The Most Innovative Mobile Products at MWC 2012

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A new generation of smartphone are upon us. Check out the hottest new smartphones that are coming down the pipe.

Our team of editors worldwide is busy working away at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. They've checked out all the latest in mobile technology that we'll be seeing throughout 2012 and picked the most interesting and innovative. Check out our list below along with reasons why we liked each one.

Viewsonic ViewPhone 4s: the dual SIM smartphone

  • 3.5" 960x640 display (like something else also called 4S)
  • Android 4.0
  • Unibody construction
     

LG Optimus 4X HD: the powerful HD smartphone

  • formerly X3/LG P880
  • <9 mm thick
  • Android 4.0
  • Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core
  • 4.7" 1280x720 display
  • 8MP camera
  • 16 GB flash
  • 2150 mAh battery
     

HTC One X: another powerful HD smartphone

  • 4.7" 1280x720 display with gorilla glass and low reflections
  • 130g weight
  • Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core at 1.5 GHz
  • Taking pictures takes 0.7 seconds
  • F2.0 lenses for acceptable image quality at low lighting
  • Polycarbonate unibody case
     

Nokia Lumia 610: the affordable Tango solution

  • 3.7" 480x800 display
  • 5 MP camera
  • 800 MHz single core processor
  • Windows Phone 7.5 "Tango" with Microsoft apps
  • 1300 mAh battery
     

Panasonic Eluga Power: the waterproof smartphone

  • 5.0" 1280x720 display
  • 133g weight
  • Android 4.0
  • waterproof and dust proof according to IP57
  • 1.5 GHz dual core S4 Snapdragon processor
  • 8 MP camera
  • NFC
  • 8 GB Flash
  • 1800 mAh battery
     

Sony Xperia S: the 12 MP smartphone

  • 4.3" 1280x720 display
  • 144 g weight
  • Taking pictures from standby takes around one second
  • 12 MP camera
  • F2.4 lenses
  • NFC
  • 1.5 GHz Snapdragon dual core
  • ICS Android 4.0 upgrade coming in Q2
  • 32 GB eMMC flash - replaceable
     

Samsung Galaxy Beam: the smartphone with a projector

  • 4" 480x800 display
  • dual core 1 GHz
  • 8 GB flash
  • integrated projector for up to 50" display and 15 ANSI lumen
  • 5 MP camera
  • 2000 mAh battery
     

Huawei Ascend D: potentially the world's fastest smartphone

  • 4.5" 1280x720 display
  • 1.2 GHz ARM9 quad core and 16-core graphics
  • HiSilicon K3V2: 40 nm CMOS by Texas Instruments
  • Android 4.0
  • 8 MP camera
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • phamhlam
    So you guys put up a 12 MP smartphone instead of Nokia "41" MP smartphone?
    Reply
  • vilenjan
    Given the limitations of optics in any smart phone, anything above 5mp is a gimmick, heck asides from the flash, I can really tell the difference between the 5mp camera on my galaxy s and the 8mp camera on my s2.
    My old (4+ years now) canon 7.2mp camera with with a quality 5x optical canon lens is still the best photo taker of the bunch, optics rule the world of picture taking, no mp ratings.
    Reply
  • mcd023
    Wow, less than a second from standby to taking a pic. Looks like we have contenders for the SmokedByWindowsPhone campaign (although they still need to upload fb. Still, that's a lot of power there!
    Reply
  • alyoshka
    Love 'em all
    Reply
  • EzioAs
    Like the one with a projector. Might come in really handy
    Reply
  • @tomshardware: Seriously, don't you think the new Nokia Pure View is not innovative enough ??

    @vilenjan: 100 percent true. But the reason this phone has a 41 Mpx camera is not to take giant pictures. What it does is pixel oversampling. Its output isy 5 or 8 MPx at default. But it achieves this picture size by combining pixels instead of selecting specific pixels and then interweaving the rest of the data. This gives it exceptional clarity and low light performance. IMO, this is the future of all cameras, even SLRs. Its great to see such tech in a phone first and not in a dedicated camera. See this: http://europe.nokia.com/PRODUCT_METADATA_0/Products/Phones/8000-series/808/Nokia808PureView_Whitepaper.pdf

    @mcd023: A Nokia 808 already smoked a Windows Phone: http://mynokiablog.com/2012/02/28/nokia-808-smokes-windows-phone/

    (PS: I might sound like a Nokia employee in this post, I am NOT. I am just a technology fan and I love new innovative stuff, be it from any company, and I think Nokia have done a stellar job here with this phone and it deserves mention at the top of any such list.)
    Reply
  • shreeharsha
    jalsa777@tomshardware: Seriously, don't you think the new Nokia Pure View is not innovative enough ??@vilenjan: 100 percent true. But the reason this phone has a 41 Mpx camera is not to take giant pictures. What it does is pixel oversampling. Its output isy 5 or 8 MPx at default. But it achieves this picture size by combining pixels instead of selecting specific pixels and then interweaving the rest of the data. This gives it exceptional clarity and low light performance. IMO, this is the future of all cameras, even SLRs. Its great to see such tech in a phone first and not in a dedicated camera. See this: http://europe.nokia.com/PRODUCT_ME epaper.pdf@mcd023: A Nokia 808 already smoked a Windows Phone: http://mynokiablog.com/2012/02/28/ ows-phone/(PS: I might sound like a Nokia employee in this post, I am NOT. I am just a technology fan and I love new innovative stuff, be it from any company, and I think Nokia have done a stellar job here with this phone and it deserves mention at the top of any such list.)
    They must be innovative, else they will die...
    Reply
  • shatbriks
    How are any of these "innovative" in any way, except for maybe the projector phone, which is also an old idea. All thatäs going on for almost all of these are "MAKE THEM BIGGER AND FASTER!!"

    Also no mention of PV808? why?
    Reply
  • N808 with PV? Why it is missing from list?
    Reply
  • grantwar
    @vilenjan:
    The whole point of the Nokia 808 Pureview is that optics is king. The reason there is a 41MP lens on the device is so that you dont ever need to use a zoom lens, be it optical or the horrifically bad digital.
    With a 38MP picture taken by the lens, your able to essentially zoom into the picture and crop it to size and get the same/better quality picture a DSLR with an 8x optical zoom!

    This device removes the optical limitations of a conventional camera phone lens by replacing it with a lens that is designed for so much more.

    I appreciate personal views, but please back them up with facts.
    Reply