New Releases at the Mobile World Congress

Another bout of mobile wars came to Barcelona this week, as the world's technology giants unveiled their latest products. Heavyweights like Samsung, Nokia and LG were all vying for attention in an increasingly crowded smartphone and tablet market.

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) has grown into one of the world's most pre-eminent mobile tech shows. It showcases the latest trends and developments in the rapidly evolving sector, and attracts around 12,000 mobile app developers and 70,000 attendees.

Click ahead for the latest smartphones to be released at the Mobile World Congress.

By Matt Clinch

Posted February 26

Samsung's answer to the Apple iPad Mini comes with a slightly bigger screen of eight, rather than seven, inches. The Galaxy Note 8.0 also has a stylus enabling users to write on the screen, and runs on Android software.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 will be available to buy in the second quarter of this year, when competition in the tablet space will likely become even fiercer.

(Read More: Samsung's New Phone Will Debut on Apple's Turf)

Another device that had its launch party last week, but made its first global outing at the Mobile World Congress. The revamped HTC One is an attempt to turn around the fortunes of Taiwanese tech manufacturer HTC, after it lost market share with previous devices.

The HTC One uses Google's latest operating system, Android Jelly Bean, and has a 4.7 inch display.

Originating from China, Huawei is now a multi-national powerhouse releasing top-of-the-range smartphones to compete with the best.

Huawei's latest offering is the Android-powered Ascend P2. The company describe its as the world's "fastest" smartphone and it comes with 4G technology.

A new giant smartphone from the Chinese manufacturer, and yet another entrant in the tight tablet phone hybrid "phablet" market. The 5.7-inch Grand Memo has one gigabyte of RAM, 16 gigabytes of storage and is powered by the same Qualcomm technology as LG's Nexus 4.

The Finnish firm may no longer be the powerhouse it was in the 1990s, but Nokia has released highly sort-after smartphones in the last few years. And on Monday, two updates to its low-end smartphone range were showcased.

Not as grand as the flagship 920, the Nokia 720, pictured here, is slightly higher up the food chain than the 520. It has a 4.3-inch screen, a Micro SD card slot and near field communication (NFC), allowing customers to touch and pay for items easily.

Nokia may not have pulled out all the stops to wow the crowds in Barcelona, but the Nokia 520 looks set to be the cheapest Windows 8 phone yet.

The Nokia 520 is a Windows Phone 8 offering with no 4G technology, unlike its 920 big brother. However, the device does comes with exchangeable cases and a 4-inch screen.

(Read More: Nokia Plots Comeback With $20 'Indestructible' Phone)

Officially released last week, but giving its European debut in Barcelona, the LG Optimus G Pro is a "phablet".

The Optimus G Pro is a 5.5-inch device that looks set to compete with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. And if you're waiting to get your hands on it, rumor has it that it will be available in South Korea in March, and in North America from the second quarter.

The World Mobile Congress is set to ignite the software wars with more players competing for Android's title. One of those would-be kings is the new Firefox OS which appears on ZTE's new device the ZTE Open. Aimed at the more affordable entry level range, the Open features a 3.5-inch screen and is powered by a Cortex A5 processor.

The Grand may have been released in December but the Mobile World Congress was its first European outing. This mid-range handset from Samsung is similar in design to its S3 model. It features a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean).

While some companies are targeting the high end smartphone segment and others focusing on emerging markets, Japan's Fujitsu has tried to bridge the generation gap. The Stylistic S01 is openly targeted at the oldster generation of over 50s. The screen is pressure sensitive with large icons and is also water resistant for up to 30 minutes.