The GSMA Mobile World Congress 2012 (MWC 2012) held in Barcelona, Spain, is one of the biggest technology trade shows, basically focused on showcasing new mobile phones (smartphones) powered with some of the latest technologies. The event began on 27 February, and Day One of MWC 2012 didn’t seem disappointing at all!

The event kicked-off with a bang of new and high performance smartphones. Of course, new smartphones with amazingly new multimedia features making quad-core processors phones stealing the show.

The predominant theme of the day were phones with more powerful quad-core processors, however, it continued to march on towards Google’s newly launched mobile OS Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. No doubt the popularity of Android smartphones is reaching new heights, but also is getting better in terms of hardware and software.

Day One at MWC 2012

The major announcements came from leading mobile phone manufactures like HTC, Sony, Samsung, LG, and Huawei.

HTC at MWC 2012

HTC as well announced a new set of smartphones, which are called as the HTC One series – the HTC One X, HTC One S and the HTC One V. The HTC One series smartphones are powered by Android 4.0 ICS and comes with integrated access to the cloud-based locker service, Dropbox.

The HTC One X is a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor with a 4.7-inch screen size. It sports an amazing 8 MP camera, and will run on 4G LTE networks. The HTC One S is slightly smaller in size when compared to the HTC One X with a 4.3 inch screen size. It also comes with an 8 MP cameras and dual-core processor. HTC One V is the smallest version with a 3.7 inch screen size and a 5 MP camera.

Samsung at MWC 2012

Samsung has been quite successful in its range of Android smartphones, especially with the Galaxy S2. On the Day One of MWC 2012, Samsung showcased its new Samsung Galaxy Beam, whose key feature is an rocking internal projector. The phone can project at 640-by-360-pixel resolution for three hours with a 2,000mAh battery. There’s no official word yet on when and where it will be released, or pricing of the Samsung Galaxy Beam.

Apart from that, Samsung also announced that it will be soon launching a series of Galaxy Tab 2 powered by Android 4.0 ICS, and will be available in 10-inch version as well as a 7 inch version.

LG at MWC 2012

LG also announced a new smartphone at the MWC 2012 event. The new quad-core phone, the runs on Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and has a screen size of 4.7-inch HD display.

LG also announced Optimus Vu, which sports a 5-inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. LG Optimus Vu is powered by a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. However, LG has promised an upgrade to Android 4.0 ICS in three months.

Sony at MWC 2012

Sony announced a couple of new Android devices at the MWC 2012. The new Xperia series – Xperia P and Xperia U are powered by dual-core chips and will run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread at launch in Q2 2012, but will get an Android 4.0 ICS upgrade some time in future.

The Sony Xperia P runs on a 1GHz dual-core NovaThor U8500 processor with a 1 GB RAM. It has 4-inch screen size with a 1080p HD-capable 8MP camera and a front facing VGA camera.

The Sony Xperia U features a 3.5-inch screen with Reality display. It has a 1GHz dual-core processor with 512 MB of RAM and a 5 MP camera with 720p HD video recording.

Huawei at MWC 2012

The Chinese company Huawei announced the world’s fastest smartphone, the Ascend D Quad, which according to Huawei indicates that it will be able to perform better than either the Apple’s iPhone 4S or the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Well, watch out Apple!

The Ascend D Quad boasts a quad-core chip built by Huawei itself. It includes a massive 4.5 inch 720p HD screen size with an 8 MP rear camera and a 1.3 MP front-facing camera. Other phones announced by Huawei are the Ascend Quad XL and Ascend D1.

The Ascend Quad XL will have the same specs as the Ascend D Quad, while the Ascend D1 will be powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core chip.

End of Day One at MWC 2012

Well, Day One at MWC 2012 kicked-off with a great start with a plenty of newly announced supercharged smartphones by leading mobile phone companies. A few making a new entry, while the others challenging the frontrunners. Hopefully, we should see some good competitions this year and the following year.

Those were the main announcements from Day One at the MWC 2012. Be sure to come back tomorrow as we will keep you updated on the upcoming announcements of new smartphones and tablets at the MWC 2012.