There were a load of new smartphones announced at MWC 2017, which is great news for people who are ready for an upgrade.
You have the nearly bezel-free, waterproof LG G6. And on the budget end, the Moto G5 impressed with its overhauled design and emphasis on stock Android features.
But, cool as these new phones may be, not everyone is ready to move on from their current phone. Personally, I enjoy squeezing every last bit of potential out of a device before moving on.
So with that in mind, we roamed the show floor and spotted a few accessories that look to make the smartphone that you own even better.
PNY USB-C Duo-Link
Does your phone have USB-C, but lack a microSD slot? If you own a Google Pixel, for example, then you’re probably all too aware of the omitted feature.
PNY has just the remedy though with its storage extender that plugs directly into your phone. This way, you can stream high-resolution movies that you don’t have the internal storage allowance for.
Upgrading to a phone model with more storage is notoriously expensive, but PNY’s solution is super cheap. 64GB of extra storage will only set you back $20 (about £16, AU$26)
For those with an iPhone 7 or any earlier model with a Lightning port, PNY has the hookup for you, too. But it’s a little more expensive, which is rather par for the course in Apple’s playground. 64GB will cost you about $37 (about £30, AU$49), a small price to pay for a hefty amount of extra storage.
PNY USB-C to micro USB adapter
USB-C is an awesome improvement over micro USB in that you don’t have to coordinate how you insert the plug, resulting in fewer late-night headaches when you’re charging your phone.
But the big downside is that the cables can be difficult to come by. You likely have many micro USB cables sitting around from previous devices, so PNY’s micro USB-to-USB Type-C adapter makes perfect sense for just about everyone.
Operating this is as simple as it gets: just plug it in. It doesn't offer any unique features other than the obvious perk it provides, but we’re fine with that.
SanDisk 256GB A1-class microSD card
One of the coolest products that we saw at MWC 2017 was SanDisk’s new class of microSD card, the A1. Compared to current microSD cards that you can put in your phone, the A1 card debuts exclusively in a 256GB capacity and is said to bring a faster reading speed of 95MB/s.
At $199, it’s certainly not the most affordable microSD card with this capacity, but it’s industry-leading speed means that file transfer and running apps on Android will be faster than you’ve experienced before.
Better yet, the A1 class is backward-compatible with phones from a handful of years ago. So long as it’s running Android Marshmallow, SanDisk’s new card could bring it back to life with fast-loading apps.
Samsung Mobile Photo Printer
Although the days of the Poloroid are mostly behind us, the novelty of printing off a photo immediately is nonetheless appealing.
Thankfully for you, Samsung thinks so, too. It showed off its new mobile printer at MWC 2017 that can connect directly to your Samsung Galaxy S7 with a USB cable.
We’ve yet to see if this accessory can connect to other phones and how much it will cost at launch. But it’s undeniably a nifty accessory if you’re one who likes to share memories with friends and family members.
Moto Mods
Lastly, this one only applies to those who own the Moto Z, Moto Z Force, or Moto Z Play. But boy, did Motorola really unleash a lot of appealing teasers for upcoming mods in 2017.
From its new partnership with Amazon to basically bring an Echo mod, to a full-on Nintendo Switch lookalike mod, Moto has really upped the ante.
We don’t know pricing or release details for a lot of the upcoming Moto Mods, but the company has committed to releasing them in 2017, with even more coming next year.
This sort of follow-through for phones is generally unseen and we’re a big fan of seeing the support, especially given that the Moto Z phones are recommended.
