Welcome to This Week in Mobile (TWiM), Tech Travel Geeks' weekly column covering what has happened in the world of mobile. If we haven't covered it on Tech Travel Geeks we'll link to the best content on the web.

If last week was relatively quiet on TWiM, this week is quite busy. I was busy at work and then travelled to Dubai (on KLM of course...) to represent my employer Skyscanner at droidcon Dubai 2018. 

I really enjoyed droidcon Dubai 2018. Not only did I get to meet lots of new awesome people, all much more talented developers than I will ever be, but also managed to catch up with many of the veterans of droidcon Dubai. It is clear that Kotlin is now the preferred language for future of Android development, as well as other platforms as well. As a recovering Test Engineer, it was also a pleasure to see how much emphasis was put on tools and practices for delivering quality software in many of the talks.

Lukasz, our very own Chief Aperture Officer, also managed to attend a few sessions of droidcon Dubai 2018. He was in the UAE at the beginning of his epic 6 week trip around the world. Not only did he help me discover that two gin lemonades can be extremely expensive, he also assisted with my final preparations for both talks at droidcon Dubai 2018. While I was arriving home in Edinburgh, Lukasz went skydiving in Dubai today. I'm sure you will all enjoy the impressive video of his experience below.

Now, I mentioned I delivered two talks at droidcon Dubai 2018, and as well as my long-planned official talk I delivered one on behalf of Tech Travel Geeks in my capacity as Chief Mobile Opinionist. "The State of Mockodile in 2018" is a tongue in cheek talk about customisation on Android. Video below.

My travel to and from Dubai was on my favourite airline KLM. As usual their excellent service was enjoyed. My most used device while there was the Huawei P20 Pro. In the first week I had some reservations about the device overall but now I'm being won over by it.

While Lukasz and I were travelling to Dubai the world didn't stand still (how inconsiderate). There were no major announcements during the week, but the buzz around some upcoming Android smartphone launches is getting much louder. The OnePlus 5T is sold out across Europe, and this is a clear indicator that the One Plus 6 will be announced soon. I reported on Coolsmartphone of how Meizu has acquired patents for in-screen fingerprint readers. It is unlikely we will see the functionality in the upcoming launch of the Meizu 15 range, but this is exciting for their device launches of Q4 2018.

That's all for This Week in Mobile for now. We'll have more content for you soon.