MWC 2013: Top 5 Coolest Tablet and Smartphones

Mobile World Congress serves as a way for companies to show off the newest smart phones and tablets that will be hitting shelves in the months to come. 2013 MWC drew millions of people to Barcelona, Spain, to see the latest and greatest mobile devices. But what were the MWC 2013 stars in this big event? After plenty of deliberation, we think we have the top 5 tabs or smartphones. Now take a closer look at the top five tablets and samrtphones that stand out.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 looks to find the middle ground between full-sized tablets and smartphones as a boardroom and living room companion. The Note 8.0 is all about multitasking, note taking, drawing, and everything else S Pen-related, but it's also an aesthetically pleasing product with a spectacularly thin girth of just 7.6mm. It comes with standard HD, 1,280 x 800 pixel display, quad-core 1.6GHz Exynos chipset, runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and features a 5-megapixel camera at the back and 1.3-megapixel in the front. Other key specifications include 2GB of RAM, a (fixed) 4,600 mAh battery, 16GB or 32GB of on-board storage, and a microSD card slot to expand this capacity. Unfortunately, there is no confirmation on the pricing and the availability of the tablet on the market.

                            

LG Optimus G Pro

The LG Optimus G Pro is a powerhouse phablet with an incredible 5.5-inch display. The shining star of the LG booth at Mobile World Congress was clearly the Optimus G Pro. The G Pro is a massive smartphone that is clearly a shot across the bow of Samsung's Galaxy Note II. The defining characteristic of the Optimus G Pro is its 5.5-inch 1080p display which provides soft visual enjoyment for you to watch movies, and it includes a 1.7-GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 Processor, which is paired with 2 GB of RAM. Other features of this impressive smartphone include a 13-megapixel camera, 32 GB of storage, microSD support and a huge 3,140 mAh battery. The G Pro runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and includes many of LG's user interface customizations.

                    

Huawei Ascend P2

The Ascend P2 announced this week in Barcelona shows promising progress from the Chinese phone maker. It packed the P2 with as many class-leading features as it could. The phone features an elegant and pixel-rich 4.7-inch display with 1280 x 720 pixels. Under the hood, a 1.5-GHz quad-core processor with 1 GB of RAM provides the P2 with power. Other key features include a 13-megapixel camera, 16 GB of built-in storage, microSD card support and LTE Category 4. The device has a 2,420 mAh battery that is governed by custom software to maximize battery life.

                                                                 

Nokia Lumia 720

The Lumia 720 from Nokia really caught our attention thanks to its impressive features. It is intended to sit snugly between the relatively high-end Lumia 820 and the more budget Lumia 620. Based on what we learned at MWC, it features a 4.3-inch curved laminated display for better readability and wider viewing angles. Its rear-facing 6.7-megapixel camera is paired with Carl Zeiss optics with a bright F1.9 aperture. Similar to the HTC Windows Phone 8X, the 720's front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera has a wide-angle lens to squeeze more friends in your self-shots. In short, the Lumia 720 is a very well priced mid-range product that will no doubt turn a few heads when it descends in Q2.

                         

Kyocera Torque

Kyocera Torque has a 4-inch display and includes 800 x 480 pixels, runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and will be available from Sprint in early March. It is an extremely durable Android smartphone that can withstand shock, vibration and immersion in water. It uses Sprint's CDMA-EVDO network to pass walkie-talkie conversations back and forth. The really interesting feature is Kyocera's tissue-conduction technology. Kyocera knows a device like this is going to be used by people working in noisy environments, who are perhaps wearing helmets or ear protection. The ultra-rugged 4G LTE Android-based Kyocera Torque will hit Sprint shelves on March 8, with a $99.99 price tag and Bear Grylls's approval.