Mobile World Congress is just around the corner. Here's a roundup of the latest MWC phone rumours, leaks and announcements. (You can read a roundup of previous leaks here and here.)
See also: Top 10 MWC 2012 phone rumours
Huawei Ascend D1 Q appears
Just a week to go before the Mobile World Congress 2012 phones get unveiled and these pictures of the Huawei Ascend D1 Q have surfaced. Announcement incoming?
For now we’ll have to make do with these photos of this red grilled, slender powerhouse. And we use the term powerhouse, as the Q in its title is rumoured to stand for quad-core, making this the flagship handset for Huawei. It looks a little thicker than the world’s thinnest phone, the Huawei Ascend P1 S, supporting the rumour of it packing in more power.
So Huawei might not have the most entertaining names for its mobiles, but it certainly has the specs to impress, making us excited about what Huawei has to show at MWC 2012.
Panasonic Eluga smartphone imminent
Panasonic's set to make a Rocky-style comeback, taking the wraps off its first international mobile release in five years – and the Eluga is coming out fighting fit.
In case you missed our news about Panasonic's comeback phone here’s a recap. The Eluga's expected to arrive sporting a 4.3in, qHD 256ppi OLED display, NFC tech and a "D-shape" 7.8mm thin form-factor.
It'll be able to roll with the punches, too – its totally water and dust proof frame should be able to hold up to plenty of punishment. No word on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich but it should be the deciding factor that puts the Eluga up in the big leagues.
ZTE reveals two Android 4.0 phones ahead of MWC
ZTE has joined Fujitsu in announcing that it will be revealing shiny new phones next week at Mobile World Congress. Unlike Fujitsu however, ZTE has some solid specs for two of their upcoming devices, the PF200 and the N910.
The PF200 is an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich-powered smartphone, kept chugging along by a beefy 1.5GHz processor. It'll display all the goodness that Android has to offer on a 4.3in qHD touchscreen. Other tasty specs include an 8MP snapper, a front-facing 1080p camera and NFC.
ZTE's second Ice Cream Sandwich handset is the equally imaginatively named N910, which sports a lower specced WVGA screen, 5MP camera and a 1.2GHz processor.
Both the PF200 and the N910 are LTE-capable – but we expect they'll be priced competitively, given ZTE's budget handset past. Android 4.0, impressive specs and a low price? Count us in.
Fujitsu plans to release Windows and Android phones
Fujitsu is gearing up to launch a plethora of Windows and Android-powered smartphones at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, according to the Financial Times.
Fujitsu is planning to muscle in on Apple's patch with a roster of high-end smartphones, with features including biometric security scanning – technology most recently seen in the likes of the Motorola Atrix.
Expect the best tech that Japan has to offer to be crammed into Fujitsu’s mystery phones – we’ve got our fingers crossed that the waterproof Fujitsu Arrows phone that we saw at CES will be among the line-up.
LG Optimus Vu is officially unveiled with 5in screen and stylus
We first caught a glimpse of the 8.5mm thick LG Optimus Vu early last week, but now the Samsung Galaxy Note rival has officially been revealed ahead of Mobile World Congress sporting a 5in 1024x768 IPS touchscreen.
Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Note’s 5.3in screen, the LG Optimus Vu’s display has a 4:3 aspect ratio, resulting in a shorter and wider handset. The Optmus Vu will also be powered by a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor, have an 8MP camera and a generous 2,080mAh battery.
The LG Optimus Vu will also arrive bundled with a Rubberdium stylus pen, whatever that means. It will be interesting to compare LG’s stylus to Samsung’s S Pen (which utilises Wacom’s digitizer technology) and we look forward to pitting both handsets head to head at MWC.
An upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich from the stock Android 2.3 Gingerbread is promised within three months of the LG Optimus Vu’s release, by which time Samsung’s Galaxy Note should have received the upgrade to Android 4.0.
