Show stealers: The memorable phones of Mobile World Congress 2012
Now that Mobile World Congress is wrapping up in Barcelona, Spain, we take a quick look back at the devices that stood out.
Although the sun has yet to set on Mobile World Congress, the dust has certainly settled. With all the phones, tablets, and other devices coming out of the woodwork during the first few days of the expo, it's time we stepped back from the dizzying amount of products and take note of the few things that really made an impression.
Whether or not these phones remained memorable because they were good, novel, or gimmicky--we sliced through the clutter to bring you some of the notable phones of MWC 2012.
Nokia 808 PureView
Nokia teased us with an enigmatic trailer that made us expect that a David Attenborough voice-over would come at any moment. But when it was revealed at the company's press conference that it was releasing a phone with a 41-megapixel camera called the 808 PureView, many questions still lingered. Was this overkill or brilliant? Did people have a right to scoff or do they just don't "get it"? Whatever side you were on, all that buzz from Barcelona made its way here.
Samsung Galaxy Beam
Although it's too early to tell how well the Galaxy Beam will do, both in terms of performance and sales, we're just excited that there's a phone out there that can project images. Sure, there's the whole "great for business meetings and professionals" angle, but mostly we just want to play Bejeweled Blitz on our bedroom walls.
LG Optimus 3D Max
Yes, we're all a little sick of 3D things. Especially when that Justin Bieber movie from last year came out in 3D. But give us a phone that can record video and display apps like Google Earth in 3D and our ears will definitely perk up. The LG Optimus 3D Max isn't the first phone to feature this of course, but with a side order of a 4.3-inch WVGA display, an NFC chip sprinkled on top, and hold the goofy 3D glasses--you've got our attention.
Huawei Ascend D Quad
With the highly anticipated quad-core CPU inside, the Ascend D Quad is being touted as the world's fastest smartphone. Although we can't prove that at this moment (that's why we're taking the superlative title with a little grain of salt), we're glad to see that Huawei audaciously stepped out onto MWC with its guns, as well as its phones, a-blazing.
HTC One X
Everything about the top-tier HTC One X is new, new, new (for now). It's got the 1.5GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, the LCD 2 Gorilla Glass display, an updated camera lens (f/2.0) and sensor, the coveted Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS, and Beats Audio to boot. Let's just say we're going to be excited once we get this unit in for an in-depth review.