5G Is Here Today?

5G will probably change our lives in more meaningful and immediate ways than the flashy new foldable devices. It’ll mature sooner, and it’ll turn us into even bigger mobile data consumption addicts. But based on what reviewers witnessed at this year’s Mobile World Congress, it’s just not ready. Companies like Qualcomm are straight up lying to people when they emblazon the words “5G is here today” on the side of their MWC stands. Everyone at the show is pretending to be ready for 5G, and they’re obviously not.

Xiaomi retrofitted 5G into its “Mi Mix 3,” and even though the company’s presentation has been described as “torturous,” it is arguably the best of the lot. It has a top-tier spec, built around the latest Snapdragon 855 processor, and it achieves a prettily minimal bezel by tucking the selfie camera away behind a slider mechanism.

The addition of 5G to the Mi Mix has necessitated an improved cooling system and a sizeable 3,800mAh battery, which are great features to have whether or not you have a 5G network to connect to. LG has done similar things with its V50, bumping up its battery and cooling capabilities to account for the greater demands of the 5G hardware. I wouldn’t recommend anyone buy a phone today because of 5G, but that doesn’t mean that 5G phones won’t be good phones in their own right. Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 3 5G is in the lead today because of its top spec and high, but some say reasonable all things considered, $800 price tag.

Other entries into the pseudo 5G fray were Samsung, which made an “XXL Galaxy S10” to accommodate all the necessary 5G antennas, and Motorola, whose “5G Moto Mod” is a fat block that you slap onto the back of the existing Moto Z3. LG’s “V50” is more or less a V40 adapted for 5G, and LG is open about the fact that it won’t start selling the V50 until a 5G network gets off the ground in either the United States or Korea. We’re still months away from truly original 5G phone designs, never mind the fact that fully functional networks with meaningful coverage are still a flicker of a promise rather than a reality at this point.

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