original Moto 360 really changed the world of Android Wear watches with its rounded face and traditional wristwatch design.
There were leaked documents suggesting that there will be two models of the Moto 360, the 360S and the 360L. Does that mean that there will be small and large versions? If so, then the smaller will have a 270 mAh battery, with the large having a 375 mAh battery. Other rumored specs include 4GB of storage, 512 MB of RAM, a 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, a heart-rate sensor, gyroscope, barometer, and accelerometer.
In fact, it looks like GSM Arena already got their hands on it, and much of the specs seem to match what we have heard with a larger 1.56 inch LCD display with 360 x 330 pixles and 233 ppi and smaller 1.37 inch LCD display with 360 x 325 pixels and 263 ppi. They also come complete with an AnyLight hybrid display, but the battery life is different than supposed with 400 mAh on the large and 300 mAh on the small. It also has a wireless charging support with a bundled cradle as well as a dual digital microphone.
The second generation of the Moto 360 is fully customizable in Moto Maker, allowing the user to choose up to 300 possible combinations of size, metal finish, body textures and accents, as well as the wristband.
In addition to the two different sizes, there will also be a Motorola 360 Sport, but it will not be available until later this year. There will also be a women's version as well. As for the new Moto 360s, the price ranges from $299.99 to $429.99, and can be pre-ordered on the Motorola website.
Sony
According to the Times of India, Sony announced its three new smartphones with the Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Premium, and Xperia Z5 Compact before the IFA Berlin even began. The conference is supposed to get underway officially on September 4-9, but the big Japanese company probably wanted to get ahead of competition like Samsung, LG, and Motorola, who will also be making some big announcements during one of the biggest electronics shows in the world.
All of these devices will be water-resistant with the IP 65/68 standard, and the Z5 and Z5 Premium will be available in single and dual-SIM variants. As predicted before the announcement, all three versions of the new Z5 will be of the first from the company to feature a fingerprint sensor made for security, and it will be integrated with the power button located at the right edge of the phone.
All phones feature Sony's new 1/2. 3 Exmor RS for mobile 23 Megapixel sensor and F2.0 G Lens with a front-facing 5 Megapixel front camera. Internally, they have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor and come with 3GB of RAM and 32 GB in-built storage expandable up to 200 GB via microSD card. There is also a Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 that allows its users to get 5.5 hours with just 10 minutes of charging. Of course, all three phones support 4G LTE, 3G, Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi, as well as GPS connectivity options.
So what are the differences between the Z5, the Z5 Compact, and the Z5 Premium? The Z5 has a 5.2 inch full-HD (1080 x 1920p) display (up to 428 pixels per inch), while the Compact has a 4.6 inch 720p display.
The big news about the Z5 Premium is that it is the first smartphone to come with a 4K resolution display. This phone, which was rumored to a "Plus-sized" version of the regular Z5, will have a 5.5 inch 4K Triluminos display with resolution of 3840 x 2160p. The Premium version also has a 3,430 mAh battery lasting up to two days. As for the Z5, its battery is 2900 mAh and the Z5 Compact will be at 2700 mAh.
Samsung
Considering that the company has just announced the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6+, one would think that there would be very little that the company will do next. The Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 is expected to run on Tizen, which is a different kind of operating system, as reported by Tech First Post. A lot of Android devices have been using Android Wear, which is a specially designed OS for Android wearables. This definitely shows a shift in the company to try out new things.
One of the biggest problems with smartwatches is the limited number of apps that users can presently download on them. According to the CBC, Samsung will bring a lot of new applications to the S2 with its circular watch face, but there are no details available as of this writing.
Other details of the Gear S2 include a circular face that will rotate in order to help the user access applications as well as notifications. That could be a game changer similar to the dial on Apple's Watch. There will apparently be two styles of classic and modern with various colors and bands. As for the phone capabilities, it looks like the user might be able to get 3G capabilities or just pair it with an Android device. The battery life is expected to be about two to three days, compared to the Apple Watch's 18 hours.
In addition to the unveiling of the smartwatch, the International Business Times reports that Samsung is also planning on unveiling a lot of Internet connected devices. Apparently, they want to hold an entire second press conference on this, focusing on such things as connected ovens that talk, refrigerators that can text, and toasters that email.
There will also be some new HDR displays that will be at the show, and this might be a move to try and outmatch their competitor LG, who also intends to have a lot of HDR OLEDs on display.
Anyone that is interested in hearing more about this event at IFA 2015 can discover the time at 19:00 CET on September 3rd, with coverage available at Samsung's official YouTube channel as well as the Samsung website.
